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"Digital infrastructure companies are looking to move up the stack, going from being a device or component to being a solution that has AI intelligence," says Tuck Rickards, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA).
As demand for compute power accelerates and data centers evolve into intelligent ecosystems, the companies powering the world's digital backbone face a fundamental question: Can they evolve from infrastructure providers to intelligence businesses?
The defining success variable isn't if a company can deploy AI technology, but if its leaders can harness AI to reimagine the business, mobilize their people and position their organization at the center of the digital economy.
The most effective CEOs approach AI through a systems view, aligning CEO fluency, C-suite design, board oversight and culture to accelerate transformation. Each part must evolve in concert for AI to become a sustained competitive advantage.
Any lasting AI transformation begins, and ultimately succeeds or fails, with the CEO. No amount of investment or technical capacity can substitute for leadership commitment at the highest level.
We see four capabilities that define AI-ready leadership.
Tuck Rickards
Leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
AI literacy is no longer optional, it's a baseline requirement for competitive leadership.
Tristan Jervis, leadership advisor at RRA, describes what this looks like in practice: "The expectation on CEOs and CXOs today is that they are already integrating AI directly and indirectly into tasks and work being performed.”
The most credible leaders are learning in public: they share what they're discovering, explore new applications alongside their engineers and make visible the curiosity they expect from others. Employees, investors and boards take their cues from how CEOs engage with AI, not just what they say about it.
Tuck recommends practical steps: "Having an AI mentor, two or three external experts to stay connected with, is important. Going deep personally with tools, even learning from your kids, matters. Internally, tasking real experts—board members, head of IT, chief of staff—as sparring partners is valuable."
When CEOs achieve this level of fluency, they become catalysts. They redesign leadership teams to reflect the company they want to become. They align boards around a coherent AI agenda. They embed learning into the culture so experimentation becomes instinctive.
If the CEO provides the vision, the C-suite supplies the system to deliver it. AI transformation is exposing where those systems have become outdated.
The scale of change required is significant. "When a company is undergoing a fundamental business model shift driven by AI and technology transformation, it's likely that a third of the leadership team won't be capable of making that jump," Tuck says. "So if you have eight C-suite leaders, at least a third should be replaced with world-class talent for what you want to become. This doesn't mean leaving the existing team behind, but without the right skill sets at the table, the team is disadvantaged."
The roles themselves don't change—CFO, CMO, and so on. But the skills and mindsets required do. "If you want to be an AI-driven, software-centric company and your leadership is all from legacy businesses, you won't succeed," Tuck says. "Each C-suite function needs its future success profile rewritten."
The decision to appoint a Chief AI Officer depends on context. Tristan notes: "On the whole, we're seeing a Chief AI Officer underneath an existing top technology and digital officer on the executive committee. However, where there is greater focus on the organizational change mandate of AI we are starting to see the AI remit being augmented with the CHRO or COO positions.”
Tuck describes the most effective approach: "The Chief AI Officer acts as a sparring partner connected at the hip to the CEO, two in the box, listening, learning and proposing solutions. You can't delegate AI to someone on the side. In any serious company, the CEO must be the Chief AI Officer in spirit, though the title may be used to catalyze progress."
The risk of getting this wrong? "Grouping everything under one person when AI impacts everything."
The most forward-looking boards are broadening their composition to reflect the full digital-infrastructure ecosystem. "Companies are bringing on more AI-savvy directors, either with experience in future-facing businesses or in strategic product and platform backgrounds," Tuck observes. "Boards are seeking people who can approach complexity from a business, not just a tech, perspective."
Governance models are shifting from risk avoidance to opportunity enablement. Directors are challenging CEOs to define how AI will create enterprise value, not simply how it will be controlled.
AI literacy is fast becoming as important as financial literacy at board level.
For digital-infrastructure companies long defined by precision engineering and operational reliability, AI requires a cultural rewiring. It demands moving from perfection to iteration, from control to curiosity, from hierarchy to shared learning.
"Culture change is the hardest transformation to achieve," Tristan says. "The world has put it on steroids."
What matters most is mindset and behavior: "The changing emphasis is more about behavior, mindset and attitude than around background of skill and experience. There is an expectation of technology and AI literacy, interest, curiosity, walking the talk, more than before."
HR leaders are critical enablers, but their role is evolving. As Tuck explains: "CEOs must surround themselves with people from the business they want to become. Moving from hardware to software or AI-centric businesses means having a CHRO or Chief People Officer with experience in software, agile development and ideally in large companies that have been through transformation."
He recommends treating this as a weekly strategic partnership: "CEOs should have weekly deep dives with their HR leader on transformation. The HR leader is a critical partner, not just in talent management, but in driving the organizational and cultural shifts that make AI transformation possible."
Culture becomes the multiplier of every other system component. Without it, even the best strategy or governance model will stall.
The investment and innovation curve ahead is extraordinary, but the window for building the right leadership capabilities is narrowing fast.
"There's debate about the sustainability of current investment levels in digital infrastructure," Tuck notes. "Opportunities are huge, but companies must connect their place in the ecosystem and think broadly. There will be big winners and losers. Companies not paying attention may be left behind. Speed and mindset are crucial."
The stakes extend beyond current investment cycles. "Companies aspire to own intelligence, not just the building blocks," he adds. "Exponential value is in the software layer, and not every company can play there, but it's required to compete."
For many CEOs, the challenge is urgent.
Tristan Jervis
Leadership advisor at RRA
For digital infrastructure companies, the real differentiator isn’t technology or capital—it’s the courage and capability of leaders to drive transformation, set new expectations, and build organizations ready for perpetual change.
Tuck Rickards is a senior member of Russell Reynolds Associates' Board & CEO Advisory Partners, focused on CEO succession and board advisory work for technology companies and transformational businesses. He is based in San Francisco.
Tristan Jervis leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Technology practice globally and currently serves as part of the firm’s executive committee. He works closely with some of the world's largest multinational corporations and leading private equity firms to attract, assess, and develop high-impact technology executives. He is based in London.
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