How My Business Leadership Skills Are Powering Our AI Evolution

When I was first asked to lead the new artificial intelligence team, I'll admit I was surprised. With my background in business strategy, consulting, and project management - not data science or machine learning engineering - I wondered if I was the right person for the job. I immediately felt that my passions for innovation and technology will make this a fun ride!

But as we discussed the opportunity, it became clear why I was being tapped for this leadership role. While I wasn't technical, I brought a unique set of leadership capabilities and strategic skills that complemented the team's existing technical expertise.

In my previous positions, I led cross-functional initiatives bringing new solutions and capabilities to market, transforming business operations, and helping clients navigate technological change. I excelled at understanding business objectives, rallying diverse teams, and executing ruthlessly to deliver results. Further, my natural curiosity and ability to grasp complex concepts - even outside my domain - helped me dive deep into the technical details with my teams and provide a more strategic perspective.

When it came to AI, I realized my business background could be an asset. With experience across sales, marketing, operations, and consulting, I understood how AI could create value across the business and for clients. I could connect the dots to identify high-impact AI opportunities that aligned to our overall business strategy.

Just as important were my leadership and communication abilities. I was comfortable navigating complex organizational dynamics to get buy-in, manage stakeholder expectations, and structure initiatives for success. I could articulate the "why" around AI in business terms to get others on board.

My track record of successfully delivering major cross-company initiatives demonstrated I could steer an AI team on a new strategic path. I knew how to take an idea from conception to reality in a complex organization. With a solid technical team in place, I complement their skills to lead the AI charge.

As a business leader, I am applying my skills to deliver key AI goals:

• Making our company AI-ready: I assess and address any organizational and data infrastructure gaps to support rapid AI adoption. With stakeholder management skills, I get support for essential AI foundations.
• Adopting AI at pace and scale: I determine high-potential AI use cases and rapidly prototype solutions. With strong execution skills, I will take them from pilot to full-scale deployment across the enterprise.
• Gaining competitive advantage: I identify how AI can differentiate our offerings, processes, and decision-making. I ensure our AI strategy gives us an edge over rivals.
• Strengthening our AI ecosystem: I build partnerships with AI leaders, startups, universities, and platforms to access best-in-class capabilities. I cultivate internal talent and upskill employees to grow our AI competencies.

The end goal is an AI strategy with complimentary capabilities that solve real business problems and create value. With the right mix of technical and business leadership, our AI team has made great strides on that mission. My non-traditional background turned out to be the perfect fit to lead my company further into the age of artificial intelligence.

For business leaders aspiring to expand into cross-functional leadership roles like leading AI, my advice is to leverage your strengths while being open to learning and having a growth mindset. Focus on high-level strategic thinking and how you can apply your business knowledge, but also be willing to dive into the details, ask questions, and lean on your technical teams' expertise. Develop a vision for how emerging technologies like AI can transform business, along with the communication skills to rally others behind that vision. Also, hone your skills to execute with agility. With the right blend of business acumen and adaptability to new domains, business leaders can find exciting opportunities to drive innovation and shape the future of their organizations.