A simple way for CEOs who feel lost on AI

Most leadership teams I talk to feel overwhelmed by AI. Not because they ignore it. They read about it constantly, hear about it at every conference, and watch competitors make announcements. But when it comes to deciding what their company should actually do, there is a lot of uncertainty.

The noise is dominated by two extremes: apocalyptic warnings about job losses, and vendor hype about reinventing everything. Neither helps you decide what to do on Monday morning.

This is a simple approach I have found useful when working with leadership teams on AI. It is a way to get moving, while the bigger strategy takes shape.

Two buckets, not one

AI initiatives tend to fall into two categories, and it is worth separating them clearly.

The first is productivity: using AI to do what you already do, but faster, cheaper, or with fewer errors. This is where most companies should start. It is lower risk, easier to measure, and it builds the capability for bigger moves later.

The second is business model: exploring whether AI lets you do something genuinely different. New offerings, new markets, new ways of delivering value. This is higher stakes, longer horizon, and it needs dedicated strategic attention.

Most leadership teams mix the two. They talk about “AI strategy” as if it is one thing. It is not. Productivity improvements and business model exploration need different approaches, different timelines, and often different people.

The productivity path

Within productivity, I see three types of work.

AI literacy training comes first. Everyone needs a baseline understanding of what these tools can and cannot do. The goal is to remove fear and build enough fluency that people recognize opportunities in their own work.

Workflow development and coaching is the next step. This is where individuals and teams actually change how they work. It is not enough to train people and hope they figure it out. They need dedicated support, what I would call AI workflow coaches, helping them build new habits and bring the tools into their daily routines.

Process improvement at the function level is where it gets more structured. Think of it as applying Lean methods to AI opportunities. Which processes have the most waste? Where are the bottlenecks? AI becomes a tool for continuous improvement.

The business model path

Business model exploration is different. It sits at leadership team level. This is not something to delegate to IT or a task force.

Competitor and market intelligence is the starting point. A systematic scan of how AI is reshaping your industry and the spaces next to it. What are competitors doing? What are startups doing? What happened in industries that faced similar disruption earlier?

External expert advisory fills in the blind spots. Bringing in specialists who have seen more implementations, and more failures, than you will meet internally. They are there to pressure-test your assumptions.

AI-enabled exploration and prototyping is where you test ideas. Using AI tools in-house to research possibilities, build rough prototypes, and experiment with new concepts before committing real resources.

Who owns this?

This cannot be delegated.

Yes, HR should own competence development. Yes, IT should be involved in infrastructure and governance. But AI strategy, especially the business model side, has to be owned and led by the CEO and the leadership team.

And not only as oversight. Leaders need to take part visibly. Try the tools themselves. Share what they are learning. Be open about the uncertainty.

There is a temptation to look confident even when you are not. People see through that. What employees want to see is initiative and effort, the sense that leadership is actively working this out rather than waiting for someone else to hand over the answers.

The direction is unclear. But there has never been a better way to find direction than to start moving.

Where to start

If this feels like a lot, here are three actions with almost no downside.

• Train everyone on AI basics. A proper literacy program that builds real understanding, rather than a two-hour webinar.
• Get dedicated workflow coaching in place. Someone whose job is helping teams actually adopt these tools, beyond just learning about them. Bring in outside help to start quickly, and build a lean internal capability as you go.
• Set clear upskilling targets. This also becomes a read on how adaptable your workforce is, and that is information you will need whichever direction AI takes your industry.