A recap from our October 21 Executive Reset on Organizational Infrastructure and AI

Only 39% of organizations can attribute any enterprise EBITA impact to AI, according to McKinsey. At our October Executive Reset, we asked a small group of senior leaders why.

Their answers pointed away from the technology and confirmed BCG’s findings: roughly 70% of AI adoption challenges are people and process issues. In our work, we see the same pattern: business growth is a function of leadership capacity, and leadership capacity needs the right organizational infrastructure underneath it.

Three Things the Room Told Us

Nobody has it all together. Each part of the infrastructure (structure, governance, ROI measurement, culture, talent, data and change) sits on its own spectrum. An organization can be a 5 out of 10 on technology and a 2 out of 10 on culture and still make real progress. The question is where your leverage is highest.

Unclear ownership is the real bottleneck. AI compresses cycle time, so a handoff that worked at human speed breaks at AI speed. One team had no one who owned the decision on when an AI draft was good enough to send unreviewed. Our CXO action: map where AI output crosses a decision boundary and name an owner before you scale.

The first returns often show up as risk reduction. One leader used AI to finally document a critical legacy system that nobody wanted to touch. It will not move EBITA, but it removed real risk. Our CXO action: define 3 to 5 outcome metrics before you launch, and revisit funding quarterly.

Fear exists when there is a lack of information. The people who were most resistant became our super users once they were trained.

– Participant, Technology and Innovation Executive

One Reframe Worth Borrowing

Traditional technology projects front-load discovery, then design, then build. AI reverses that order. You prototype quickly, show people what you heard, and gather feedback throughout adoption. The change effort does not disappear. It moves to the back half of the project.  This means you need a sponsor and a funded change team before the pilot launches, not after it stalls.

Take Action

  • Which infrastructure gap does your leadership team understand least: structure, governance, culture, talent or ROI? We offer complimentary executive briefings, tailored to your company and the timeframe that works for your schedule – whether a robust discussion or a focused 15 minutes.  DM Elene Cafasso on LinkedIn or use the contact form at https://www.enerpace.com/contact-us/
  • Join us 11/18 at 12 CT for our November Executive Reset. Our topic is “AI Executives at the Front Lines” featuring a panel of experts who’ll share their wins, challenges and best practices.  Registration:   https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/kCWEk2JkQsySRUUC9_qqMg