To a large extent the success (or otherwise) of AI integration into any given company is closely tied to whether or not that company’s leadership is sufficiently visionary.
From my own work with clients, from industry conversations, and from monitoring best practice use cases around the world, I can see that not all leaders are equipped to navigate the next few years of widespread AI integration and adoption.
It will be the companies who have leaders with foresight, courage, and strategic acumen who will be able to steer their companies through what will be some turbulent years ahead, as AI evolves whole industries and business models.
In short; AI is as much a challenge of cultural change and leadership, as it is a technical challenge.
In recent weeks, the biotech giant Moderna has become somewhat of a surprise poster child for what visionary leadership can achieve by weaving AI throughout all levels of a company.
You can read the full press release here, but in a nutshell, Moderna has formed a partnership with OpenAI to integrate AI across its entire org.
The goal? To accelerate the development of life-saving mRNA treatments.
The results? In just two short months, they developed a mind-boggling 750 custom GPTs across the company, and saw a level of employee engagement with AI (80%) that I haven’t seen in any other company of Moderna’s size.
CEO Stéphane Bancel says the aim is "to ‘redesign every business process’ with AI, allowing the 3,000-person team to perform like 100,000.”
To me, that’s a powerful and noble objective for AI.
Putting aside the fact the case study is designed and written by OpenAI, and acknowledging the clear bias within that scenario, let’s focus on the theme of visionary leadership that Moderna are showing to drive AI adoption of that magnitude.
This is not about buying a few ChatGPT subscriptions and letting employees run wild.
What I see in this case study is leadership that is setting a clear vision, allocating resources, and really putting time and effort into AI education, skills training and fostering a culture of innovation for their employees.
To my eyes, by acknowledging all of the cultural and process change that will be necessary to re-shape an organisation around AI’s capabilities, it is leaders like Bancel that will create an environment where AI can really thrive.
If we accept that the Moderna case study above is an excellent example what visionary leadership, then to explain why I think this type of leadership is going to be so critical in the coming years, I’ll now paraphrase the words of one of my favourite AI commentators, Paul Roetzer.
The passage below is from Paul’s excellent essay “The Future of Business Is AI, or Obsolete”, which I highly recommend you read in full.
There will be three types of businesses in every industry: AI Native, AI Emergent and Obsolete.
I keep running through examples in my mind - and I can’t come up with an industry or business model where this won’t be true.
But, why now? What makes this moment in time different from the never-ending cycle of digital transformation?
Consider the following:
When you consider all these factors together, it’s the perfect storm for wide-scale disruption, and once-in-a-lifetime wealth creation and career advancement.
I acknowledge that that passage can be very intimidating to read.
No business leader wants to hear that an emerging technology has the potential to render them obsolete within the next few years.
However, I believe the inverse is also true.
For those leaders with sufficient vision, the potential to evolve with AI is not only eminently achievable, but also very rewarding.
As much as anyone, I get frustrated by statements like…
"The AI path forward is clear. It starts with developing a bold, transformative vision for how AI can reshape their business, and then aligning stakeholders around that vision."
- ChatGPT
So then, what specifically do visionary leaders have to be willing to do to truly adopt AI… to challenge the status quo, and to invest in the necessary change across strategy, talent, infrastructure and culture?
Well, the short answer is; that’s what I do (hint, hint) with and for clients and their leaders.
The slightly longer answer is that it takes initiatives like internal AI communities, hands-on workshops, and comprehensive change management strategies to build an AI-ready workforce.
It also takes a recognition from leaders that we’ll need to address things together like:
It’s easy to deploy AI tools. Any leader can do that.
But only visionary leaders are preparing their companies properly for the full transformation that will be required to make them ‘AI Emergent’.
I guess what I’m really saying in this article is...
The path to AI success isn't necessarily hard, but nor is it quick or for the faint of heart – it requires vision, bravery, and a genuine commitment to staying ahead of the curve.
But I know that those leaders who rise to the challenge will find the rewards are worth it.
They will be the ones who not only navigate the future for their businesses and their people, but actually define their future.