AI is changing work. I’m interested in what happens next.
I’m Femke Cornelissen, a transformation leader, speaker, writer and community builder. Most of my work revolves around one increasingly important question: what happens to people and organisations when AI is no longer just a tool, but becomes part of how work actually gets done?
Because adding technology is relatively easy. Redesigning work is much harder. Roles start changing, decisions are made differently, AI agents become part of processes and teams, new skills are needed and leaders suddenly have to make decisions about things that barely existed a year ago. And somewhere in the middle of all that change, people still need to understand where they fit.
That is the space I love working in.
I’m Chief Transformation Officer at Wortell, where I focus on AI-first organisational transformation. My work goes far beyond implementing technology. I look at what needs to change around it before AI can create meaningful value: strategy, operating models, governance, adoption, skills, culture, leadership and the growing role of AI agents. Most importantly, I focus on how all those pieces connect.
I’ve spent years working within the Microsoft ecosystem and I’m a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft 365 & Copilot, but my curiosity has grown far beyond one technology or platform. I want to understand how work itself is changing. What happens when organisations have hundreds or thousands of digital colleagues? Who manages them? Who decides what they are allowed to do? Which roles change? What new roles emerge? How do we organise work when humans and AI increasingly operate side by side? And perhaps the question I find most interesting: what becomes more human when machines can do more?
Technology interests me, but people fascinate me. I believe strongly in the potential of AI, but I don’t believe the future of work will be determined by better models alone. As technology becomes more capable, very human qualities become more valuable: judgement, curiosity, empathy, creativity, trust and leadership. That’s why my work ultimately isn’t just about AI. It’s about helping people and organisations grow in a world where technology can increasingly perform parts of the work itself.
Alongside my work, I founded Dutch Women in Tech and have helped build communities around women, AI, cybersecurity and technology. Community building has probably taught me as much about leadership as any formal role ever could. Impact doesn’t happen because one person has the loudest voice. It happens when other people start building with you, when knowledge is shared, when someone gets an opportunity they didn’t have before and when something stops being mine and becomes ours.
You’ll also regularly find me on stage, speaking internationally about AI transformation, leadership, Copilot, agents and the future of work. I’m not particularly interested in giving another talk about how amazing AI is. We have enough of those. 😉 I’d rather send people home with a question they’re still thinking about the next morning.
Because for me, the most interesting question is no longer “What can AI do?”
It is “What does this change for us?”
That’s where the real transformation starts.
