Zohar Bronfman, CEO and Co-founder of Pecan, discusses winning executive buy-in for AI projects by delivering fast results, building internal trust, and starting with simple AI use cases. He emphasizes the challenges of relying on external vendors and the need for a strong in-house core engine. Transparency, credibility, and managing ethical considerations are also discussed.
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Quick takeaways
Prioritize demonstrating fast and tangible value to gain executive buy-in for AI initiatives.
Be honest and transparent about the challenges and potential failures of AI projects when presenting them to leadership.
Deep dives
Importance of Building Trust and Showing Fast Value
To gain executive buy-in for AI initiatives, it is crucial to prioritize the demonstration of fast and tangible value. Due to skepticism and past unfulfilled promises, executives have become cynical about AI. Therefore, starting with quick projects that can provide measurable outcomes is essential in building internal trust. This allows executives to see the potential of AI and increases their commitment towards future projects. Additionally, starting with relatively simple use cases is advisable because AI projects can fail even when implemented correctly. Failing fast and learning from these failures is crucial for long-term success.
Honesty and Transparency in Conveying AI Challenges
When conveying the challenges of AI to leadership, it is important to be honest and transparent. Executives need to understand that AI projects can fail, even when everything is done correctly. The probabilistic nature of AI means that it is more like R&D than IT. Therefore, presenting the realistic timelines, the need for new capabilities, and the potential for failure is necessary. By setting realistic expectations and being transparent about the difficulties, trust and credibility can be established with executives. This transparency also helps to filter out executives who have unrealistic expectations, ensuring that you work with those who truly understand the complexities of AI.
Importance of Realistic Presentation and Managing Expectations
In presenting AI projects to leadership, it is important to strike a balance between highlighting potential failures and conveying the value of experimentation. This involves presenting the challenges and the need for change, such as new data features or collaboration methods. Being transparent about the potential for failure while emphasizing the value of taking a fast fail approach is crucial. Executives appreciate credibility and trust, and it is important to align expectations with the reality of AI implementations. In the long term, as executive AI fluency increases, there will be a better understanding of the challenges involved in AI projects.
Today’s guest is Zohar Bronfman, CEO and Co-founder of Pecan. Pecan is a predictive analytics software company that works with companies across retail, eCommerce and manufacturing spaces. Zohar joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella in another installment of our series on winning executive buy-in to talk about the lessons he has learned from a vendor perspective. Later, he pulls apart the best strategies for addressing the technology hype cycle in the sales process and what ‘executive AI fluency’ will come to mean as these technologies become more ubiquitous in everyday life. If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
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