Stop Treating AI Like a Tool - It’s Your Most Strategic Hire This Year
Let’s get real - many companies are using AI like a fancy blender: flashy, expensive, and mostly collecting dust. They ran out, bought the “tech”, checked the “innovation” box, and then looked around like, “Now what?”
Meanwhile, their competitors quietly integrate AI into every core process, and are getting faster, smarter, and way more dangerous to ignore. What was the difference? They started with strategy and with getting everyone trained.
If you’re still treating AI as an IT project or a shiny experiment, that’s your first problem. Because in 2025, AI isn’t just another tool. It’s your next strategic hire - and probably the most important one on your team. AI is more of a “people optimizer” than it is a software tool. Leaders need to start realizing it and find the right ways to introduce this AI thing into their businesses.
Here’s what smart CEOs are doing differently.
1. They’re Building an AI Mindset, Not Just Buying Tool
There’s a reason the first Power Move in my book is called “Adopt a Strategic AI Mindset.” This isn’t about plugging in ChatGPT and calling it a transformation. This is about fundamentally rethinking how your business operates, makes decisions, serves customers, and scales.
A true AI mindset isn’t obsessed with automation. It’s obsessed with elevation - of people, performance, and potential.
Ask yourself:
Are your leaders asking, “How can AI help us think better?” or “Can we replace this role?”
Are you optimizing old workflows, or redesigning them entirely?
AI isn’t a Band-Aid for broken processes. If the foundation is cracked, AI just helps you fail faster.
2. They’ve Hired a Fractional Chief AI Officer (fCAIO) or Built AI Leadership Into the C-Suite
Here’s the tough love: AI isn’t a tech thing. It’s a leadership thing. And if your executive team is still “delegating AI to IT,” you’re already behind.
The companies seeing real traction have either brought in a Chief AI Officer - or upskilled their existing C-levels to lead AI strategically. Not just tactically.
In Power Move #2 (“Hire an AI Expert or Become One”), I break this down in detail: AI leadership must be embedded at the top. Period.
Why?
Because AI touches everything:
Strategic planning
Revenue forecasting
Customer experience
Product development
Hiring and retention
Risk and compliance
That’s not something you bolt on. That’s something you lead.
3. They’re Building Guardrails Before They Floor It
Speed is sexy. Strategy is smarter.
CEOs I work with are learning fast that if you roll out AI without governance, you're not innovating - you’re gambling.
So, what do the Power Move leaders do instead? They build what I call the AI Governance Triangle:
Data readiness: Clean, secure, and ethically sourced
Use-case clarity: Start with business value, not novelty
Human-in-the-loop design: Every AI process has an escalation path
And if you rely on AI vendors to do this thinking for you? You're not in control - they are.
4. They’re Training Everyone - Not Just the “Tech People”
Let me guess - you have one guy in ops who knows how to prompt ChatGPT and now he’s the “AI expert,” right?
Cute. But not sustainable.
Real companies are weaving AI literacy into every level of their org - from the boardroom to the front lines. Starting with their leadership teams first.
One of the biggest Power Moves? Over-communicate.
That means:
Holding live trainings to demystify AI (and governance by the way)
Setting expectations for responsible use
Creating team-specific prompt libraries
Rewarding experimentation, not perfection
This isn’t about becoming prompt engineers. It’s about becoming better thinkers, faster learners, and more adaptive teams - with AI as your partner. With a new mindset.
5. They’ve Replaced “Fear of AI” with “Fluency in AI”
Let’s kill the fear narrative. AI isn’t here to take your job - bad leadership is.
When your team understands what AI can (and can’t) do - and when they see you leading the charge - they stop worrying about being replaced and start getting excited about reinventing.
If that’s not a cultural advantage, I don’t know what is.
So, CEO, founder, owner - What’s Your Move?
You’ve got two choices.
Keep dabbling in AI, running pilots with no plan, and wondering why your results are “meh.”
Or, treat AI like the strategic force it is - embed it in your leadership, align it to your vision, and use it to build a business that’s built to last.
Your competitors are moving. Quietly. Powerfully. Strategically.
If you want to lead - it starts with mindset – and some AI training - NOT tools.
Final Thought:
This isn’t about being an AI company. It’s about being a better company - with AI.
Let’s make your next move a power move.
Let’s discuss embedding real AI leadership into your team through an AI Leadership Fast Track Literacy program and more.
