Here Christopher Lind absolutely nails it. And it's not limited to today's genAI wave. Several years ago, the Chief Data Officer role faced similar headwinds, for similar reasons.

I should know. Like Christopher Lind, and like so many of my experienced colleagues, over the years I've been approached by companies to serve as their inaugural CDO (CAO, CAIO, ...). It was always the same story: they wanted magic and fairy dust, while I wanted effort and discipline.

(What about the people who accept the role under these unfavorable circumstances? If memory serves, the average tenure of a CDO is about 18-24 months. That tells you a lot.)

This is when you'll ask me what it takes for a company to succeed with AI. Allow me to share the same five steps that I post every couple of months:

1/ Get the leadership team up to speed on AI. Execs who understand what AI can(not) do are in a much better position to decide how the company will use it.

2/ Make a plan. Not only will this add structure to your efforts, it will also tell you when things are going awry.

3/ Get your house in order. All that fancy AI relies on clean, correct data supplied by a solid infrastructure.

4/ Involve your legal and PR teams early. Lawsuits due to allegedly purloined training data can be costly. The same goes for a wave of bad press due to malfunctioning AI bots.

5/ Work with a professional. Someone who has end-to-end experience with AI can dramatically reduce your risk and improve your chances of success.

That's it.

If someone is selling you on an AI plan that does not involve this kind of effort and discipline, well, you have some questions to ask ...

(And if you're serious about putting AI to work in your company, reach out.)