AI Training for Executives: train now… or disappear tomorrow?

Not long ago, artificial intelligence still seemed to belong to the realm of science fiction. A topic for researchers, for digital giants, for innovation teams somewhat set apart from the rest of the company. Interesting, undoubtedly. Urgent, not really. As a result, AI training for executives was certainly not among the priorities.

That time is over.

AI did not arrive through a spectacular announcement or a grand strategic plan. It crept in gradually. First through software, then through practices, then through automatisms. Quietly. Without collective debate. Sometimes without clearly established rules. And almost without our noticing, it began to weigh on the way decisions are made.

From that point on, one observation becomes unavoidable. Choosing immobility is not without consequence. It is a decision in itself. And very often, a risky stance.

Yet many executives continue to wait. Not out of hostility, but out of caution. AI would still be too recent. The legal framework too unclear. The uses too scattered to warrant a real position being taken. Arguments that seem understandable on the surface.

Except that, in the meantime, their company moves forward. Teams experiment. Tools pass from hand to hand. Practices take hold, informally, sometimes in a disorganised way, but very real. The momentum is already there.

The real question is therefore no longer whether AI will transform the company. It is already at work. The only question that remains open is this: who is steering the integration of AI within the company, and with what level of discernment?

The costly mistake: “It’s not strategic for me yet”

Among many executives, the discourse is similar. It is expressed calmly, sometimes with genuine conviction: “Our business is specific”, “we are not directly concerned”, “we’ll see later”… These are not refusals. Rather, a way of keeping the topic at a safe distance. The objective: remove it from the list of current urgencies.

And that is precisely where the risk begins.

Artificial intelligence does not first disrupt what is visible. It does not primarily transform the most exposed professions. It acts at depth, on the less spectacular but fundamental cogs. In the way data circulates, is sorted, shaped. In the speed with which decisions are prepared, anticipated or arbitrated.

It acts on cross-functional roles that irrigate the entire organisation. And when they evolve without a clear framework, it is not one department that changes: it is the overall balance that shifts.

It is not the profession that disappears, it is the framework that changes

An executive may legitimately think that their activity is sheltered. That their profession relies on refined expertise, difficult to reproduce. That human relationships occupy too central a place to be truly threatened. In many cases, this intuition proves to be well-founded.

But artificial intelligence does not aim to replace this know-how. It acts differently. It changes the backdrop. The pace of exchanges. The implicit level of expectation. What is now expected in terms of responsiveness, of argumentation. Gradually, the rules of the game evolve.

This is where the gap widens. Between those who perceive these shifts and adapt to them, and those who discover too late that the uses have been defined elsewhere, without them.

Waiting for a perfect framework… that never arrives

Waiting for a perfectly stabilised framework is another widespread temptation. One hopes for clear rules, completed charters, reassuring feedback. Yet the history of major transformations shows this time and again: uses always precede frameworks. Never the other way round.

While some executives wait, teams move forward. They test, explore, adjust. Often with common sense. Sometimes awkwardly. But almost always without an overall vision or explicit arbitration.

In this context, refraining from deciding means letting events decide in your place. It is not indecision. It is choosing inaction in full awareness.

AI is no longer a matter of innovation, but a question of trajectory

For years, artificial intelligence was placed in the “innovation” box. One file among others. We spoke of tests, pilots, experiments. The topic progressed alongside the rest of the company, entrusted to a dedicated team, without truly questioning the core of operations.

That framework no longer holds.

Today, AI is not something one decides to launch or stop. It has settled in. As the Internet did in its time. As the smartphone did afterwards. It is everywhere and, paradoxically, almost invisible. Incorporated into software, everyday applications, platforms we use without even thinking about it.

This shift changes everything. AI is no longer limited to a productivity gain or yet another optimisation. It proves to be a structuring element of professional paths. It weighs on the way an executive is perceived, on their ability to anticipate developments, to handle delicate issues without taking refuge behind vague formulas.

At this stage, it is no longer about innovation. It is about trajectory.

One does not expect an executive to be able to explain the workings of an algorithm. However, they are increasingly expected to be able to set a framework, to define priorities. And of course, to distinguish what can be automated from what must remain deeply human.

In this sense, AI is no longer a technical subject. It becomes a revealer of posture.

Why AI is now a leadership issue

Artificial intelligence profoundly modifies the way decisions are built. It allows quicker access to information, testing of scenarios, comparison of several possibilities. But this abundance of data does not necessarily ensure a better choice. It can even produce the opposite effect if no one sets a framework.

The role of the executive does not disappear in the face of AI. It transforms. Where certain decisions could once rely on intuition or experience, they now rely on recommendations, analyses produced by tools. The executive nevertheless remains the only one able to assume final responsibility.

It is precisely here that leadership takes on its full meaning. AI suggests. It cannot decide strategy. It cannot arbitrate between conflicting issues. These dimensions remain deeply human.

The danger would be to believe that delegating to the tool lightens responsibility. In reality, it strengthens it. If tools gain in power, the need for a clear framework becomes even more essential. Failing that, the risk is twofold: either AI is rejected out of mistrust, or it is adopted without discernment, to the point of creating a form of invisible dependency.

Leadership, when AI enters the scene, consists precisely in avoiding these two pitfalls. Not yielding to fascination, but not taking refuge in denial either.

Why AI training for executives is fundamentally different

Faced with these challenges, many AI training courses have emerged. They are often very rich, sometimes impressive, but rarely suited to the real expectations of executives. They accumulate notions, technical demonstrations, lists of tools. But they train technicians, experts, not decision-makers.

An executive does not have to become an AI expert. They do not have to grasp the technical details of models or master every new tool. However, they must understand what AI changes in decision-making. They must be able to identify both the opportunities to seize and the areas of turbulence.

Training an executive in AI is not about teaching them to “use” a tool. It is about helping them reclaim their place. To clearly define what must remain their responsibility and what can be delegated to the machine. To set a readable framework for their teams.

It is also about enabling them to regain perspective. To step out of the permanent flow of novelties, or often anxiety-inducing information, in order to build a coherent and sustainable reading of the phenomenon.

The Visconti approach: awaken, reframe, set in motion

It is precisely within this perspective that the approach developed by Visconti Partners and Visconti Academy is positioned. Far from technology-centred training, Visconti has chosen an acculturation designed for executives and managers, according to a clear logic.

The first movement is that of lucidity. Taking a lucid look at what is called “AI”, without demonising it or fantasising about it. Making realities that sometimes seem obscure accessible, separating what belongs to myth from what truly exists, escaping the double trap of paralysing anxiety and blind enthusiasm.

The second movement consists in putting things back in their proper place. Redefining what is truly expected of an executive when AI comes into play. Repositioning this tool within the company’s daily needs. Clarifying who decides, who is accountable for what. AI is neither just another gadget nor the answer to everything. It is an effective lever, which nonetheless requires knowing exactly what one wants from it and how far one intends to go with it.

The third stage is that of action. An executive decides, sets priorities, initiates a precise direction. There is no question of launching vast tech projects for the sake of it, but rather of making concrete choices, aligned with what the company wants to become.

Training without becoming an expert: AI acculturation according to Visconti

The AI acculturation programme for executives offered by Visconti is based on this logic.

A clear objective: illuminate decision-making, not train technicians

The objective is not to turn executives into highly specialised technicians, but to build for them a solid foundation of understanding, oriented towards the ability to decide and to steer the company accurately.

The programme takes the form of an intensive two-day session, designed for executives, senior managers and members of executive committees who want to grasp what AI is in order to better steer it. What matters here is not so much the tools themselves (even if an overview of the major families of Generative, Symbolic AI… is indeed planned), but rather their concrete impacts on the functioning of the company, teams and modes of decision-making.

An approach designed for decision-makers

What makes the difference in this approach is that it truly addresses decision-makers. AI is not treated as a technical subject, but as an issue of steering and authority. Participants leave able to identify where AI can usefully serve, to set a sensible framework for use, and to build an initial action plan that stands up in relation to their own context.

A strategic reading rooted in the reality of the field

Another differentiating point: the training is delivered by seasoned executives, people who know how to connect AI to the concrete constraints of the field, to daily arbitrations, to the weight of responsibility. The idea is not to deliver a lecture, but to provide a strategic reading grid, directly usable the very next day.

This brief overview does not aim to replace the detailed presentation of the programme. Above all, it aims to clarify its intention: to give executives the means to remain masters of the game in an environment where AI often imposes itself without having been requested.

Training now: a matter of posture, not urgency

Committing to AI training is neither acknowledging that one knows nothing, nor yielding to the surrounding panic. It is fully assuming one’s role. An executive does not have to become an engineer specialised in artificial intelligence. They must know enough to decide in full knowledge of the facts.

What AI requires are not ultra-technical business leaders. It requires engaged leaders. Engaged when it comes to arbitration. Engaged in setting the rules of the game. Letting the topic evolve without a defined direction means giving others carte blanche to choose in your place, often without them even realising it.

Training means taking back control. It means giving oneself the means to dialogue with one’s teams, with one’s partners, with one’s peers. Avoiding the silent disengagement that threatens those who think they can still wait a little longer.

It is precisely within this logic that Visconti supports executives on the subject of AI, in two complementary ways.

On the one hand, with Visconti Academy, which offers AI Training for Executives designed to provide clear, concrete and directly useful reference points, in order to understand what AI truly changes in the role of an executive.

On the other hand, through bespoke executive coaching integrating AI training, delivered by Visconti coaches who all have experience as executives or company presidents, in France or internationally. They therefore know what itbespoke executive coaching means to decide, arbitrate, assume responsibility. AI is thus never approached as an abstract concept, but as a lever to be adjusted according to your context, your challenges and your way of leading.

Not choosing is already choosing

In conclusion, artificial intelligence is no longer an innovation topic reserved for a few specialists. It has become a central issue of leadership and professional trajectory. In the face of it, inaction is no longer neutral. It is already a risk-taking stance.

Remaining a spectator today means accepting to endure uses, decisions and developments that one has not chosen. Training, on the contrary, means reclaiming one’s place as an executive. Not to control everything, but to give meaning, set boundaries and direct action.

The question is therefore not whether AI will transform the company. It already is. The real question is who is holding the helm.

FAQ – AI Training for Executives

What are the advantages of AI training for an executive?

The main advantage is not technical, but decisional.

AI training enables an executive to understand what is changing, without relying solely on experts or alarmist discourse. It helps to regain perspective, set a framework and decide with greater discernment.

Training in AI also means avoiding two common pitfalls: rejection out of fear and blind adoption out of trend effect. The executive gains in clarity, credibility and capacity to steer uses rather than endure them.

How to choose the right AI training when you are an executive?

A relevant training course for an executive does not seek to turn them into an AI specialist. It must above all connect AI to real issues of strategy, governance and responsibility.

The right criterion is not the quantity of tools presented, but the training’s ability to illuminate the concrete impacts on the organisation, professions and decision-making. A useful training leaves the executive more lucid, more structured and more at ease in arbitrating.

What AI skills are essential for executives?

Executives do not need advanced technical skills in artificial intelligence. The key skills lie elsewhere: understanding the general principles of AI, knowing where it creates value and where it can pose problems, and being able to set clear boundaries.

The most important skill remains the ability to decide: to decide acceptable uses, the pace of adoption and what must remain deeply human. At this level, AI becomes a matter of leadership and posture, far more than a technological issue.

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