05-12-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

AI is a leadership problem, not a technology problem

The AI implementation gap is a lack of connection between activity and business performance.

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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

Most of the executive teams I work with have been investing in AI for a few years. The ones who are frustrated are not the skeptics. They are the believers whose programs have not connected to the P&L. They have the pilots, the internal momentum, the board slide showing everything in flight. What they do not have is a clear line between that activity and business performance, and at this point in the AI cycle, that gap is no longer acceptable.

I spent several years running AI at scale inside Kroger and its data science subsidiary 84.51°, where we processed millions of predictions per second across thousands of store locations. We measured work in margin, basket size, and customer retention rather than how many models were in production, whether the pilots were impressive, or if the work moved the business. That experience shaped how I think about what AI requires from leadership, and what most leadership teams are still getting wrong.

The executives I work with are not........

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