Anupartha

10/19/2026

On paper, CEOs and boards appear unified on AI adoption.

In practice, a widening understanding gap threatens ex*****on before projects even launch.

A BCG survey of 625 executives shows that while 75% of board members rate their AI knowledge as equal to or better than their peers, CEOs report a very different reality:

📌 61% of CEOs state that boards are rushing transformations without realistic timelines.

📌 35% believe boards overestimate how easily AI replaces human expertise.

📌 37% report that directors lack a clear view of how the technology alters business growth.

When boards mistake hype for operational readiness, CEOs end up carrying the transformation burden alone. Bridging this disconnect requires chief executives to take ownership of board education.

Leading hands-on tool demonstrations, arranging immersive operational visits outside boardroom meetings, and explicitly distinguishing automated task ex*****on from essential human judgment establishes realistic expectations across the leadership team.

Read the complete BCG report here:

More than 60% of CEOs believe boards are rushing AI transformations, according to BCG’s 2026 “Split Decisions: CEOs and Boards Survey,” making CEO-board AI alignment a leadership imperative.

10/15/2026

How is AI impacting hiring?

Top companies are offering substantial salaries to experienced AI professionals, while leadership roles are increasingly favoring individuals with backgrounds in product and technology.

At the same time, opportunities are opening up far beyond Silicon Valley.

What does this mean for your career or for the leadership needs of your organization?

🎥 In this video, we explore what’s changing, where the demand is moving, and how AI is putting more power directly into your hands.

👉 Interested in how this impacts your organization or your next career move? Get in touch with us here: https://www.anupartha.com/contact

10/14/2026

How strong is the connection between leaders in your organization?

Leaders have access to better tools, more data, and more learning opportunities than at any point in history.

Yet organizations still struggle to connect leaders across the boundaries and pressures of modern organizational life.

Leadership is a social process that lives in trust, shared understanding, and informal networks. When that relational foundation is missing, organizations look connected on paper but feel fragmented in practice.

❓ So, how can organizations make connection a priority?

This report highlights 4 practical moves:

◾ Examine leadership development through a relational lens. Focus on what programs build between leaders, not only what they teach.

◾ Design connection deliberately into leadership transitions. Support relationships where relational infrastructure is most fragile.

◾ Invest in capabilities technology cannot replace. Strengthen human skills as AI absorbs analytical tasks.

◾ Ensure senior leaders model the behavior. Connected leaders at the top set the standard for everyone below them.

Interestingly, Gallup data shows that only 20% of employees globally are engaged at work, and managers account for 70% of team engagement. When leaders disconnect, the organizational consequences compound quickly.

🗣️ What are your thoughts on this? How does your organization build social connection among its leadership team?

Full article:

Connection at work drives leadership, yet it's harder to build now than ever. Download our report to learn why and what organizations can do.

10/13/2026

Not every great leader fits the traditional mold.

AI is reshaping industries, and with it, the qualities needed in a CEO. Boards are now asking harder questions:

➡️ Can this leader rethink outdated business models?

➡️ Do they have the technical fluency to understand AI’s impact on products and operations?

➡️ Are they prepared to make bold decisions in uncertain times?

The right leader might not have the most polished resume, but they will have the vision, resilience, and adaptability to guide a company through reinvention.

Read more about how companies are rethinking leadership in the AI era: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-old-playbook-stops-working-boards-need-different-parthasarathy-bvrpc/

10/12/2026

What does a chip company, an e-commerce platform, a language learning app, and a warehouse robotics firm have in common?

They all used AI to redefine what business they are actually in.

In this clip, our CEO Anu Parthasarathy shares four real examples of companies that expanded well beyond their original category and how they got there.

Can you think of any other companies that have made similar transitions? Would be interested to know in the comments.

10/08/2026

Technical skills can help someone reach the C-Suite, but they are not the main reason organizations succeed.

A recent Harvard Business Review analysis highlights a growing leadership gap.

Many executives still use outdated skills that do not fit today’s workplace. As a result, trust declines, employee engagement falls to new lows, and top talent leaves.

How the skill gap affects organizations:

▪️ If leaders do not create psychological safety, teams share only surface-level ideas. Quiet meetings often appear as agreement, hiding the creative thinking needed for growth.

▪️ Leaders who solve problems themselves instead of coaching can lower their team’s confidence and remove important growth opportunities.

▪️ When leaders lack empathy or do not listen, feedback often misses the mark. This can create a defensive culture and leave teams without clear direction.

The best executives focus on power skills such as listening, empathy, and building trust across the organization.

When leaders master these skills, the company moves from managing performance to inspiring people. This creates a culture where mentoring comes naturally, and employees take real ownership of their work.

Read the full Harvard Business Review article to see how you can develop power skills and improve trust, engagement, and results:

Many leaders today face a gap between their skills and the evolving demands of leadership, especially in fostering trust, engagement, and innovation within teams. Mastery of soft skills, or power skills, is essential for sustained leadership success beyond technical expertise. There are three ways l...

10/07/2026

Having the best AI researchers in the room is not the same as knowing how to build a business with AI at scale.

Meta learned this firsthand. Despite having world-class AI talent, Zuckerberg restructured and brought in a founder who had already built and scaled an AI business to direct where the team needed to go.

In this clip, our CEO Anu Parthasarathy shares this story and what it tells us about how the criteria for leadership hiring is changing.

Have you seen similar hiring decisions play out in your industry?

10/06/2026

Do leaders in your organization encourage challenge, or quietly avoid it?

An article from Business Chief highlights how Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, views accountability as a core part of leadership.

According to Jassy, trust inside a business is often misunderstood. Many people equate it with being agreeable or avoiding disagreement in meetings.

In practice, strong leadership requires honest discussion, respectful challenge, and the willingness to address difficult issues directly.

Amazon’s leadership principle “Earn Trust” focuses on listening carefully, speaking candidly, and leading through consistent behaviour.

Jassy explains that leaders should encourage teams to speak up when something is not working for customers or the business.

Trust grows when leaders demonstrate accountability, admit mistakes, and focus on improving outcomes rather than protecting their position.

Jassy shared an early experience from his career when founder Jeff Bezos publicly challenged a presentation he delivered. While the moment was uncomfortable, owning the mistake and correcting it helped build credibility.

For Jassy, accountability and attitude play a major role in leadership development. Being open, constructive, and prepared to improve can influence long-term trust within a team.

The full piece in Business Chief points to a clear leadership message.

Trust is built through honesty, accountability, and the willingness to challenge ideas when they serve the business and its customers.

Read the full piece here: https://businesschief.com/news/why-andy-jassy-wants-leaders-to-show-accountability

Something to think about: do leaders in your organization feel comfortable challenging ideas openly, or does agreement tend to dominate discussions?

In a company YouTube video, Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, shared his experiences with Amazon's "Build Trust" Leadership Principle while working at Amazon

10/05/2026

The CEOs of Coca-Cola and Walmart didn't step down because of poor sales. They handed over the reins because of artificial intelligence.

James Quincey and Doug McMillon recognized that starting an AI transformation requires a completely different skill set than finishing one.

If the top executives at massive global brands realize they might not be the right people to lead this shift, you need to ask hard questions about your own executive team.

Reaching $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue used to take six to eight years. Today, AI companies hit those exact milestones in six to eight months.

You cannot meet that speed with traditional leadership. Bolting new technology onto your existing workflows will fail. You must rethink your operations from the ground up.

To do that, stop looking for traditional, off-the-shelf corporate stars who thrive in maintaining the status quo. Instead, seek out transformational leaders.

When you bring new executives on board, you need candidates who bring specific, measurable traits to the table:

➡️ Practical experience: Theoretical knowledge falls flat. You need active practitioners who use AI tools and data in their everyday work.

➡️ Product-centric focus: The challenge has moved from how to build a product to knowing what to build. You need leaders close to the customer who understand shifting monetization models.

➡️ Wartime resilience: Look for independent thinkers who have managed tight budgets and economic uncertainty, rather than those who only know economic prosperity.

➡️ The outsider advantage: Bring in leaders from unfamiliar backgrounds who question legacy processes and see inefficiencies that your insiders miss.

Finding actual change agents means scanning across unexpected industries and geographic regions to find the rare talent completely absorbed in their current work.

Are you still hiring for the status quo, or are you preparing your executive team for the future?

10/01/2026

How often do your leaders assume that silence means everyone agrees?

A recent Harvard Business Review article points out that most transformations fail not because of the strategy, but because leaders misread how people are reacting.

When this happens, engagement drops, resistance grows quietly, and teams check out without leaders noticing.

Many senior leaders move up because of their technical skills, not because they can read behavior or spot unspoken concerns.

This often leads to a gap: leaders think everyone is on board, but employees may feel unsure.

Organizations that tackle this problem measure the gap, compare what leaders assume with real employee feedback, and set up regular ways to get honest input.

If success depends on understanding people as much as carrying out plans, how sure are you that your leaders really see what’s happening in your teams?

Read more:

McKinsey’s research shows that roughly 70% of transformation efforts fail, and the root cause is rarely a flawed business case. It’s the human element: leaders who can’t detect resistance, misread silence as buy-in, or dismiss valid concerns as complaints. When the people leading the transform...