Delegating AI is not the same as supporting it.

That one distinction is going to separate the companies that get this right from the ones that spend two years and a lot of money learning very little.

What an innovation role taught me

Years ago I ran the innovation initiative for a division of a large company. The job was to build a culture where people understood what it meant to think creatively and bring genuinely new products to market.

The more I studied companies with real innovative cultures, the clearer the pattern became:

The successful ones had leadership that understood the need and got personally behind it.

Not a company-wide email that made an announcement. Not sponsorship on a slide deck.

The best leaders gave it actual attention, time, and staffing.

Where leadership handed the initiative to a committee and moved on, it almost always guaranteed a quiet and slow death.

The same rule applies now

Companies whose senior leaders understand why AI matters, and who give it the time, the people, and the patience it needs, will be fine.

Companies whose leaders assign it out and check in once a quarter will fall behind. Not because they picked the wrong tools, but because culture follows leadership attention.

It’s just like one of my favorite quotes:

Whether you like it or not, the team watches what the leaders ask about in meetings. They watch how leaders spend their time and what they put their weight behind.

That’s how teams decide what actually matters in their organizations.

Three questions if you’re a senior leader (or department leader)

• What do I personally need to understand about AI in order to lead this well?
• Have I said out loud where we’re going, or have I only approved a budget?
• Who owns this, and have I given them enough authority and cover to succeed?

Over the last few weeks we’ve covered communication, adoption, and management. They all come back to the same thing:

If your team asked you tomorrow what your AI strategy is, what would you say? And would it match what they’ve watched you do?

I know...tough questions for a Tuesday morning. But I think some of us need to grapple with the big questions.

Micah

P.S. This is what The Strategic Reset is built for. Half a day or a full day with your leadership team, and you walk out with a real AI strategy plus the plan to communicate it. Grab a time here and let’s see if it's a fit for you and your organization.