055 The Governance Pivot: Bridging Professional Networks and AI Ethics with Paulina Jedwabska

Is the information professional of 2030 actually an AI Ethicist in disguise? In this episode, host Jacqueline Stockwell sits down with Paulina Jedwabska, Conference Director at the IRMS (Information and Records Management Society) and a leading voice in AI Governance. 

With a career spanning the Olympics, the ICO, and Magic Circle law firms, Paulina shares how the "thread" of data connects every sector—and why the IRMS network is the ultimate "secret weapon" for information leaders. We dive into the "cake" of AI governance, the power of professional resilience, and why your records management skills are exactly what the world of AI ethics needs right now. 

Whether you’re a "one-man band" in a small firm or leading a global department, this episode is a call to action to stop watching the AI "horror stories" and start leading the journey. 

Show Notes

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The Mission of the IRMS: Celebrating over 40 years of connecting people who care about good information governance and records management. 
• The "North Star" for IRMS Conference: Why the focus is shifting toward transferable skills, real-life scenarios, and current "unsolved" challenges like AI. 
• The Power of the Network: How the IRMS community acts as a "big family" to provide solutions, budget-winning tips, and career support for isolated professionals. 
• Resilience in Governance: Paulina defines resilience as "powering through" complex legislation (like the AI Act) and leading stakeholders on a journey of possibility rather than fear. 
• The AI Cake Analogy: Why AI is just the "cherry on top" that requires solid layers of data and governance to stand up. 
• Constitutional AI: A look at how users and businesses can take an active role in lobbying for ethics and transparency in AI services. 
• Advice for New Professionals: Why Paulina recommends apprenticeships and "learning on the job" over expensive degrees alone. 

Notable Quotes:

"The cherry on top needs all those different layers... Stick with us because that's where resilience is." — Paulina Jedwabska 
"Problem shared is problem halved. Let’s support each other and push us upward." — Paulina Jedwabska  

Resources Mentioned:

IRMS Website: irms.org.uk  

The IRMS Conference: IRMS Conference 17th – 19th May 2026 – The Celtic Collection

Upcoming Location: Manchester (Next year's conference). 

Book Recommendation: Blooming Good Information Management: How to Empower Yourself and Your Workforce - Jaki Speaks

Connect with Paulina:

• LinkedIn: Paulina Jedwabska | LinkedIn
• Jacqueline Stockwell ARIM, BA Hons, MSC | LinkedIn

At the Conference: Grab her for a chat—she's always keen to speak to like-minded people!  

Don’t forget to subscribe to for more podcast into the world of information management! 

🌱 Ready to take this further? 

If something landed for you in this episode… don’t just leave it here. 

You don’t need to figure it all out on your own — I’ve created a few simple ways to help you take your next step, at your pace. 

🟢 — Start where you are 

If you’re not quite sure how you’re showing up right now, start here: 

👉 Thinking with Jaki Scorecard — your Influence Action Plan
Use this to get clarity on how you currently show up, where you might be getting stuck, and what your next influence move is. Thinking with Jaki 

🟡 Build clarity and direction 

Once you’ve got that awareness, let’s build a clearer picture of where you are overall: 

👉 Leadership Through Data EMPOWER Scorecard
This will show you where you sit across the EMPOWER framework — your strengths, your gaps, and what to focus on next so you can move forward with confidence. The Leadership Through Data EMPOWER Scorecard 

🔵 Grow with me 

If you’re ready to go deeper and build real momentum: 

👉 Join the free EMPOWER Masterclass | Leadership Through Data
I’ll walk you through the full roadmap and help you see exactly how to step into your influence and leadership — in a way that feels like you.  The EMPOWER Masterclass | Leadership Through Data  

🚀 Want to keep building? 

If you’re ready to take action beyond this episode, here are a couple of ways we can work together: 

👉 Book Jaki to speak at your next event
Bring these conversations into your organisation or community with practical, real-world learning. Public Speaker, Write & Podcaster - Jacqueline Stockwell 

👉 Join the 21-Day EMPOWER Sprint
Build momentum, take action daily, and stop overthinking your next move.
https://leadershipthroughdata.com/empower-21/ 

💬 Final thought 

You don’t need to do everything at once.
Just take one next step. 

And if this episode helped you, I’d love you to share it with someone who needs to hear it too 💛 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to today's show. I'm Jacqueline Stockwell, CEO and founder at Leadership Through Data. I inspire and motivate information leaders across the world. Hello and welcome to today's show. I am joined here with Paulina. And Paulina, before I even get started, I'm terrible with saying surnames. So could you just say your surname and I'll carry on with the introduction?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hi, hi Jacky. Yes. My name is Paulina and my surname is Hiedwabska. It's a Polish surname. So let's just go with Paulina.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Fabulous, love that. If you've ever seen the outtakes of one of uh the podcasts before, just can't do it. You are the conference director at the IRMS, which is the Information Records Management Society, and you're a leading voice in AI governance. Now you are on a mission to bridge the gap between traditional information management and the high-stakes worlds of AI ethics. Such a good topic. With a background spanning from the Olympics to magical circle law firms, and you're here to tell me about the RMS networking powers for information leaders.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yes, indeed. Yes. So my career varied, but the constant thing for me is records, it's information, it's data. So regardless of the sector, that seems to be a continued thread, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Could you just tell listeners about what the RMS society is first and what the conference is?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Mm-hmm. So we are 40 years old society, 41 actually, uh in Britain, and we aim to connect people who care and practice good information governance, course management, knowledge and learning, and therefore anything that has to do with data, with information, with records. We want to help, we want to support you, and we want to help build the network, regardless of profession or sector of like-minded people where we can share best practices.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And you have an annual conference each year?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

We do, and it's coming up next week. Oh my goodness, time is flying. So, massive shout out to everyone who is traveling to Wales. We're going to be in Newport from Sunday to Tuesday with I hope Stellar Programme.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Brilliant. I can't wait to come and I can't wait to see you in person as well. RMS is always a great yearly, exciting event for me and the company. So, as the conference director, what is the North Star for the upcoming RMS conference? So, what's the biggest themes you fill and what's non-negotiable for the agenda this year?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

So I take with with my conference director hat, I take two principles. One is who is attending, because the conference is for the people. Therefore, I want to make sure that the content is right, it's not been there, done that. It's actually transferable skills, transferable real life scenarios where you can take actions from what you have listened to, and equally, in terms of strands, look at what's current, what's now, and what is still not solved. So, tools, there's so many products out there, and yet here we are talking about the key players, how they're making life easier in some cases and difficult in another. But as a society, you know, we we persevere because it matters. AI, everyone is talking about AI. Therefore, data, governance, information, it goes hand in hand. It's it's crucial to get it right. And I want to make a massive shout out to vendors and service providers. This conference would not have happened without them. So having opportunities to hear from vendors what it is that they're doing, their roadmap, their plans for innovation, I think that's also crucial.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Amazing. Thank you. And we're one of those vendors this year, so I'm excited to be there with my team. So come down and see us. One of the things that I really like about the RMS is the networking effect, right? So if you're in a new profession or your existing profession, it just feels like um, and people cringe at the word, like a big family, but we're a really big community that know of each other and support each other. So for an information profession who might feel isolated, might be on their own in a department, how does being part of the network really change that support and career pathway for them?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

So if you are a one-man band in a firm or organization, some of us have been there, and therefore being part of the community, we hear you. If you want to seek solace, we're there. If you want solutions, we're there. And if you want tips, how to approach your senior management for the buy-in, how do you get budget? How do you get that over-the-line proposal speak to us? Because majority of us, regardless whether it's one man band, team, or entire department, have come across most challenges one way or the other. So, like you said, we are a one big family and we try to look after each other, help each other because why wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

And why wouldn't you? And one of the like, there's so many things that I like about the RMS conference, I really like the way that you have your awards structure. So I'm a big fan of information professionals very much um putting themselves over to awards, you know, if they win those awards or if they don't win those awards, it's still that recognition of all the hard work that they've been doing. But I do know that as a community of practice, as I say, we're not very good at vocalizing. Well, hey, yeah, I won that award, and this is why I won that award. And I really want to kind of change that mentality for us to be proud, and this is why I'm doing it, and this is the achievement that I've got for it. And I think it's a really good way that the RMS feed that into the conference and it's on the big stage and the award winners as well. So, massive shout out for that. I've been coming to the RMS, I think, every year for the last eight years, and the vibe has changed quite a few times, and there's been a shift of communities very much from traditional record keeping to digital to Microsoft to AI governance now. How have you contributed to those shifts?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

100% agree. I think we started very much in my tenure, since I've been a member, not even uh conference director, very much public sector or third sector focused. And I think we've realized that the problem of governance is a general problem. It is applicable into uh different sectors. So we have special interest groups, we have regional groups where we're all tackling with the same problem. So, from my perspective, um, being able to translate those challenges is important, regardless whether you're in finance, in legal, in school, third sector, or construction. It all comes together.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

It all comes together, and the missing piece that I, you know, we were talking about this off-air a moment ago is the the people aspect to it. So it's the influencing that's behind us as information leaders. So it's great to have the technology, it's great to have the AI, it's great to have the compliance and and all the knowledge. But actually, what I feel that we need as a community is how we can influence ourselves, how we can build that brand and drive that influence into organisations and lead, lead. And I'm gonna say lead because we are information leaders, as I call us all. So anybody that manages information leads information, whether you're in a team, you lead that within organization. And I think that that's a real piece for the digital transformation that we can't forget because we need to align that those two pieces together.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

100% agree. This is why we also, as one of the strands within the conference, focus super heavily on people skills, soft skills, resilience. How do you get you as an individual in the right headspace in order to have those difficult conversations or challenging conversations or aspirational conversation, hopefully with the happy ending?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, I love that word, Pauline of resilience. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Not giving up. There were so many times where I've read GDPR when it came out, or the AI Act, or you know, the now uh data and uh user access uh legislation. I'm just like, oh my goodness, shoot me now, because this is bonkers. But to me, resilience is powering through, it's carrying on the best practice, taking your stakeholders on the journey, showing them the possibilities and not the horror stories, getting them to understand the underpinning the fundamental course of what we are doing that support the rest. So I had interesting conversations with uh someone a couple of weeks ago where we want AI, we want, you know, shiny. It's like great. But in order to have your fantastic cake and cherry on top that AI is, you need layers. You need your chocolate layer, you need your vanilla sponge, and you need something else, and then you need fountain, the cherry on top. Need all those different layers, all those different elements to stick. For stick with us because that's where resilience is.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, agreed. And the biggest thing is no one's talking about, they're all talking about AI technology, but they're not actually talking about where you put AI over the top, you've got garbage in, garbage out. I know it's the saying when everyone hates it, but it is fundamentally what it is. And I think that's where the the human element comes in, and certainly from a conference perspective. What does a physical conference provide over a webinar?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

So you've mentioned that you've been coming back year on year, and I think there is a reason for that, not just because we are one big family, but because you have opportunity to talk to people, you have opportunity to bounce off your ideas, you have opportunity to not just speak to one person or follow up with one, you know, LinkedIn message or email. You actually get practitioners in the room who might have similar challenges. They also might have overcome them, and therefore have a solution that you can take. So, to me, having that face-to-face contact is crucial. It's that that's the fundamental that you you take forward from the conference that energize you, gives you bath, and open your networks because you never know what's round the corner.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Agreed, agreed, and like energy with people is just infectious, anyways. It's always such a good vibe. You worked with the ICO, Wellcome Trust, and now magical circle law firm. How do you translate complex AI ethics into practical governance that a board of directors actually understands?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

So, what I would say is this is my own opinion, not the legal firm that I work for. Equally, not a lawyer, so you know, must have caveat that. Um, but to me, is simplifying the challenging blocks and looking at the consequences and therefore making your way backwards into where it stands from. Like you've said, garbage in, garbage out. So being able to correlate those elements, those consequences, that's my way of approaching the stakeholders. Being able to put here is a problem, here is a solution, here is the consequence if this problem grows, and being able to translate that to their problems, their language, their understanding. So whether it's security or technology or IT or HR, what's in it for me? That's ultimately where it comes to.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

100% the benefits, focus on the benefits, agree with that. So there's been so many changes over the last few years, we've had new legislation. Do you think that there is a fatigue element, compliance fatigue within the community?

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yes. So you know when I've said earlier that I've read the GDPR, I've read the EAR, I've read I had a little cry because frankly, how do you envisage all those different companies to map all those different elements and make them happen by magic, with a wand, and what have you? Challenging. But I would also say that as a community, we've been there. When GDPR first starts first being even labeled as something that might come, we've been there. Alongside the you know, massive, massive changes in in America with their approach to data. As a community, this is this is not a new new thing. We carry on, we persevere, we look at why it's important, and we promote those best practices. We do carry on that mental of it's relevant, it's gonna bite you. Here is the solution, I'm trying to help.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

What keeps them up at night? What are the things that you can actually benefit the organization to move them forward? Your research mentions constitutional AI as a corporate governance innovation. Can you explain in layman's terms? So something that I need to understand in my neurodivergent brain, how can we program values into companies?

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Very good question. So I think it's important that we as end users take an active role. We as practitioners in the information leaders area take a very proactive role, and then we as firms, businesses, etc., who use those services take an active role. And to me, what I'm interested in is how much companies and service providers who offer UAI services do a lib service in terms of their transparency, how much of their work of transparent publication, da da da, the regulations, the legislation, all those different um global acts. So I want to make sure that each of those layers, users, communities of practice, businesses lobby for the right thing. I want to make sure that my data doesn't end up in random hotspots somewhere available for purchase. I don't want my information to be available to buy, sell, etc. Therefore, I want to make sure that if this applies to me, it most likely applies to everyone else, right? So my hope is that we can take charge, we can influence, we can lobby, and I understand that lobbying is hard, uh, especially with limited uh budgets, resources, etc. But it is important, it's something that I care passionately about. Ethics is important, doing the right thing is crucial. Okay, maybe I'm naive and romantic in that sense, but I think it's important.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

100% I'm there with you and what you're saying. So you worked for the Olympic Delivery Authority. What did a massive high-stakes project like that teach you about data integrity that you still use today when discussing AI?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

I mean, it is a funny story because it is a full circle. So I've started my data and records career on a construction site. I work on the Roads and Bridges program for the Olympic Park. I then moved to the ODA where I quality assured the records produced by the firm responsible for roads and bridges and all the other permanent and temporary venues. Um, so it was important we handled engagement with National Archives to ensure that that legacy remained. But also we handed over tremendous chunk of information to International Olympic Committee, and a few years later I ended up at the ICO. So, you know, it's full full circle. You never know where the documents that you are looking after will take you, and how 10 years later you're gonna see them in completely different country. But I would also say that to me it's doing the right thing and doing it passionately and doing it with care. Yeah, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

So, for somebody entering the information field today, what should they study? How should they enter the profession, and what should they do first?

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Wow, that is a massive question, taking into what we talked about earlier and AI, but I have a very good suggestion. Read this, read your book, it has so many good tips. I genuinely find your book super useful. It is packed with uh with action. In terms of uni, I don't know, I'm in two heads about this because I genuinely feel education is expensive and you still need experience. So look out for apprentices, look out for those options where you get hands-on experience. That would be my recommendation because you learn on the job most of the time, and also what we've said earlier about transferable skills. Every sector has data, every sector generates information that needs looking after. And okay, you might have to upskill yourself for the specific regulatory framework that you operate under, but it's not a rocket science and it will not be million miles apart. Start with the book and then go from there.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

I'm absolutely touched. Thank you for suggesting that. I'm just blown away. Thank you. When people leave the RMS conference this year, what is the one thought or call to action you want ringing in their ears?

SPEAKER_01 18:37

You see, in your book, um take action. So I want every single attendee to feel empowered and enabled to take action, whether it's in their professional life, their personal life, whether it's on those, you know, soft skills, people skill side, or actual learn something about how I can whip and turn that um compliance, labeling, challenge. I want everyone to feel that was worth my time, it was worth my investment, and I'll be back in Manchester next year.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah, and I think it's amazing because the conference you can be so overwhelmed because there's so many things, the good things you want to go to. One takeaway action from each section, and then one from the whole conference. Because then it helps focus that mind and take that action. How can listeners reach out to you if they want to know more?

SPEAKER_01 19:31

If you're attending the conference, just grab me, say hello. Um, I might be running to you another place, but I'll promise you I'll find time to talk to you. Um, if you're not coming to the conference, try my LinkedIn. I'm sure Jackie will share the link. Ping me a message. I'm always keen to speak to like-minded people, you know. One message that I want to share is problem shared is problem half. So yeah, let's talk to each other, let's support each other, let's give each other a hand and push us upward.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

I love that. And how can they sign up to be an IRMS member? Very simple.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

There is an IRMS website, irms.org.uk. Go and visit, click a button where you have the memberships options, join us. We have tons of events, tons of materials, more content behind paywall. So world is your oyster.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Come and join us. Amazing, fabulous. And do you have any tickets spare for the conference that people could purchase?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, we we we sold out the fully inclusive packages, which you know it it says something about the event in itself, but we are still offering day tickets. So if you can source your own accommodation, you can still join us either on Monday andor Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Fantastic. And there's always a early bird ray that comes out after the conference for next year, as you said, in Manchester. So follow the RMS uh website if you want to know any more. Thank you so much, Paulina. It's been absolutely sensational. Hope you have an amazing day.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Thank you, Jackie. And I have to say, I will click that subscribe button right after we finish.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the journals of the information entrepreneur with me, Jacqueline Stockwell. I hope you found this episode inspiring and helpful and have some takeaway tips that can be useful to you. If you liked this episode, please like, review, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us reach more information leaders to stay inspired and listen to great content. Want to test out your strengths and weaknesses and measure it against our empowered framework? Please complete the scorecard. It's a great way to improve and evaluate your skills. You can find the scorecard at the end of the description of this podcast. Stay tuned for new podcasts every Thursday and remember to be bold, be brave, and be beautiful.

unknown 22:00

Oh