AI Readiness: The Four Steps CEOs Need to Take to Build AI-Powered Organizations

In an era where artificial intelligence is redefining the foundations of business and society, leadership itself must transform. We stand at the precipice of the most significant technological revolution in modern history—one that will separate organizations that thrive from those that survive.

The stakes are clear: our research found that 54% of leaders rate technological change as a top five threat to organizational health in the next 12-18 months. Senior executives recognize the urgency and necessity of AI transformation. But, only 45% feel confident in their organization’s ability to effectively transform.

The fundamental misconception many leaders harbor is that AI transformation is only a technological challenge. It's not. At its core, it's a leadership challenge—one that demands new capabilities, mindsets, and approaches. This is not about incremental change. This is about fundamental transformation.

We know that committing and implementing large-scale transformation isn’t easy—it’s a huge undertaking. We share the four actions CEOs need to address to supercharge AI transformation at their organization, including ensuring you have the right leaders today, as well as in the wings, who are able to shift their ways of working and adopt AI at scale.

01 Assess the AI readiness of your leadership team

Is your C-suite team willing and able to spearhead transformation? In today’s leadership landscape, leaders need more than technical knowledge to drive AI transformation. It’s becoming increasingly important to determine whether C-suite teams have the ability to evolve and grow amidst a rapidly changing AI landscape.

We believe that the most effective, transformation-ready leaders demonstrate four leadership qualities:

• Drive and resilience: the determination to pursue ambitious goals despite setbacks.
• Curiosity and adaptability: the willingness to question assumptions and embrace new approaches.
• Systems thinking: the ability to understand complex interrelationships across the organization and ecosystem.
• Social intelligence: the capacity to navigate relationships and influence diverse stakeholders.

Beyond these factors, truly transformational leaders possess self-knowledge and a clarity of purpose that allows them to realize their potential—and help others do the same.

We work with organizations to assess whether their C-suite leaders possess these leadership qualities, and identify where any potential gaps may lie. We look beyond traditional definitions of leadership success to identify executive with the dynamic skills needed to spearhead AI transformation and navigate a fast-changing world.

02 Unlock your existing leaders’ AI potential

For many organizations looking to transform, their immediate instinct is to identify and select new leadership talent to drive AI transformation. And in some cases, this is the right thing to do.

But, in many cases, the capacity for transformation will already exist within an organization. Our leadership advisors use our AI Quotient framework to measure leaders’ AI readiness, curiosity, and adaptability to provide CEOs with a view on whether they have transformation-ready leaders in their organization.

But, often the challenge lies in having the know-how to unlock and accelerate this potential. This requires uncovering where the strengths and weaknesses as a C-suite team lie; are they capable of effectively evolving the culture or do they need help to facilitate a critical mindset shift? Are they comfortable embracing experimentation and taking risks, or are they afraid of failure? With structured development plans, CEOs can take their organization’s AI transformation up a gear.

03 Find AI-transformation ready leaders

Our research found that only 32% of leaders expressed confidence that they have the right skills to implement AI in their organizations.

To fill this gap, many CEOs will look externally for C-suite leaders and next-generation talent to bolster their leadership talent pipeline. Increasingly, we are seeing interest in hiring Chief AI Officers. While these leaders can help define the AI strategy for the organization, they’re not right for every business. Who you need at the helm largely depends on what you want to achieve.

But, if you decide to search for a Chief AI Officer, CEOs should consider three key things: that they have proven AI implementation expertise, that they can combine this technical knowledge with change management capabilities, and that their skillset compliments existing strengths and aligns with the organization’s business goals and strategy.

04 Plan for an AI-powered future

AI transformation isn’t a passing trend—it’s here to stay. And that means building a robust leadership pipeline is essential if you want to effective drive AI transformation at scale.

Organizations that treat AI leadership succession planning as a continuous, evolving process rather than a periodic exercise will maintain their competitive edge. This includes regularly reassessing the leadership capabilities needed as AI technologies mature and new applications emerge.

Ensuring succession is a continual process also means creating intentional development paths that expose high-potential leaders to AI initiatives, innovation labs, and cross-functional transformation projects.

The time for transformation is now

As AI continues to redefine what's possible, the organizations that thrive will be those with leaders who don't merely respond to technological change—they harness it and use it to create extraordinary value.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Organizations that successfully navigate this transformation will unlock unprecedented efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage. Those that falter risk irrelevance in an AI-powered future.

Authors

Tristan Jervis leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Technology practice. He is based in London.