The future is
Built Around Us.
AI is moving into work faster than most organisations can think it through. I'm Chris Russel. I help leaders and their teams decide where AI belongs and who answers for it, while keeping the judgement that only people bring.
Why now
The jobs people start in are changing first.
Junior roles as a share of technical hires at Anthropic, an AI company describing its own hiring.
AnthropicUK graduate vacancies in a year, down to 8,383 in July 2026, the lowest since Adzuna began tracking in 2016.
Adzuna, via IBTimesUK employers that have cut entry-level jobs, in a survey of 1,001 firms. 73% say it is harder for young people to find work than five years ago.
Work Foundation and SurvationFirst jobs are where people learn judgement. Cut them, and a firm saves money this year and finds nobody ready to step up in five years' time.
At the same time, AI tools are already part of the working day, often without approval, and the decisions about them are landing on leaders who never chose to make them.
What I believe
AI should be built around people. Everything I do starts there.
- Attention is the scarcest thing at work, and it deserves the same care as money.
- Consent comes before convenience, whether it is data, a likeness or someone's time.
- Every AI tool needs a named person who answers for it.
- The way in to work has to stay open for the people starting out.
- Where the data matters, open and local tools are often the better choice.
Why work with me
I have spent my career delivering change where mistakes are expensive and public. I learned consent as a police officer, on the street and in court. I learned judgement on public programmes, from the response to failing concrete in schools to Hinkley Point C, where I automated much of my own role and handed it on.
I don't sell AI or software, so there is no product behind my advice. Every piece of work has a fixed scope agreed at the start, and it gets my full attention until it is done.
Chartered Project Professional. Based in Nottinghamshire.
How I help
Boards and leadership teams
Set a strategy for AI, people and the talent pipeline, with me as your fractional chief strategy officer or through focused sessions. Agree who decides what, so every use of AI has an owner. Write AI policies that people follow.
Investors and acquirers
Due diligence on the human side of AI: who owns and governs it, where it runs without approval, and whether the business is still growing its own talent.
Teams
A programme built on four steps: look up, ask, sort and sign. It starts with an anonymous check of how attention and AI are really used, and ends with each person teaching someone new.
Founders and independent practitioners
Ways of working where people and AI agents share the load with clear ownership from day one, plus help choosing and running open, local tools.
Programmes under pressure
An independent review and a plan to recover, from a Chartered Project Professional.
Where the work goes
Part of every fee pays for places for people starting out, taught by the professionals I work with. Each programme ends with every person teaching someone new. That is how the work keeps the way in open.
Start here
Join the waiting list
It takes a few minutes, and your answers tell me where you are and how I can help.
27.builtaroundus.com
Or talk to me directly
- linkedin.com/in/chrisrussel
Research
Every page shows its sources and when it was last checked.