Executives tend to ask me two questions when it comes to AI: Are we already behind, and where are we compared to our peers? 

Rather than sending you to-do lists, one way I can assess status and progress is by asking two questions back: Do you have an AI strategy, and if so, who owns it?  

If an AI strategy exists, and lives under the CTO/CIO without broad awareness within the organization by business unit leaders, I have a telling data point.  You have a plan for technology but likely lack a pathway to true transformation.

When we are trying to lead breakthrough growth strategy in a way that delivers impact, we must dramatically accelerate how we create value. 

How we achieve value creation adjusts, the definition of strategy as value creation has not.

So what’s the definition of AI Strategy?

It doesn’t exist.

Tariffs. Trade deals. AI transformations. Regulatory changes. Geopolitical tensions.  Shifting consumer confidence. 

As leaders, we continue to face an unprecedented number of unpredictable disruptive events that can overturn the old certainties.

The problem is not that these unpredictable events happen; the problem is that when they do, leaders tend to freeze or panic and then falter through the uncertainty that follows.

Leading an organization through uncertainty is hard because we cannot predict the future. The good news is that leading through uncertainty does not require prediction: the challenge is mastering how to make good decisions even though we cannot make predictions.  So, how can you make great decisions, bust out of decision paralysis, and lead your team through uncertainty? Here are four ways.

What does uncertainty mean for your growth strategy?

A promising time to grow, if you are willing to reframe your view of uncertainty and adjust your strategic approach.   If a more uncertain world means adjusting our approach to growth, we must adapt our approach to growth tracking as well.  As I find myself saying often recently: if you are trying to do new things in changing markets, we need new tools and metrics to do so.

Metrics and measurement matter, but as we shift what and how we are executing, we should occasionally relook at our approaches.