Latest from Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review
10 hours ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
6 Ways to Practice Everyday Courage
At 8:00 AM on a gray March morning, the CEO of a fast-growing biotech company clicked 'join' on a video call with her senior team. In the past 24 hours, new sanctions in Eastern Europe had forced their main supplier to halt shipments. The sanctions also slammed the local currency, driving up the cost of the company's foreign debt by several million dollars. The CEO's inbox pulsed with board messages. Unless she cut spending by 35%, the company could risk bankruptcy. With global supply chains already stretched thin, there were no easy fixes. She was left with an impossible choice: Layoff one-third of her scientists, upending careers and years of research progress. Gamble on emergency bridge financing—a short-term loan meant to keep the business afloat—in a market frozen by geopolitical shock. While it may seem like an outlier, scenarios like this are becoming increasingly common for today's leaders. Economic shocks, political uncertainty, deepening polarization, ethical landmines, and eroding public trust have created an environment where even routine decisions carry real risk. Expertise may help you map out a strategy. But when the road ahead is unclear, the stakes are personal, the fallout is public, and people are looking to you for guidance—knowing your choices will affect them—courage becomes a critical skill. Conventional advice often confuses courage with bravery, an innate and heroic quality that can be summoned during a one-off crisis. But courage isn't an instinct; it's a muscle built through consistent, values-aligned actions taken in the presence of doubt, risk, or fear. This kind of steadied, practiced response is what I call 'everyday courage.' It's especially powerful in moments that feel too small for a headline, but big enough to shape organizational culture, trust, and legacy. Understanding Everyday Courage Stretching all the way back to Aristotle, scholars have tried to sort courage into delineated buckets. In the 1990s, one researcher grouped courage into physical, moral, and psychological forms. More recent work refines moral courage into distinct subtypes. Drawing on years of existing research and my work with senior leaders, I've put together a playbook that offers leaders a fresh lens—moving beyond the heroic and abstract to something practical and applicable. It focuses on six types of everyday courage that reflect the most common, consequential, and complex challenges leaders face today. The Six Types of Everyday Courage Source: Alex Budak To help you learn and apply each type of everyday courage to real-world situations, I've broken them down into three parts: A brief definition supported by research. A real-world example based on leaders I've taught or advised. A set of day-one practices you can use to strengthen this skill. Moral Courage Moral courage is the willingness to act on your values, even when doing so carries personal or professional risk. The concept has roots in ancient philosophy, but in a leadership context, moral courage was popularized by philosopher Rushworth Kidder. He defined it as action that requires three conditions: a foundational principle, looming danger, and the stamina to endure backlash. What does it look like in practice? A senior university leader is faced with a decision: whether to accept generous funding from a multinational company accused of human rights abuses. The partnership would provide a crucial lifeline amid budget cuts (looming danger), but it conflicts with the university's long-held commitment to ethical responsibility (foundational principle). Speaking out or rejecting the deal could damage the institution's finances and the leader's career (backlash). Choosing to turn down the partnership to uphold the university's values, despite the risks, would be an act of moral courage. How can you build moral courage? Clarify your core values. Moral courage starts with knowing what you stand for. If you're unsure of your personal values, it's hard to defend them under pressure. Personal reflection tools such as James Clear's Values List and the Personal Values Assessment can help you identify the principles that matter to you. For example, you can scan Clear's list of 50+ values and highlight the 10 that resonate most—then narrow them down to your top three to guide tough decisions. Once you've named your values, make them visible: Define what they look like in everyday behaviors and language, and communicate them through your words and actions. If you value transparency, for instance, that might mean regularly explaining the 'why' behind tough choices. Do the same at the organizational level. Translate your company's core values into principles and practices to help people understand what drives decisions at the top. Pre-commit before a crisis occurs. Leaders are more vulnerable to a phenomenon called ethical fading under stress. It occurs when pressures like loyalty or self-interest obscure the ethical stakes of a decision. To counter this, try to identify situations that might test your values and plan on how you'll respond before they arise. One helpful technique is drafting 'if/then' statements grounded in your organization's values. For example, 'If funding requires whitewashing abuses, then we decline, no matter the financial implications.' Revisit these scenarios quarterly to keep your principles front of mind. Social Courage Many people stay silent at work not because they lack ideas, but because they fear rejection. Social psychologist Solomon Asch's famous conformity experiments show how deeply this fear is ingrained in us, and how quickly group norms can override personal judgement—even when the group is wrong. Social courage is the willingness to speak out or stand apart from the group, despite the risk of embarrassment, exclusion, or reputational damage. What does it look like in practice? At an executive offsite, a long-standing leader mockingly dismisses a pointed question from a newer team member, triggering visible discomfort among many. While others attempt to quickly move on, the chief people officer speaks up to pause the conversation: 'I think we need to make space for dissenting views—especially from new voices.' It's only a moment, but in a high-status, well-networked room, disrupting group dynamics takes social courage. How can you build social courage? Name the risk, then speak. When speaking up feels socially risky, acknowledging the stakes up front can demonstrate self-awareness and signal good intent. Don't apologize—just frame your dissent with clarity and conviction: 'This perspective may not be popular, but…' or 'This might go against the grain, but I think it needs to be said.' Reward principled dissent. Actively invite people to challenge the majority view. Ask questions like, 'Who sees this differently?' and thank those who surface hard truths. Another strategy is to use a rotating 'contrarian chair' to legitimize alternative viewpoints in meetings. Research on psychological safety shows that when leaders consistently reward this socially risky dissent, they send a powerful message: Disagreement is needed to make the smart decisions. Emotional Courage Unlike social courage, which focuses on external risks, emotional courage is about inner bravery—the willingness to feel, name, and act on your own discomfort. Psychologist Susan David describes it as the capacity to face uncomfortable emotions with openness and honesty, using them as a guide for thoughtful, values-aligned action rather than letting them control or define you. What does it look like in practice? A healthcare COO must announce layoffs after a project she championed failed to meet its financial goals, resulting in major budget cuts. She chooses not to let HR deliver the message on her behalf. Instead, she speaks to the organization directly, takes responsibility, and stays present—even as employees react with disappointment, frustration, or grief. When shame and regret rise up, she resists the urge to shut down or pull away. Her emotional presence won't erase their pain, but it can preserve her credibility, show accountability, and start to rebuild trust. How do you build emotional courage? Own the feelings, not the room. When you're in a position of power, it can feel risky to show any kind of emotional openness—let alone admit fear, regret, or uncertainty. But emotional courage isn't about unloading your feelings onto others; it's about being honest in a way that's grounded, intentional, and appropriate for the moment. As Brené Brown, a leading expert on vulnerability and leadership, puts it, ' clear is kind, unclear is unkind.' She warns against what she calls 'floodlighting,' or oversharing to dodge real vulnerability. A useful guideline is to share emotions when doing so creates clarity. Ask yourself: Will sharing how I feel create understanding and connection or confusion and emotional burden? Notice, name, and ground your emotions. When you find yourself wanting to shut down or deflect, try to catch the impulse. Before a tense meeting, jot down three emotions you're feeling and plan to name one. This will help you avoid defensive statements like, 'These things happen,' and replace them with honest ones like, 'This didn't go the way I'd hoped, and that's on me.' Try to resist the instinct to smooth things over too quickly. You can follow up with something simple: 'I won't rush past this.' Intellectual Courage Intellectual courage is the willingness to question your own assumptions, entertain opposing viewpoints, and admit what you don't know—all in service of better thinking and better outcomes. It creates the psychological safety that fuels learning, fosters innovation, and helps leaders avoid the trap of quick fixes or familiar thinking when a situation or challenge requires change. What does this look like in practice? A VP of product has long defended one of her company's core offerings. But her instincts—and the data—suggest that the market has shifted and the offering needs to change. She schedules a strategy meeting to discuss this, but by changing her position, she risks appearing indecisive or losing credibility with longtime stakeholders. Still, she puts aside her pride, names her doubt, and invites her team to explore alternative strategies. By creating space for the best answers to emerge, she is demonstrating intellectual courage. How do you build intellectual courage? Interrogate your own thinking, publicly. When you hold power, questioning your assumptions out loud shows others that rethinking is a natural part of solving problems. It gives your team the same permission to ask questions and challenge the status quo without fear of judgement. You can say: 'Here's the logic I've used, but what might I be missing? Does anyone see a flaw in my thinking or a different way to look at this?' Detach identity from ideas. When you've led a strategy or defended a position for years, it's easy to mistake familiarity for certainty. Over time, your ideas might even become a part of your identity. But in business, nothing is stagnant and staying relevant means staying flexible. To shift your mindset, celebrate moments when you're proven wrong with the same energy as when you're right. That humility will keep you, and your team, level-headed. Creative Courage Unlike intellectual courage, which is about questioning what is, creative courage is about imagining what could be. It means sharing bold ideas, championing experimentation, and inviting others to do the same—all while knowing that some efforts will fail. Research shows that while new ideas can come from anywhere, leaders play a key role in nurturing and advancing them. Conversely, when creativity is suppressed, organizations risk stagnation. What does it look like in practice? A senior product leader at a large consumer goods company is preparing for an innovation summit with 30 senior executives. The safe option is to suggest a modest product upgrade, something conventional and fundable. But instead, she presents a radically new concept: a zero-waste packaging model that would disrupt the company's longstanding supply chain, alienate some manufacturing partners, and encourage consumers to change their behavior. She knows it may be rejected, but she believes the company's future depends on it. With people demanding sustainable products and legislation on the horizon, she sees this as a necessary leap to stay competitive. How do you build creative courage? Make room for risks. Creativity isn't a rare talent—it's a skill everyone can build. Reframe it this way for your team. Encourage playful exploration by running quick divergent-thinking drills: spend 10 minutes generating 'bad ideas,' 10 on 'impossible ideas,' and 10 on 'reverse ideas' (flip a core assumption and imagine its opposite). Then, mine them for unexpected insights. To reinforce that creativity requires risk, close team meetings with a simple question: 'How did you fail this week, and what did you learn?' Over time, you'll build a culture of curiosity. Shrink the stakes. Don't dismiss a promising idea just because it feels risky. Lower the pressure by testing the waters: Pilot a concept in one market, time-box a rough prototype, or run a 30-day 'fail fast' sprint. These low-commitment tests can help you build confidence, gather feedback, and learn quickly—without overcommitting too soon. Physical Courage In moments of real risk, being physically present signals solidarity and builds trust through action. This is physical courage: the willingness to act in the face of physical risk, discomfort, or danger, especially in service of others. In a business context, it's about showing up when it matters, whether that's walking the floor during a crisis or standing with your team in difficult conditions. Research shows this kind of courage is often fueled by a mindset of resilience, optimism, and strong values and social support—qualities that help leaders move from hesitation to action. What does it look like in practice? Reports of unsafe conditions surface at an overseas plant. Rather than delegate, a manufacturing CEO travels to the facility during a time of civil unrest, insisting on touring the plant themself—despite security concerns and potential physical risks. By showing up in person, they send the message: Frontline workers are visible and valuable to the company. How do you build physical courage? Train the discomfort muscle. Ease gradually by putting yourself in situations that stretch you: Speak first in difficult public conversations or tense meetings, walk into rooms where your viewpoints may be unpopular, or visit your team in person instead of checking in via email. The more you practice showing up in uncomfortable moments, the more natural it will begin to feel. Proximity as policy. Create space on your calendar for regular, agenda-free time in the field. Shadow a production line, sit with the service team, or eat in the same break room as your frontline workers. Treat these visits as mutual learning labs. When executives and frontline employees share the same air, noise, and constraints, leaders gain firsthand awareness of the challenges others face and model the kind of presence that encourages openness, trust, and accountability at all levels. Courageous leadership doesn't hinge on rare, dramatic moments—it's built through everyday choices. The leaders who rise in times of uncertainty are those who clarify what they stand for, celebrate acts of integrity and bold thinking, and commit to small, consistent actions that align their behaviors with their values. Practiced this way, everyday courage doesn't just shape decisions, it signals to your team that this is a place where truth matters, where risks are welcome, and where doing the right thing is expected. In a noisy, fast-moving world, that's a leadership edge competitors can't replicate.
Harvard Business Review
12 hours ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Are You Optimizing Your Virtual Communication Practices?
Whether your organization encourages working from home or the office, much of your business is no doubt conducted virtually — over email, on Slack, or via Zoom meetings. But few of us think very carefully about how to most effectively use these tools or which to employ when. And few teams and companies have established best practices for virtual communication, which can hurt collaboration, sales, engagement, and performance. Andrew Brodsky, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin who has researched these issues, outlines practical ways to be more conscientious and intentional about our communication choices and patterns. Brodsky wrote the book Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication.
Harvard Business Review
12 hours ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
What New CEOs Should Ask Themselves in Their First 100 Days
Stepping into a chief executive role is exhilarating. At the same time, the reality of leading an organization hits differently when you're actually in the seat. Employees, clients, board members and the media all want to know: Who are you as a leader? What's going to change? What's your strategy? Where are you taking the organization? The temptation to act quickly is real. In the face of those expectations, it's important to remember that the first 100 days aren't about having all the answers—they're about setting the foundation for long-term success. And while there may be urgent decisions to make, you want to use this time to ask the right questions and get clear on where you want to go and how you'll get there. From our experience working with hundreds of CEOs, we've seen four themes emerge as top priorities for the first 100 days. And we've identified 17 critical questions new leaders should ask themselves as they navigate each priority. This list is just the beginning. The real work is in owning the questions—and your answers. Building a Leadership Team Successful CEOs we've worked with don't follow the usual playbook when it comes to building their team. They look beyond familiar names and past relationships to identify who they need for what's ahead. They're looking for candidates with strong track records—not just sales numbers or project deliveries, but those with true leadership capabilities and traits. They also make a deliberate choice to bring in a mix of perspectives, including both fresh voices bringing new ideas and experienced leaders who know the ropes. And while they are fair in assessing the leadership team they inherit, they are focused on moving deliberately and making the tough choices for who will drive the company forward. The result? A leadership team built with intention. As you're building your leadership team, ask yourself: Who will drive change from the trenches—coaching, empowering, and elevating their teams, as opposed to just managing the business and tracking metrics? Is my team inclusive of leaders who have different viewpoints? Do I have leaders on my team who will challenge old ways of thinking and drive towards where the business is headed? What signals am I sending to the organization and clients with my leadership choices? Engaging Stakeholders Real trust and alignment doesn't happen by accident—it needs to be intentionally built. A key task for new CEOs is to build relationships with stakeholders including your employees, customers, shareholders, board members, analysts, and community. Leading CEOs often start with a few critical priorities and form working groups of influential voices—those culture carriers who can shape opinions, rally teams, build trust, and ease concerns during change. By engaging the right voices early, the best CEOs foster alignment and real input, building momentum from within rather than relying solely on top-down direction. As you're building relationships with stakeholders, ask yourself: Who are the most important stakeholders based on where the organization is going, not where it's been? Do your stakeholders have a clear understanding of what the organization's priorities are? Who are the culture carriers in this organization? Are their voices involved early enough to build alignment, not just communicate decisions? How are we measuring whether trust in leadership is growing or fading? Building Your Vision New CEOs invariably will be asked dozens of times: What's your new strategy? In the first few months, employees don't expect a new CEO to have all the details figured out, but they do want clarity on direction. We've found that the most successful CEOs articulate the big strategic questions the organization must address, while simultaneously launching focused actions—for example, shifting delivery to be more AI-driven, expanding into certain markets, or creating enough room in the P&L to invest in growth. They use these early, no regret, moves to signal where the organization is heading, even as the vision and related strategic actions are still being developed. These leaders also recognize that their teams want clarity of purpose—why does the organization exist, and how, you, as a leader will create a vision that will help to address these fundamental questions. As you're preparing to introduce your vision, ask yourself: What actions can we take now that will drive immediate impact for where the organization is headed? Is the organization currently clear about how it creates value and the big strategic questions that must be addressed? Who has the insight and foresight to shape the vision—and how fast should we move to stay ahead? How are priorities being balanced to deliver results today while driving future growth? Staying Focused New CEOs often find themselves pulled in multiple directions, reacting to problems instead of driving their own agenda. It's easy to lose sight of what matters most. Staying on course requires making time for your own work and developing the confidence and respect to help keep the organization moving forward. To stay grounded and in control, CEOs should: Choose a few trusted advisors who speak openly and help them stay on course. Track and balance how much of their time is spent leading vs. responding. Block time for strategy and focused work to avoid getting lost in constant meetings and requests. Regularly check in on the vision to make sure priorities remain aligned—and make adjustments quickly when they are not. Consider other feedback loops to tap regularly for clear insights; for example, luminaries, geopolitical consultants, customers, or employee listening sessions. Successful CEOs find a way to be genuinely open to feedback and self-reflection, confirming they're addressing the most important questions. One mechanism to confirm they're hearing direct feedback is establishing a tight-knit executive office—a group of fewer than five to 10 trusted team members outside the formal leadership team who have the respect, influence, and ability to make things happen. Most importantly, this group is willing to say it like it is to the CEO. A mix of strategic thinkers and tactical operators, they work to clear obstacles, keep things moving, engage with the leadership team to surface issues early and keep momentum strong, all while confirming alignment with the CEO's vision. To confirm you're staying focused, ask yourself: In which areas can you truly move the business? (As opposed to letting what's most visible or urgent capture your attention.) How will you plan to listen broadly enough to see the full picture—and how will you act boldly to shape it? How are you managing your time between reacting and leading—and what needs to shift? What are you concerned you might be missing—and who will you trust to tell you the truth? . . . When you step into the CEO role, the pressure to have all the answers is real. But no one expects you to solve everything overnight. What they do expect is leadership that tackles the most important questions facing the business and clear communication about what you're focused on, what you're learning, and where challenges lie. Taking the time to ask the right questions during your first 100 days can help you build a stronger foundation of trust, alignment, and excitement to build on when it comes time to execute. And as you reflect, one final question is worth asking: Are you showing up the way you intended—and would your team say the same?
Harvard Business Review
12 hours ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Disrupting the Freezer Aisle: Dr. Bombay Ice Cream
When Happi Co. CEO Sam Rockwell partnered with Snoop Dogg and his son, Cordell Broadus, to launch Dr. Bombay Ice Cream, the team set out to disrupt a stagnant market with innovative flavors and culturally resonant branding. By combining Happi Co.'s operational expertise with Snoop Dogg's global influence, the brand quickly secured placement in 80% of U.S. national grocery retailers and projected $20 million in first-year sales. Now, as Rockwell considers strategic next steps for marketing, fundraising, and diversification into new markets, he must also navigate the complexities of a creator-led brand. That includes balancing roles and responsibilities while keeping the company nimble and culturally relevant to reach its goals. Rockwell and Harvard Business School professor Bill Kerr join host Brian Kenny to discuss Kerr's HBS case ' Dr. Bombay Ice Cream,' which explores the creation, growth, and strategic decisions behind a lifestyle brand fueled by bold ideas and storytelling.
Harvard Business Review
a day ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Your AI Strategy Needs More Than a Single Leader
In boardrooms around the world, a familiar question keeps surfacing: Who should lead our AI efforts? It's a reasonable question. As generative AI reshapes the business landscape, leaders are rightly trying to determine who is best positioned to guide their companies through the shift. In response, some have rushed to appoint chief AI officers (CAIO), as if one brilliant hire could unlock AI's full promise. But this approach often misfires. The CAIO arrives with fanfare. Pilots begin. A few flashy demos surface. And then? Not much. Projects stall. Teams don't adopt. The CAIO departs. The board starts asking tough questions. It's not because the CAIO wasn't smart or capable. It's because the role itself, at least as it's currently imagined, is overloaded and misaligned. The assumption is that one individual can bridge innovation and operations, oversee compliance and infrastructure, and deliver fast wins across the enterprise. That's an impossible job description. The companies making real progress are building ecosystems of leaders involved in the AI journey. The Lone-Leader Trap Too often, the CAIO is tucked under the CTO or siloed in a strategy group. They're told to experiment, to be bold, but also to avoid risk, deliver immediate value, and ensure enterprise-wide transformation. In one global-services firm, the AI lead created a promising prototype using a large language model. But the project went nowhere. Business units hadn't been brought in early, training never happened, and the new tool sat unused. Even in better-aligned orgs, the pressure on a single leader to drive AI transformation is intense. Boards want their investment in AI to quickly translate to top-line revenue. Legal asks for guardrails. Operations wants automation. Marketing wants personalization. It's not that these goals are wrong. But expecting one person to deliver them all is setting them up to fail. An Ecosystem Approach In companies where AI is taking root, the best leadership is distributed, with many executives working in sync. Holmes Murphy, a leading commercial-insurance brokerage-and-services company, offers an early example. One individual has been elevated to orchestrate the overall AI program, but the responsibility for AI-driven change is distributed across all levels of the organization. It starts with an AI leadership team made up of deeply engaged senior executives (including the CEO, CIO, head of technology, and chief legal officer), each selected for their deep understanding of the business, commitment to innovation, and ability to drive top-down operational change. Supporting them is a small, cross-functional AI Center of Excellence (COE) composed of five or six individual contributors and manager-level employees who share a passion for innovation and willingness to challenge the status quo. The COE is tasked with developing deep expertise in AI capabilities, staying current on emerging trends, and translating those capabilities into business-relevant applications. Over time, the COE will serve as a key driver of internal innovation, with the broader goal of embedding an AI-forward mindset across the entire organization. Some leaders in your AI ecosystem should focus on building. These are your engineers, heads of digital, or product teams experimenting with generative tools. Others should focus on integration: the COO rethinking workflows, the customer-support lead reorganizing teams to leverage new AI systems. Still others should serve as connectors: the CFO tying investments to outcomes, the general counsel evaluating risk, the CEO ensuring that AI is embedded in how the organization learns and adapts. This doesn't require a complex bureaucracy. The structure matters less than the mindset: AI isn't a department. It's a capability the whole leadership team needs to own. The CEO's Critical Role Among those leaders, the CEO plays a unique and outsized role. The CEO holds the power to set strategy, align incentives, and shape the organization's cultural response to change. AI transformation, when done well, is not about the technology itself. It's about the strategic and operational shifts it enables. AI strategy is your business strategy. That's why CEOs cannot delegate AI leadership entirely. Their words and, more importantly, their actions, signal how seriously their companies are taking the transition, and whether the future includes a place for every employee. The most effective CEOs lead with direct involvement, authenticity, clarity, and a growth mindset. Authenticity means mapping AI adoption to their own personality and strengths. A technical CEO might prototype new workflows and share the results. A non-technical CEO might co-create new processes with internal builders and show that AI is for everyone, not just experts. Direct involvement means showing up, not just as a sponsor, but as a peer in critical working sessions. It means engaging with pilots, attending hackathons, and giving feedback as real work happens. That behavior was on full display recently at ITAGroup, an 800-person employee-recognition and events company. The CEO, Brent Vander Waal, along with the COO, CIO, and CFO, spent hours in cross-functional sessions with managers and frontline staff. Together, they mapped how each unit operates and pinpointed opportunities for AI to improve employee and customer experience. The initiative culminated in a company-wide hackathon chaired by the executive team. Leadership watched, listened, offered feedback, and judged the results. The signal was clear: This transformation belongs to everyone. Clarity and a growth mindset should define how the CEO communicates. Policies must be clear. Messaging must be consistent. And the underlying frame should be opportunity-driven. It's about scaling work, evolving roles, and creating space for more human creativity and judgment. Who Else Should Be at the Table? Start with a builder. Someone curious, energized by possibility, and willing to test new ideas even when the outcome is uncertain. This might be someone already inside the organization, a head of innovation, a product lead, or an engineering director quietly experimenting with AI tools. But that builder needs a partner. Someone grounded in the business, who understands where work happens, where friction happens, and what's worth solving. Without somebody who can view experiments through an operational lens, they will often remain disconnected from real impact. Finally, you need a strategist. Someone who can zoom out, assess which initiatives align with long-term goals, and steward limited resources to their highest use. These leaders don't need identical resumes. But they do need to all be collaborative. Curious. Grounded in reality but open to reimagining how things work. They can tolerate ambiguity but know when to focus and ship. Some of the most impactful AI champions emerge organically through hands-on exposure rather than formal selection. We've observed that many organizations are still in the early stages of AI maturity and lack a practical understanding of what today's tools can realistically accomplish. An effective way to bridge this gap is through ideation sessions with leadership that demystify core concepts, showcase live examples, and—crucially—encourage hands-on experimentation with tools such as ChatGPT Pro and Claude. These early interactions often shift mindsets and spark more grounded, creative thinking about AI's role in the business. These early sessions often ignite curiosity. In at least two recent cases, participants who had no prior AI experience got inspired and became deeply engaged after seeing use cases tested live. They began experimenting independently, generating new ideas, and encouraging peers to do the same. This kind of early empowerment has helped surface unlikely champions—people who, once inspired, lead by doing rather than by title. It's tempting to look inward and tap the existing AI team to lead the company-wide shift. But as Brendan Hopper, the CIO of Commonwealth Bank, notes, 'Many of the people who've been working with AI the longest may not be the right ones to lead enterprise transformation. They're brilliant in the lab, but transformation happens in the business.' That's a crucial distinction. Technical expertise is necessary but not sufficient. Leading transformation requires business fluency, emotional intelligence, and the ability to galvanize others across functions. Consider how Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera's former CEO, seized on ChatGPT not as a lab exercise but as a business imperative. He dove into the tool himself, then launched 'Project Genesis,' a cross‑functional team that mapped AI pilots—involving such tasks as translations, coaching, and content generation—against clear impact metrics. He rewrote OKRs to bake AI goals into every department, held open forums to surface concerns, and built human‑in‑the‑loop feedback to catch bias and manage risk. That blend of technical curiosity, business fluency, and change‑management muscle is exactly what transforms isolated experiments into company‑wide breakthroughs. Designing for Durability AI efforts stall when coordination breaks down. A promising model might need new data flows, process redesign, legal input, change management, and training. If each of those sits in a different part of the org, each with its own roadmap and priorities, the friction can be fatal. One of us (John) outlined this in a previous HBR article on the systematic adoption of AI. The key isn't just experimentation. It's designing a repeatable system for evaluating, integrating, and scaling good ideas. That means clarifying roles: who builds, who integrates, who decides. It means standing up lightweight infrastructure, centers of excellence, working groups, playbooks, that create flow between departments rather than barriers. It also means avoiding several dangerous pitfalls. Notably: Ignoring change‑management. A candidate who can articulate how neural networks work but can't craft a narrative, negotiate risk, or upskill thousands of colleagues will leave cultural resistance untouched and ROI unrealized. Gatekeeping of ideas. When AI planning is limited to a tight inner circle, the team misses the lived‑in knowledge of frontline employees. Strong leaders keep the channels wide open—through idea portals, rotating workshops, even factory‑floor office hours—and run a clear process for sorting, testing, and scaling the best suggestions. Misreading the risk landscape Choosing someone blind to ethics, privacy, and regulatory exposure can spark reputational or legal crises that overshadow any early gains, eroding executive and board confidence in the whole program. Lead Together, or Not at All It's tempting to believe the right hire will unlock AI. But AI isn't a solo act. It's not even a duet. It's an enterprise-wide shift that touches every function. The companies that figure this out won't be the ones who find the perfect CAIO, if such a person exists. They'll be the ones who build a leadership model flexible enough and durable enough—and staffed by leaders curious enough—to navigate what comes next. Hiring matters. But the real work starts when the whole team leans in.
