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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The rapid pace of transformation means you need to embrace change.
- Successful innovators pull different strings and take calculated risks.
- Putting agentic AI into production means honing a proven use case.
If there’s one characteristic above all others that defines modern business operations, it’s change. Whether due to macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical challenges, or — and perhaps most importantly of all — rapid AI-enabled digital transformation, professionals who want to succeed in this fast-changing environment will need to adapt, and quickly.
One person who’s made a career of successfully embracing change is Luke Gebb, head of global innovation at American Express. An entrepreneur by nature who’s spent 25 years with the financial services giant, Gebb leads Amex Digital Labs, an innovation hub focused on creating new digital products for the firm’s card members.
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In his role as head of innovation, he also works across the enterprise to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies, including generative AI and agentic commerce.
In a one-to-one interview, Gebb told ZDNET what defines successful innovators, and explained how his team is putting these skills to practice as Amex prepares for an agentic future.
Great innovators in an age of AI
Gebb said his role at Amex is about establishing a place where innovators can work and excel — and he said that successful team players rise to the challenges they encounter.
“It’s about getting a culture that people love, where they like to be together, and have the freedom to work on new things, and not just trying to follow the person before you and doing that job 5% better,” he said.
Another crucial element of his role, said Gebb, is to ensure great practices from Amex Digital Labs permeate through the organization.
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Successful innovators on his team pull different strings, knowing the key areas where products need support, and establish good relationships with business peers to ensure their requirements are understood and implemented.
While many blue-chip companies have established innovation labs, Gebb said his organization is focused on integrating with the people who will use and shape its innovations.
Gebb: “Go out and do something risky.”
American Express
“Some innovation hubs get one thing wrong — they think of themselves as separate or different or better, and we’re just trying to help the enterprise, be part of it, and be proud of our work,” he said.
Rather than being an isolated R&D organization, the lab’s professionals innovate alongside their colleagues as part of a joined-up approach to business transformation: “We help different teams when they need our help, and we want a good reputation for looking out for the enterprise as a whole.”
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Gebb has worked hard to ensure his team maintains this standing. So, after 25 years honing his entrepreneurial craft, how can professionals at all levels of an organization embrace innovation and develop innovative behavior?
He suggested four best-practice tips for professionals who want to become effective innovators in an age of AI:
- Keep learning – “You must be super-curious and always wanting to learn. Sometimes the term growth mindset comes up, which means not feeling like you know everything, and have it all figured out, but feeling as if you’re willing and wanting to learn.”
- Dive into tech – “It’s critical to understand emerging technology and what it makes possible. Being deeply curious about technology and working deeply with engineers will be a huge part of your success.”
- Prepare to fail – “You need a willingness to go out and do something risky, so a type of grit or a drive that makes you want to go and put something out there is critical.”
- Build partnerships – “In a big company, always being good at building relationships and being able to call in favors is crucial to success.”
Putting AI innovation into action
Gebb said the general direction of travel for the firm’s skilled AI-enabled innovators is to build the platform for the future of agentic commerce. These professionals concentrate on three key areas. First, payments.
“Our card members are going to be out discovering products in LLMs, and they’re going to want to buy them, and they’re going to want to enable agents to buy them for them over time,” he said.
To enable these payment processes, the firm recently announced the launch of the Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences Developer Kit, a new framework designed to create trusted transactions as the industry moves towards AI agents purchasing goods on consumers’ behalf.
The company has also introduced Amex Agent Purchase Protection, a commitment to protect card members from AI agent errors that might lead to charges.
A second key area of work for the firm’s innovators is to ensure Amex offers and booking mechanisms are available when customers use AI models.
“We want our card members to encounter those things when they’re using their favorite LLM, researching their next trip, or trying to get a restaurant recommendation,” he said.
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Finally, Gebb’s team is building proprietary experiences in Amex’s mobile app and website that enable customers to chat with agents about services and products.
“These features will allow you to go in and have a conversation with your agent about what type of restaurant you might want to go to, get a specific restaurant and time, and book it,” he said.
What’s crucial to recognize is that the foundations that Gebb and his team of innovators are building now will provide a platform for the nascent stages of agentic commerce during the next 12 months.
“That might include something like saying to an agent, ‘Always restock me with this item,’ or saying, ‘When the company restocks this product, I want to be the first one to get it,'” he said.
“Interactions like that will start to happen later this year, and then the pace will pick up. During 2027, the average person who’s using this kind of technology will start to get into situations where agentic commerce makes sense for them.”
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While some experts believe the agentic transition will be rapid, Gebb said others expect a longer-term blend between agents and humans.
Whatever the pace of change, the key to success will be getting ready now — and that’s where his team or curious professionals, with their focus on innovative technologies and strong partnerships, will earn their salt.
“No one knows for certain if agentic commerce will happen faster or slower than we think,” he said. “But what we do know is it absolutely will happen, and that’s why you see the whole industry preparing for it and setting out standards and building foundations.”
