Someone told me recently that in their organisation, people get fired for using AI. The CEO does not use it. So the signal is clear: neither does anyone else.
I thought about the people who work there who can see what is possible. Who have read what I have read. Who know what their competitors are doing. Sitting in meetings with a tool they are not allowed to touch.
I have been that person. Not on AI specifically, but on other things. The constraint that comes from the top and becomes the ceiling for everyone below it. It is one of the most frustrating positions to be in: knowing what is possible and being prohibited from trying.
The organisations that survive this transition will not be the ones with the most advanced AI strategy document. They will be the ones where a courageous person is driving transformation with passion and is allowed to do so. That is a leadership problem before it is a technology problem.
The x100 does not happen without that person. And that person needs a leader who will get out of the way.
Do you have a courageous person driving your AI transformation with passion?