Despite surging investments in artificial intelligence, most companies remain stuck in what my good friend Martha Heller has called the messy middle: pilot purgatory, siloed initiatives, and stakeholder skepticism. The problem isn’t the technology; it’s the strategy. Today’s leaders must embrace new roles, new mindsets, and new muscles to meet this moment.

For the second article in a two-part series for The Heller Report, I spent some more time with recent Tech Whisperers podcast guests Dr. Lisa Palmer and Ash Rangan to explore how CIOs and other IT leaders can gain traction to lead with clarity, confidence, and conviction in the AI era.