When appointing leaders for AI initiatives, prioritising technical expertise over business acumen leads to strategic discord and projects that fail to deliver value
BOARDROOMS across South-east Asia are noting a frustrating paradox: artificial intelligence (AI) is a top technological priority – Egon Zehnder’s 2025 CIO survey found that chief information officers ranked it second only to cyber risk – yet the return on these substantial investments remain negligible. Despite numerous proof-of-concept initiatives, few are scaling to create real business value.
Why does this occur? Many organisations misdiagnose the failures of AI transformation. They often attribute these shortcomings to technological issues or to the performance of an individual leading AI initiatives. The real challenge, however, lies in a leadership blind spot.
To become AI-driven, organisations frequently delegate AI transformation to a senior technical leader, typically the CIO, chief technology officer, or a data/AI leader. When hiring or appointing leaders for AI initiatives, they tend to prioritise technical expertise over business acumen.
