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What CEOs Get Wrong About AI Capability
AI capability is about more than buying technology or hiring technical specialists. If you are struggling to move AI from pilots into the business, examine leadership, ownership, funding, governance and the decisions that sit between your executives.

Rebecca Hastings
9 min read


Why are AI and data leaders struggling to retain talent?
If your AI or data function is losing strong people, pay may only be part of the problem. Here’s what CEOs, boards and CPOs should examine before hiring replacements.

Rebecca Hastings
10 min read


Can Your CIO Lead AI — or Do You Need a Different Leadership Model?
Can your CIO take responsibility for enterprise AI, or does the organisation need a different leadership model? Assess the CIO’s capability, authority, capacity and the team around them before creating another executive role.

Rebecca Hastings
9 min read


What AI and Data Leaders Need From Organisations to Deliver Results
AI and data leaders need more than individual capability to deliver. Authority, sponsorship, resources, governance and organisational design all shape what they can achieve.

Rebecca Hastings
8 min read


Where Should AI Sit? CAIO, CDO/CDAO, CIO or CTO?
Where AI sits should follow the problem you are trying to solve, not the title you think you need. This decision framework compares CAIO, CDO/CDAO, CIO, CTO and federated models across maturity, decision rights, reporting lines, regulation and board oversight.

Rebecca Hastings
14 min read


How do we know whether an executive search firm has genuinely covered the market?
A shortlist alone does not tell you whether the market was properly searched. Here is what boards should expect to see behind it, from market mapping and outreach to candidate response, trade-offs and gaps.

Rebecca Hastings
9 min read


Should sector experience be essential when appointing a senior technology, data or AI leader?
Should sector experience be essential when appointing a senior technology, data or AI leader? How to distinguish genuinely necessary industry knowledge from experience that simply feels familiar.

Rebecca Hastings
7 min read


Our previous technology executive search failed. What should we change before going back to market?
A failed CIO, CTO or technology executive search should not simply be restarted. Here is how to identify what went wrong, redefine the role and approach the market differently.

Rebecca Hastings
7 min read


How to Assess CIO & CTO Candidates When You're Not Technical
You don’t need to match a CIO or CTO candidate’s technical expertise to assess them properly. Focus on their judgement, personal contribution, decisions, influence and evidence of what they have actually delivered.

Rebecca Hastings
8 min read


Should we hire a CDO, a CDAO or a CAIO?
Should data, analytics and AI sit under one executive, or has AI become broad enough to require separate leadership? The answer depends on existing ownership, authority and the scope of the role.

Rebecca Hastings
9 min read


How do we know whether we need a CIO or a CTO?
CIO and CTO responsibilities increasingly overlap. The right choice starts with what needs to change, where technology complexity sits and which decisions the executive must own.

Rebecca Hastings
9 min read


We’ve invested heavily in AI but aren’t seeing enough business value. What kind of leadership do we actually need?
AI investment can stall for very different reasons. Before changing the leadership team, establish whether the constraint is business ownership, technology, data, decision-making or executive capability.

Rebecca Hastings
11 min read


Do you need a Chief AI Officer — or should AI sit with the CIO, CTO or CDAO?
Should AI sit with a Chief AI Officer, CIO, CTO or CDAO? The answer depends on the outcomes, authority and organisational structure required to turn AI investment into results.

Rebecca Hastings
8 min read


Recruiting Top AI Talent: What CEOs, CPOs and TA Leaders Need to Know
What do senior AI leaders actually want from employers? Drawing on Lucent Search research and Rebecca Hastings’ conversation with Matt Alder on Recruiting Future, this article examines what CEOs, CPOs and TA leaders need to get right when hiring AI talent.

Rebecca Hastings
3 min read


AI Hiring Strategy: What Talent Acquisition Leaders Need to Know
If you’re responsible for AI hiring, standard recruitment approaches are unlikely to be enough. Here are five changes TA leaders need to consider.

Rebecca Hastings
3 min read


What Does the Board Actually Need to Decide About AI, Data and Technology?
Boards do not need to run AI and technology programmes, but they do need to make the decisions that determine whether those programmes can succeed. This article looks at the board's role in accountability, investment, risk, operating models and leadership capability.

Rebecca Hastings
8 min read
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