How to Navigate the Ethics of AI

What are the ethics of using AI?

There are many myths and many, many questions about the ethics of AI. From the use of other people's work to the use of the planet's resources to the claims of what it can and can't do, not to mention what it should and shouldn't do.

Tom Wright is an AI consultant who helps organisations adopt AI without compromising their values, moving beyond polarised debates to find practical solutions that work.

This presentation is designed to start a discussion to discover how to make AI decisions that balance innovation with responsibility whilst avoiding ethical paralysis.

The video below shows a series of slides with Tom talking about the main points.

Here are the slides for you to go through at your own pace:

Some links to issues discussed in the presentation:

* A good exploration of the water issue by Andy Masley: https://andymasley.substack.com/p/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake
* Hannah Ritchie, data scientist and writer, working at the intersection of environmental change, technology and global development: https://hannahritchie.com/
* Two of the academic papers that are used: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.17016 and https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.16863

Video of Tom talking through the slides:

If you have any questions about the presentation or other aspects of AI you can connect with Tom on LinkedIn. or send us a message.

by Ann Hawkins

How to communicate the impact your business has on the world

Heather Davies is an impact and sustainability-focused copywriter and communications trainer. In this presentation she talks about the effective ways independent businesses can - and should - talk about the impact they have and how and why it's important to inspire and motivate others to do the same.

Just because micro-businesses are so intertwined with their founder and are quite often run from home, doesn't mean they aren't taking meaningful action. In fact, you could argue that pound for pound, they are actually doing a lot more!

We talked about how micro-businesses can stop greenhushing - a term many had never heard before - and start communicating the wonderful work they are doing to have positive social and environmental impact without falling into the trap of greenwashing.

Links mentioned during the Q&A

Follow Heather On LinkedIn

Switchfoot Accounting Impact Statement https://switchfootaccounting.co.uk/impact/

Climate Outreach and Information Network
https://climateoutreach.org/?btc_year_qv=2025

Green Claims Code https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-claims-code-making-environmental-claims

Advertising Standards Authority advice for different sectors
https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-and-resources/resource-library/greenclaims.html

Climate Outreach’s Britain Talks Climate & Nature Report
https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/

ACTionism Film
https://www.actionism.space/request-a-screening/

by Ann Hawkins

How to embrace digital sustainability

Andy Davies is a Digital Sustainability Professional who works with businesses to help reduce their digital carbon footprints by choosing low impact tech solutions.

This is the video of a presentation Andy used to explain how and why independent businesses can get started on making some changes.

The presentation was followed by a discussion and a Q&A that is covered below.

Find Andy on LinkedIn and at Sitegeist Web Services

The following topics were mentioned in the discussion and Q&A

• Test the carbon impact of your website here:https://www.websitecarbon.com/
• Then learn how to take action here:
  https://sustainablewebdesign.org/
• Find sustainably minded hosting services here (I recommend Krystal https://krystal.io/) :
  https://app.greenweb.org/directory/
• For more digital sustainability information sign up for the Curiously Green newsletter from Wholegrain Digital:
  https://www.wholegraindigital.com/curiously-green/
• Read what Andy has written on Digital Sustainability for Wholegrain https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/category/digital-sustainability/

Specifics of things that came up on the call:

• An article about changing browsers: https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/can-browser-choice-help-digital-sustainability/
• Guidelines for optimising website media (Illustrators and digital designers will find this useful)
  https://sustainablewebdesign.org/guidelines/2-15-take-a-more-sustainable-approach-to-image-assets/

Finally this is an eye opening primer on AI energy use:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

An example of a typical AI use case from the article: 
Let’s say you’re running a marathon as a charity runner and organizing a fundraiser to support your cause. You ask an AI model 15 questions about the best way to fundraise.

Then you make 10 attempts at an image for your flyer before you get one you are happy with, and three attempts at a five-second video to post on Instagram.

You’d use about 2.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to ride over 100 miles on an e-bike (or around 10 miles in the average electric vehicle) or run the microwave for over three and a half hours.

The text, image, and video responses they requested add up to 2.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

In California, generating that amount of electricity would produce about 650 grams of carbon dioxide pollution on average. But generating that electricity in West Virginia might inflate the total to more than 1,150 grams.

If you have any questions for Andy just let us know and we'll forward them to him.

by Ann Hawkins

How to use storytelling to create an effective landing page

Do you think of your potential customers as heroes?

From a presentation by Māris Prindulis of https://storyclicks.us/

Most of us don’t like selling and that can be a big barrier when you need to attract new customers.

How would it feel if, instead of trying to persuade people to buy from you, you became a friendly guide who helped them find the solution to their problem?

Imagine writing a story that became the trailer for a film about your business …

*Voiceover, deep and dramatic:*

"In a world filled with choices... one hero dares to embark on a journey like no other.

Meet Alexis, a curious customer living their everyday life.

But something is missing.

Alexis looks sorrowful and says: "I need something better... something more."

Scrolling late at night, Alexis struggles to find the right solution to his problem. Every hero faces obstacles...

Confused comparisons. Endless reviews. Ads whispering promises. Doubt creeps in.

"Can I trust them? Will this really work for me?"

*Mysterious music*:

In amongst the confusion, in the guise of a wise guide, you glide into the picture and offer to lead the way to the solution Alexis craves.

You show him a magical plan that explains how he can reach his goal with a minimum of effort.

You quietly assure him, “This is the route to getting what you want Alexis – it’s easy, you just have to follow these simple steps and you’ll get the something better, something more, that you’re looking for.”

Alexis hesitates and you know that taking action is imperative so you explain, “If you set off on this journey now you’ll soon be enjoying the satisfaction of knowing you made the right decision.”

*The camera pans back and shows Alexis two paths*:

The first path - exploring other solutions - looks easy and avoids Commitment City but is full of hidden traps that will cause Alexis to lose valuable time, peace of mind and other things that are most valuable to him. The other path leads straight to Commitment and shows him striding confidently to the place he wants to be, guided by you.

When he arrives he notices he is transformed. Life feels easier, brighter, better.

*Uplifting music*:

Alexis sees an image of himself using your product, saying "This changed everything for me."

*Strong triumphal music. Image fades*

In every hero’s journey, there’s a guide who leads the way to the perfect solution. Are you going to be part of their story?

(Māris used A.I. to create the rather disturbing images of cats!)

OK – this is a bit of fun, but if you cast yourself in the role of guide instead of pushy salesperson it makes a big difference – even if the film is only in your head!

There are eight acts in the story:

1. Get to know the main character (the hero) and what they really want.
2. Identify the problem they're experiencing.
3. Position your brand as the guide to the hero. (Your brand is never the hero!)
4. Create a clear plan for the hero to win the day.
5. Give the hero a clear call to action.
6. Show the negative consequences of not doing business with you.
7. Explain what their life will look like if they buy your solution.
8. Show the transformation of the hero's life!

See the full set of slides from the presentation and you'll get the idea! https://files.fm/u/8yjmwdeqwr

Huge thanks to Māris for such a great presentation that was a lot of fun!
You can contact Maris on LinkedIn 

by Ann Hawkins

How to use V.A.s to add value to your business

Why do small businesses resist outsourcing and delegating?

From a presentation by Wendy Johnstone
No-one started a business to do admin (unless it's a business that sells this as a service) and yet most small business owners choose to do work they don't like and aren't very good at.

This isn't because there aren't talented, capable people available who could take on those duties ... so what is it that gets in the way?

In a discussion with Wendy Johnstone, a V.A. trainer and provider of business support services, we covered a lot of the issues and what can be done about them.

The main reason for overcoming the barriers is that bringing one or more good V.A.s into your businesses can be a real gamechanger.

Think about how much you earn when you deliver your best work to clients.
In the UK a V.A. typically earns £35 per hour.
If spending this releases you to earn a lot more, that is the best possible reason to get help.

The main light bulb moment for business owners is when they realise that employing more than one V.A. to do specialist tasks is better than expecting one person to be good at everything.

Key Things that V.A.s do

Admin Tasks - phone calls, managing email, processing data, transcribing voice recordings, scheduling appointments, arranging travel, organising meetings, etc.
Tech Support - managing website analytics, blogs, CRMs, mailing list platforms, support with podcasting tech and community building platforms.
Creative Services - content creation for social media, graphics, design work.
Financial Management - bookkeeping, invoicing, credit control, bank reconciliations.
Customer Support - answering queries, processing orders, resolving issues, collecting feedback, responding to reviews.
Personal Assistance - lifestyle support.

What should you outsource?

• Low value, repetitive tasks.
• Things you don't like, don't do well or that tie up too much of your time.
• Anything that doesn't generate income.
• Tasks with set procedures.

Doing these things will make it easier to build a trusted relationship

• Ensure you have exceptionally clear communication.
• Conduct thorough interviews about skill and experience.
• Test skills.
• Check references thoroughly.
• Set clear expectations / don't overload with tasks.
• Provide training and the right tools for the job.
• Have a signed contract / confidentiality statement / NDA.
• Don't micromanage.
• Set clear boundaries re working practices.
• Take cultural differences into account.
• Secure your data / passwords etc.

Hiring V.A.s can be a game changer.

Most small businesses stall because they can't deliver to clients while also marketing and doing all the admin. Too many owners burnout or find they can never really take time off - and this isn't what they went into business for.

By using V.A.s you are demonstrating that your business doesn't rely solely on you and this can be attractive to anyone who might be interested in joining your team, investing, or even buying your business!

If you're hesitating or have questions about how to go about making best use of V.A.s in your business have a chat with Wendy https://wendyjohnstoneltd.co.uk/contact-us/ or just reply to this post and we'll do our best to help!

by Ann Hawkins

Collaborative accounting for small businesses.

Why should accountants take a collaborative approach to helping small businesses thrive?

It's a no-brainer really. When an accountant uses their knowledge, skills and network to pro-actively help their clients, everybody wins! This is one of the values that Toni Hunter lives by.

Toni is a Chartered Accountant, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has a Diploma in Charity Accounting. She is collaborative, approachable, and with a true understanding of what a difference good financial advice can make to business owners. Her knowledge is extensive, her credentials impeccable and her network, truly valuable.

In 2023, after 25 years in a multi-partner practice, Toni made the leap to starting her own business, Hunter FDS,  and has already exceeded all her expectations, largely due to a loyal network of people who value her skills and integrity.

Toni led this discussion and Q&A about accounting practices, strange accounting dates in the UK and what really matters to small business when it comes to understanding their finances.

Why does the UK tax year end on 5th April?

USA and most of EU use a calendar year for their tax system, so why do us history-loving Brits have a tax year end of 5th April?
Stand by for a history lesson!
The Gregorian Calendar wasn't introduced in Britain until 1752, by which time the British calendar was 11 days off the rest of Europe. To stop this differential increasing as years passed, it was time to transition.
With the old British “Julian” Calendar, the tax year began on 25th March (the old New Year’s Day). The British Treasury decided that the tax year, which started on March 25 1752, would be of the usual length (365 days) to ensure that no tax revenue was lost, and therefore would end on 4th April (11 days later in the new calendar).
1800 was not a leap year in the new Gregorian calendar but would have been in the old Julian system. So, the treasury moved the start of the UK tax year to 6th April and as sticklers for tradition, it has remained there ever since!

What does this mean for accountants and small businesses?

In March, we need to help our clients in several ways, e.g.

• Ensure tax allowances are maximised in last payroll month, and all is in order for reporting year end to HMRC
• Consider dividend levels based on the situation of the company and the personal circumstances of shareholders
• 31st March is the favourite year end of small companies and the norm for anyone in the supply chain of government funds such as NHS and councils, due to their budgeting regime
• Most sole-traders and partnerships report to 31st March or 5th April.
• Capital allowance regime revolves around 31st March for companies, and 5th April for unincorporated businesses
• Personal allowances to be used, such as ISAs, pension contributions and IHT mitigation strategies.

Also: January is very busy due to self-assessment deadline, December is very busy due to March year ends that need to be filed and September feels like “New Year” for many, as the schools return, and everyone refocuses after a break.

The discussions with members covered:

• • The benefits of reviewing finances quarterly and querying “value for money”
  • Comparisons of UK and other tax rules, eg. Latvia has 10% flat rate tax for freelancers.
  • The vagaries and complexity of VAT were considered, leading to question of who should register for VAT
  • Public Sector supply chains have different deadlines
  • The perils of moving house whilst running a small business!
  • Making quarterly plans to avoid pinch points / measure progress.
  • Asking if anyone had a different accounting year end to December or March.

A useful article that covers several other things that are worth checking before the end of each tax year:
LinkedIn Article: Reflect on what you can control before the end of the tax year  

Q&A Included

Q1. Principles of when to charge VAT.
Toni explained place of supply rules which led on to further questions about reverse charges and commented on hybrid of UK and EU laws make VAT the most complex of the 7 taxes.

Q2. You have grown your business very fast in nine short months. What’s the secret?
Toni's reply: "As with many overnight successes, it was 20 years in the making! I resigned from my previous firm a year ago, and whilst it was a surprise to everyone, I had a clear understanding of my objectives and the importance of sticking to my values. I hope that they are clear from my branding and website.
I have been networking since 2001 and actively using LinkedIn since 2007. I have always been a giver of my time and empathetic networker and developed a “power circle” of 8 people who really know me, my values and my goals. I trust them with my clients and I believe the reverse is true.
When they found out I was going to start my own business, they quickly rallied, and a referral from a HR adviser in that circle became my first retainer in September and has created the backbone of my business, reducing worry about feeding my family and giving me the focus to build further alliances."

Q3. Please help me understand what dividends are and why/when I should take them?
Toni explained that they are a return on the investment of buying shares in a company, not earnings, so do not carry an National Insurance Contribution charge, but in recent years are charged to income tax via a dividend tax, leading to this practice becoming less popular.
The “usual” policy is to take up to NIC threshold c£12,500 as salary and the rest as dividend. Consideration is needed regarding personal circumstances of whole family. Timing of dividends, especially if near the £50k total income figure could lead to paying higher rates of tax and lose child benefit. Consideration should be given to pension contributions and gift aid donations to help with timing.

If you have questions about managing the finance of your business or charity find Toni on LinkedIn and follow her company page for fun financial quizzes and useful business insights.

You can also get in touch with Toni at Hunter FDS

by Ann Hawkins

Why treating yourself with kindness makes you more effective

Do you beat yourself up when you make mistakes?

Are you your worst critic?

There's a folk tale about two wolves we carry with us who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair, the other is light and hope. The story goes that the wolf that wins is the one we feed.

Negative self-talk feeds the wolf that makes us believe we are stupid, useless and incompetent with the result that we become afraid to try anything and give up easily.

Founder member of Drive, David Brown, ran a learning and sharing session for our members around the idea that by shifting the harsh critical voice that we so often have in our lives into something that's kinder and more compassionate, we give ourselves permission to try, not to strive for perfection, to make mistakes and learn from them and be altogether more effective in our lives and businesses.

David started Potentiality Coaching in 2013 to enable people to move on from being emotionally stuck and reach their full potential. Combining martial arts and life coaching, David teaches embodied facilitation. He also volunteers for the Samaritans,  giving people the chance to be heard.

This is David's summary of the Zoom call with our members:

"That critical voice is something that we've probably practised a lot.

It's served us in a lot of important ways as we've been growing up and coming into our adulthood, but in my experience and in a lot of people's experiences that I've noticed, what that critical voice really does, is it slows us down.

It acts as a barrier to our growth.

What I've noticed is that if we're kinder to ourselves, if we speak kindly to ourselves, if we speak respectfully to ourselves, we are more likely to get the job done quicker.

We'll get the job done better, and there's much less procrastination.

There's much less resistance.

It may not get rid of all the resistance, but getting rid of the vast majority of the resistance that gives us permission to be able to take those first tentative steps.

Positive reinforcement

Imagine teaching a pet how to behave properly.  The best way to do it is by giving them positive reinforcement, by treating them kindly, by treating them compassionately and respectfully, and when they get things wrong, you give them boundaries and talk to them in a disciplined way, but with kindness, and they pick up the idea much, much faster.

Touch your heart

Here are a couple of tools that I gave people to try:

Think of a situation, perhaps in a business context or another situation. Bring the specifics of the situation to mind and the kind of things you say to yourself and also how you feel inside.

A typical situation might be where you've made a mistake and there's a cruel voice in your head saying "Oh, God, you've made that mistake again - why didn't you learn better from the last time? You know you're just not good enough."

And and very, very quickly that becomes a thing and it starts to happen even when you don't make a mistake and it begins to become like you're trashing your whole character. I started saying to myself, "You know you'll never get this right and you always do this and you know you're not good enough."

And the the words can get really quite cruel and quite harsh and very, very generalised.

So just to be aware of that, don't go to town on it, but just to be aware of how it is that you speak to yourself.

The first tool is to simply place one or both of your hands over your heart space.

What that does is it allows you to just slow down, but also to feel the contact of your hand on your skin around your chest and that maybe that's as far as your attention will go, but that if you allow yourself to slow down and you give yourself the time and with a bit of practise, you can feel right through all of the skin and the muscle and the tissue and the ribs, and you might even be able to feel the heart itself.

When we tune into the heart, suddenly we might find ourselves speaking a very different story to ourselves, a story that's more compassionate, a story that's more heart centred, an acknowledgement, perhaps, that you're doing the best that you can, an acknowledgment that perhaps you don't know a better way and that maybe a thing to do is to reach out for support or to acknowledge to yourself that you're doing the best that you can and that at least you are in action and that maybe there's some learning to do or to sit back and consider that maybe there's a different way of doing it.

Whatever it is, you, your heart is telling you, giving yourself an opportunity to hear that voice for yourself.

There's a fair bit of scientific research that points to this idea that the brain in our head is not the only brain that we have, that there is a heart brain, that there is also a gut brain, lots of neurons, lots of brain type tissue that can direct our thinking that has us reach for new levels or different levels of knowing and different levels of wisdom.

Whilst the old thinking used to be, perhaps that the brain is the sort of the centre control ground control and that everything goes from the head and the instructions go down there's also a lot of evidence in the science literature now that points to the fact that actually, there's also quite a lot of information coming from the body up, that the heart feedbacks a lot of information to the brain that the gut feeds up a lot of information to the brain as well. So there's this up and down going on all the time in our being.

Embrace yourself

The second exercise is a similar sort of thing so use the same scenario or you could choose a different scenario but the second scenario is taking that a little bit of a stage further.

Perhaps, for example, putting your right hand sort of around your chest around your heart and bringing the other arm to your shoulder and allowing your head just to rest on that right? That left hand is resting on that right shoulder almost like you're giving yourself a cuddle.

One of my teachers, a guy called Mark Walsh, uses this one. He refers to it as the self care pose, so it's like you're cuddling a child. You know, if you think of a child that's just tripped over and grazed their knee or they've had an argument with someone, or someone's been unkind to them, they're going to rush into your arms and you're going to cuddle them and protect them. And just for a few moments, you're going to nurture them. So you're going to do that to yourself when you've got that harsh voice speaking and you're going to let your eyes close if you want to, and you can look down or if you want to keep your eyes open.

But just have a soft gaze and allow the quality of the touch of your hands on yourself to be really tender, really gentle, really comforting. And you might notice yourself rocking from side to side or forwards and backwards. Or you might feel yourself wanting to very naturally do this twisting action. This rocking action that again can be quite comforting. The gentle movement of that can be quite nice.

And again, if you allow yourself to slow down and allow yourself to feel the sensations of this pose of caring for yourself, you might begin to feel a different message coming through. Not one of harshness, but one of kindness and compassion.

Maybe, rather than trying to push through and burn yourself out, but to actually give yourself a chance to take a break, maybe go for a walk in nature or care for yourself in some other way. Call a friend, take yourself off for the afternoon and give yourself a bit of a break and then come back to the problem at hand or the challenge at hand at a different time when you're in a different headspace or whatever your version of it might be.

Sharing the experience

So after we did that exercise in the actual meeting, we sent everyone off into breakout rooms and 20 minutes later, they came back and they were giving feedback.

People were talking about different ways in which they felt better.

Being able to recognise this negative voice, and being able to talk to it more kindly to give it some acknowledgement. People were talking about the practise of meditation or taking walks outside. Some people were speaking about how shocking it was to them, how acknowledging that self care is really so low in their priority list and that building self awareness can be really, really helpful so that you can begin to notice when you're talking to yourself in that way.

One of the things that I think I mentioned on the call was this idea that self awareness isn't really enough, that there has to be a kind of an acceptance that you're talking to yourself that way and then also a deliberate intention to move your attention away from this harsh voice towards a choice of self kindness and self compassion and you were choosing that instead.

These were some of the ideas that people were talking about when they came back from the breakout rooms and we finished the session by exchanging ideas of what we were taking away.

Expand your potential

If you're ever struggling with this this harsh critical voice, then please reach out to me. I'm very, very happy to offer a complimentary session where we can look at some of the things that are going on for you around that self criticism and to try and give you a practise that is going to work for you, that you can take away and use in your daily life that will allow you to be more kind and more compassionate to yourself."

https://potentialitycoaching.co.uk/
You can also find David on LinkedIn

by Ann Hawkins