The Conversation About AI That Changes Everything (and how to built it into your strategy)

Every other week, CMO/AI brings you stories [ From The Field ]   What I'm hearing and learning from the front lines of AI transformation working with Fortune 1000 companies. The real, messy reality of experimentation; the wins, setbacks, failures and everything in between. Welcome in. 

AI transformation isn't about technology adoption. Or about brand and revenue building use cases.

It's about navigating the deeply human dynamics of ambition, fear, and organizational politics.

I just wrapped up phase one of multi billion dollar company's AI transformation. The unique challenge presented was to deliver enterprise level transformation within a single division (inclusive of marketing and other revenue driving functions).

AI doesn't respect silos, so this required creative, org specific architecture.

What we delivered

Over eight weeks, we mapped both human and technical realities with process rigor, deep data analytics, and behavioral psychology:

• 50 stakeholder interviews and behavioral assessments

• Analysis of 10,000+ GenAI interactions

• Cultural openness and psychological readiness indicators

• Friction points across data, tools, and governance

• Political terrain mapping

From these inputs emerged four distinct adoption personas and a transformation pathways. These were the foundation for tailored capability development - tailored to roles, workflows, org dynamics, psychology and culture.

What we built

A four phased roadmap with 30 initiatives across six capability streams. Nothing generic or speculative.

Every piece on the board placed to solve both technical and human challenges simultaneously.

The questions we asked

• How do we give departments autonomy without triggering turf wars?

• Can governance become an enabler instead of a roadblock?

• How do we convert political friction into partnership strength?

The human truth about transformation

What I already knew, and what played out vividly here, is that AI transformation is deeply personal. CMOs: Your peers and teams aren't resisting your strategy. They're protecting their credibility, their teams, their sense of competence.

Perhaps you already know. Your ability to execute and understand people got your your role.

But do you know how to bake it into your strategy?

Political maneuvering isn't new for seasoned executives. What is novel is systematizing these dynamics into your transformation strategy.

The answer I uncovered... the "3 plane" solution

Organizational transformation operates simultaneously across:

• Technical capability

• Economic value

• Political capital

Our frameworks encoded solutions to all three.

• The governance model gave risk managers control while enabling innovation at market speed.

• Quick wins built political capital for ambitious later phases.

• Different groups could advance at different speeds without creating winners and losers.

What you might have seen with Big 4

Traditional consulting firms document organizational dynamics as "risks." We designed the entire transformation to convert political liabilities into strategic assets. This piece is what makes the strategy on the slides materialize into reality.

Your #1 takeaway

AI transformation is at its core a human change initiative that happens to involve technology.

Map your people first. Build your strategy to move them forward. The tools will follow.

RBD. has one Q3 opening for leaders ready to navigate all three planes of transformation. If you're curious about how we train teams, build capability, improve adoption, realize and measure value, email :contact@rbdco.ai

p.s.s. The Enterprise AI Method is available in paperback on July 22! You can pre-order the digital version now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6798N8V