Transforming Consumer Industries in the Age of AI 2025

Enabling reinvention 4 Scaling AI requires balance across three pillars of reinvention: leadership and people, technological readiness, and unwavering commitment to responsibility. 4.1 Leading people through the change Today’s organizations have an extraordinary opportunity to make these emerging forms of work far more interesting than the kinds of work they are replacing, while supporting employees to thrive in the AI-enabled environment. With that opportunity comes an extraordinary leadership responsibility, compelling executives to reconsider who they need to be and what they need to do.Who leaders need to be As Chet Kapoor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the AI platform company DataStax, described, there is a rising need for a new leadership profile that combines powerful thinker (strategic)/builder (technical)/value creator (champion) mindsets. Companies needed a tech-savvy, process-driven and analytically focused leader – typically a chief information officer (CIO) or a chief technology officer (CTO). The guiding principle for adoption was simple: Heavy training leads to better use. GenAI is changing those beliefs. Not only do people learn and interact with technology differently, but there is also no roadmap or manual and the opportunities are unlimited. The new rule? ‘Heavy use leads to better training.’ This shift demands a different style of leadership … While some organizations might find one leader, like a modern CIO, to handle the full scope, it’s just as possible to approach genAI leadership as a partnership, with multiple leaders bringing their unique strengths to the table (and drawing on AI to amplify them).36 Chet Kapoor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DataStax. 24 Transforming Consumer Industries in the Age of AI