I transitioned out of a full-time technical leadership role to focus on strategy, innovation, and leadership. Naturally, that means spending a lot more time on LinkedIn—where one overarching theme dominates every feed: AI strategy.

Many organizations are jumping on the “We need to use AI!” train and frantically searching for “AI experts” to save the day. Companies are opening up headcount, creating dedicated AI teams, and bringing in external specialists to drive transformation.

As a technical leader, watching this gold rush gives me pause.

AI is moving at a staggering speed. Every week, my husband shares a new tool or use case he’s trying that wasn’t even possible a month ago. Specialist AI knowledge can be valuable, but it needs to be connected to your business context, legacy systems, and customers. External expertise works best alongside the people who understand those realities.

Instead of chasing expensive silver bullets, executive leaders should look inward.

If you already have developers, enterprise architects, business analysts, and process experts, you already possess the single most critical ingredient: domain knowledge. A practical starting point is to develop the workforce you already have and bring in specialist expertise where there are clear gaps.

  • Empower your core team: Challenge your analysts, architects, and developers to explore AI connectors, build low-code agents, and integrate automation into the workflows they already know.
  • Establish clear governance: Give your teams defined guardrails, data privacy guidelines, and permission to experiment safely.
  • Bridge domain expertise with new tech: Employees who understand the business can identify useful opportunities and test whether a change works in practice. Pair that knowledge with specialist support where the technical or governance needs require it.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for a chaotic free-for-all where everyone grabs a random tool and hopes for efficiency, nor am I suggesting you hire five dedicated AI specialists just to check a box.

If you’ve used AI yourself, you may have found it useful for exploring ideas and learning new concepts. Think about how your people could build on that same curiosity, with guidance and opportunities to apply what they learn. Look inward: you may already have a strategic leader who understands your organization and can bring the right people together to establish a governance plan and an internal upskilling strategy, including how teams will test ideas and validate results.

Where that capacity is missing, bringing in an experienced leader or advisor temporarily can help you establish the framework and avoid spending time and money on disconnected efforts. This is the kind of work I help organizations with: connecting business priorities, practical governance, and people development so their own teams can move forward with confidence. The aim is to build lasting capability within your organization, with focused support where it makes a difference.