Matthew Byrne: Interview at CXO 2.0 Dubai 2025
I didn’t expect the moment to land the way it did.
When my name was called for the Visionaries Award at CXO, I felt grateful… and honestly, a little quiet inside. Not because I wasn’t happy — I was — but because the award instantly reminded me of all the moments that don’t look like a stage.
The hard conversations.
The misunderstandings.
The rebuilding.
The times you realise trust isn’t something you “have”… it’s something you practise.
And that’s what I keep coming back to:
Relational trust isn’t built on consistency.
Consistency and “walking the talk” matter — but that’s closer to transactional trust: reliability, predictability, delivery.
Relational trust is built on connection.
And connection is built through mutuality.
Mutuality is the moment you stop asking, “How do I win?”
…and start asking, “How do we make this work for both of us?”
It’s subtle — but it changes everything.
That’s also why I’m so committed to HI (Human Intelligence) as a revolutionary idea in AI implementation.
Because for me, HI isn’t about “leading change.”
It’s about something more personal, and more demanding: converting thought into action.
It’s easy to agree with ideas like trust, ethics, human-centred design.
It’s harder to turn them into behaviour when things are busy, uncertain, or politically complicated.
HI is what happens when we take what we believe…
and translate it into what we actually do:
how we include people
how we earn confidence
how we create safety to learn
how we build systems that don’t just scale… but belong
And if you’re reading this thinking, “I’m behind… I should’ve started earlier…” I really want you to hear this:
It’s not too late.
You don’t have to catch up to everyone.
You just have to start where you are.
🎥 I talk about all of this in the video — the award, the deeper “why,” and the shift from transactional trust to relational trust through mutuality.
If you watch it, I’d love to ask you something simple:
Where in your own journey do you feel you’re being invited to move from transaction to mutuality — and what’s one small action you could take today?
Matthew Byrne will take to the stage at 3:40PM (GMT +4), December 8, 2025 and has been awarded the CXO 2.0 Visionaries Award - recognising seasoned executives in business whose innovative ideas and strategies are reshaping industries.
Building Mutuality’s Matthew Byrne will be joining CXO 2.0 in Dubai 2025 as a interview in the discussion of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Making Leadership Accountable For Results.
