How Business Leaders Can Maximize AI Success: Lessons from Industry Experts

For many businesses, AI has become essential. Whether it’s improving customer service or eliminating busy work to boost productivity, companies now treat AI as a critical part of their technology toolkit. The challenge for leaders is ensuring their organization uses AI effectively and strategically.

A recent panel discussion sponsored by the Project Management Institute (PMI) at the Fast Company Grill during SXSW brought together three business leaders to share practical advice on how to approach AI adoption. Here are three key takeaways from their conversation.

1. Think big. Start small. Iterate often.

The old startup mantra “move fast and break things” doesn’t always apply to AI projects. Kathleen Walch, director of AI engagement and community at PMI, points out that AI initiatives tend to fail more often than typical tech upgrades. The main reason? Companies often don’t clearly define the problem they’re trying to solve or confirm that AI is the right solution.

That said, leaders should avoid playing it too safe. Sarah Bird, chief product officer of responsible AI at Microsoft, stresses the importance of picking impactful use cases. Starting with small, uninspiring projects can lead to disappointing results and wasted effort.

Tom Geraghty, vice president of digital innovation at Universal Destinations & Experiences, warns about the risk of ambitious AI plans getting diluted by internal bureaucracy. His advice: keep your vision bold but flexible enough to accommodate practical constraints like budget, legal, and technical limitations. This balance helps ensure the final product is impressive and viable.

2. Make your team smarter.

Effective AI use is a skill that requires training. Before rolling out AI tools across an organization, companies need to educate employees at every level about both AI’s benefits and limitations. Sarah Bird highlights that successful organizations start by empowering their people through education, which then drives real results.

Training doesn’t have to be developed internally. PMI offers extensive e-learning and certification programs aimed at helping project managers and other professionals get comfortable with generative AI and prompt engineering. Kathleen Walch emphasizes that everyone is at a different point in their AI journey—and that ongoing support is key.

For executives eager to boost their team's AI capabilities, exploring targeted courses like those offered at Complete AI Training can be a smart move.

3. Get out of the sandbox.

Once you’ve identified where AI can add value, the goal should be to move quickly from testing to real-world application. Walch advises against endless proof-of-concept tests that don’t deliver actionable insights. Instead, she recommends running pilots with actual users in real scenarios.

These pilots enable teams to monitor performance, gather feedback, and fix issues promptly, ensuring the AI solution is ready for broader deployment. NBCUniversal, for example, continually pilots AI projects across its theme parks, TV, and film divisions. The company even involves its own leaders as test users before releasing AI-driven experiences to the public.

Ultimately, AI should serve the user seamlessly. Geraghty explains that AI’s goal at Universal Studios is not to be noticed but to enhance the guest experience so naturally that the magic and enjoyment take center stage.

For executives and strategy leaders, these insights offer a clear path:

• Define meaningful problems and select high-impact AI use cases.
• Invest in training your teams to build AI fluency.
• Move beyond the sandbox by launching real-world pilots and iterating fast.

Getting AI right means balancing ambition with discipline and focusing on tangible outcomes that improve your business and customer experience.