Chasing AI for the hype is a trap. Without the right digital leadership, you’re not transforming, you’re just automating failure.
Boardrooms today echo with only one word: AI.
“We need to get AI into our system.”
“Investors want AI.”
“Let’s automate this with AI.”
“AI will make things better.”
AI is no doubt the shiny new object du jour. However, the biggest mistake organizations make today concerning AI is believing that “AI will make it better,” without knowing how.
The rush to get AI into the system is making smart people ask and answer some very important questions:
- “How will AI make it better?”
- “How can we use AI to make ourselves better?”
This one distinction — between believing in AI’s magic vs. consciously shaping how AI is used — is the difference between a failed pilot and a successful transformation. Between investing in technology and achieving actual impact.
The myth: ‘AI will fix this for us’
Organizations often fall into a trap — a mix of optimism and urgency — that leads them to implement AI in the same way they’d buy a tool:
- “Let’s buy a chatbot.”
- “Let’s automate invoices.”
- “Let’s analyze customer feedback using sentiment analysis.”
These are all outputs, not outcomes. Here, AI is being treated like a magic wand — assumed to deliver improvement simply because of its technological muscle.
But most of these efforts hit a wall within months. Why?
Because AI does not create value in isolation.
AI amplifies intent, structure, and clarity — and if these don’t exist, AI simply magnifies the mess.
Without the right digital thinking, organizations:
- Go after jazzy tools with no integration into business strategy
- Fail to prioritize where AI can actually deliver business value
- Don’t prepare their people, processes, or data infrastructure for success
- Lose momentum due to unclear ownership or lack of visible impact
The intent: ‘How can we use AI to get better?’
When looking at any transformational projects, including AI, you have to be very clear about both the intent and objective.
Implementing AI is like adding a new team member or setting up a new team with specialized skills. You have to know where and how to use the skills rather than thinking these skills will bring transformation.
Digital leadership
The tools alone do not bring transformation. Digital leadership is what is required to attain the goals and objectives for the organization.
A digital leader ponders and answers some very specific questions, like:
- “What problem are we solving?”
- “Should we automate this — and what changes when we do?”
- “What’s the real gain from using GenAI in this part of the process?”
Once he has these questions, the leader creates a digital roadmap to achieve these goals.
The role of a digital leader in unlocking AI’s true potential
A digital leader is not just a technologist. They are a translator of business problems into digital solutions, a curator of priorities, and a change architect who helps make sure that digital and AI investments land successfully.
How a digital leader creates strategic advantage
1. Bringing clarity to chaos
Most organizations are overwhelmed by digital options. They know they need to “do AI,” but don’t know where to start.
A digital leader begins by grounding the entire effort in a business context:
- Where is the inefficiency costing us the most?
- Where are we losing customers?
- What insights are we missing?
- What decisions take too long or too little data?
Once these are clear, AI becomes a means, not an end.
Example: Instead of “let’s implement AI in HR,” the digital leader reframes the initiative as “let’s reduce hiring cycle time by 30% — and see if AI can help us automate screening or improve JD-to-candidate fit.”
2. Mapping AI to business value
A digital leader links AI capabilities to specific business use cases:
- Predictive maintenance → Reduce asset downtime
- Customer segmentation → Increase campaign ROI
- Conversational AI → Reduce service ticket volume
- AI copilots → Improve analyst productivity
They quantify value in terms of time saved, revenue unlocked, customer experience improved — not just features implemented.
Example: A digital leader may say, “If this AI recommendation engine increases conversion rates on our website by 2%, that’s XXM$ more in revenue annually.”
3. Designing for adoption, not just deployment
One of the biggest reasons AI or any other transformation initiative fails is lack of user adoption. A digital leader ensures:
- The user (employee/customer) is part of the design process
- Change management and training are built into the rollout
- AI outputs are explainable and aligned with how people work
AI succeeds when it’s embedded into workflows, not bolted onto them.
Example: A leader might realize that a finance team doesn’t trust AI forecasts unless they can “see the assumptions.” They redesign the dashboard to show drivers and confidence intervals — making the tool more usable and trusted.
4. Building iteratively, learning continuously
Digital leaders focus on quick wins, pilots, and feedback loops, rather than waiting 12 months for a massive launch.
They help create a test-and-learn environment where:
- Hypotheses are tested
- Data is validated
- Teams learn what works and what doesn’t
Example: A leader may initiate a 6-week prototype of a GenAI-powered knowledge assistant for internal sales queries, measure adoption and value, then decide whether to scale or pivot.
5. Upgrading people, process and data — not just tech
No AI solution works without:
- Clean, relevant, and connected data
- Aligned processes and governance
- Empowered, skilled people
A digital leader understands the importance of people, process and data for any technology to bring in transformational results. The transformation doesn’t just come by implementing some technology tool like AI, but it requires a transformational shift in the way people see and use these tools. Unless these tools create value in the user’s daily life, the transformation fails. Digital transformation is people transformation. They work across silos to ensure that the right capabilities are developed internally and that culture supports experimentation, agility, and accountability.
Example: A digital leader may realize that the operations team lacks data context. Instead of pushing an AI dashboard, they first run a “data bootcamp” for ops leads — improving digital literacy.
AI alone doesn’t transform. Thoughtful use of AI does
When you say, “AI will make it better,” you are outsourcing your future to a tool.
But when you ask, “How can I use AI to get better?” — and bring in someone like a CDTO to answer that well — you take ownership of your transformation.
AI is an enabler. But strategy, prioritization, use-case clarity, and adoption discipline are what unlock AI’s real potential. These don’t come from tools — they come from leadership.
A digital leader doesn’t sell technology. They make sure that the organization benefits from it. A digital leader brings:
- Strategic expertise, without full-time cost
- Cross-industry best practices
- A structured, phased engagement model
- Objective, outside-in perspective
- The ability to coach internal teams while building solutions
They act as the thought partner to the CEO, the bridge between IT and business, and the custodian of digital value.
So before your organization rushes into its next AI initiative, take a pause. Ask the right question. And bring in the right thinking.
Because AI doesn’t transform your business — you do.
This article is published as part of the Foundry Expert Contributor Network.
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