The whispers of artificial intelligence are growing louder in boardrooms, but for many, the picture remains hazy.
While employees grapple with new AI tools for mundane tasks, a recent glimpse into the daily routines of seven top executives reveals a far more sophisticated, often deeply personal, integration of AI — not just as a tool, but as a strategic partner, a coach, and even a sounding board.
This isn’t about automating away jobs; it’s about amplifying leadership.
Consider Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, who navigates the torrent of corporate data not by sifting through endless reports, but by using Box AI to query information instantly.
Preparing for an earnings call, understanding sales figures, or dissecting a lengthy document becomes a rapid dialogue with an intelligent assistant.
Levie also leverages AI for research, transforming it into a personal consultant for strategic decisions, like fine-tuning a pricing model by quickly unearthing industry best practices.
This isn’t just efficiency; it’s about compressing the time from information gathering to strategic insight, a critical edge in today’s fast-paced corporate world.
Yet, the applications extend beyond data crunching.
For some, AI has become an unexpected confidante.
Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, confessed to uploading videos of his keynotes into an AI chatbot, soliciting candid feedback on everything from awkward hand movements to pacing.
Similarly, Cisco’s Chief People Officer, Francine Katsoudas, uses AI to rehearse for “tricky conversations,” outlining scenarios and seeking recommendations for framing delicate discussions.
In the relentless schedule of a top executive, finding a neutral, always-available coach to refine communication and mental preparation is an invaluable asset, highlighting AI’s potential to enhance the very human art of leadership.
The ripple effect of AI’s integration is also profoundly felt in the often-overlooked gears of organizational machinery.
Donna Morris, Walmart’s Chief People Officer, overseeing the largest private workforce in the US, has turned to AI to accelerate the identification of leadership candidates.
Beyond traditional platforms, AI tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT offer an “ease and speed” in pinpointing individuals with the right background, often aligning surprisingly well with human-vetted choices.
This isn’t about replacing human intuition, but augmenting it, allowing recruiters to focus on the qualitative aspects of candidate assessment once the initial pool is efficiently curated.
IBM offers a compelling case study in internal transformation.
Corinne Sklar, VP and Managing Director of Salesforce at IBM, points to AskHR, IBM’s internal AI agent, as a game-changer for employee transfers.
What was once a bureaucratic labyrinth of logins and forms is now streamlined, with AI handling 94% of HR tasks, which transforms HR processes.
This single use case, Sklar notes, unlocked a cascade of adoption across other departments, from IT to customer support, putting IBM on track to realize $4.5 billion in productivity gains this year.
This isn’t merely automation; it’s a fundamental reimagining of administrative processes, freeing up human capital for more complex, value-added work.
Even seemingly minor uses aggregate into significant benefits.
Aon’s Chief Administrative Officer, Lisa Stevens, relies on AI for rapid research before crucial meetings and to draft executive summaries, emphasizing that the more she uses it, the smarter it becomes.
Walmart’s EVP of Global Tech Platforms, Sravana Karnati, employs AI for everything from reviewing important emails — “Every email that I send… it’s going through ChatGPT,” he noted — to looking up unfamiliar terminology and even troubleshooting code.
These aren’t flashy, headline-grabbing applications, but they represent a pervasive integration that elevates the baseline of executive output and efficiency.
What emerges from these executive insights is a nuanced picture of AI’s role at the pinnacle of corporate power.
It’s not a replacement for leadership, but an extension of it.
It’s a tool that refines communication, accelerates decision-making, streamlines operations, and even acts as a personal development coach.
However, a common thread also highlights the ongoing need for human oversight.
Karnati’s observation that he sometimes spends “additional time correcting an AI-generated response” underscores that while AI is powerful, it remains a guide, not an oracle.
Leaders are learning to “be thoughtful about how we are guiding these agents to do the work,” acknowledging that the ultimate responsibility for accuracy, insight, and strategy still rests firmly with them.
The corner office isn’t just telling people to use AI; it’s actively demonstrating a sophisticated, evolving relationship with it, one that promises to redefine the very nature of executive leadership.
The expansion introduces agentic decision flows to bolster investigative capabilities for a national security agency in the EMEA region.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu warns that companies must prioritize data sovereignty by building internal AI models to protect sensitive intellectual property.
Cities are deploying artificial intelligence on sanitation vehicles to monitor private property, raising complex questions about the future of urban privacy and municipal oversight.
