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You Are About to Hire a VP of AI Capability. Do Not.

You diagnosed the CoE pattern. Now you are about to repeat it by hiring a VP of AI Capability. Here is why forcing your organization to build the competency itself is the only path that works, why it will be…

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Norman

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Building AI capability is an organizational, not an individual, challenge. The instinct to centralize this competency replicates past failures by insulating the core business from necessary adaptation.

AI Capability Resides in Practice, Not Position

  • AI capability is fundamentally a distributed competency, not a centralized function; it grows within teams where domain expertise meets automation.
  • Organizations cannot delegate the development of core operational capabilities; outsourcing the work provides artifacts, not competence.
  • The true end-state of AI adoption is not a new department, but an operating model where every team integrates AI agents into its daily workflow.
  • Effective AI adoption requires leaders to experience the technology through direct application, informing strategic decisions with practical understanding.
  • Building AI capability is a process of active re-skilling and un-learning, demanding protected time and a focus on demonstrable output over passive training.

The first question for any AI program: who is building, and what are they building into?

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15 min read

Building AI capability is an organizational, not an individual, challenge. The instinct to centralize this competency replicates past failures by insulating the core business from necessary adaptation.

AI Capability Resides in Practice, Not Position

  • AI capability is fundamentally a distributed competency, not a centralized function; it grows within teams where domain expertise meets automation.
  • Organizations cannot delegate the development of core operational capabilities; outsourcing the work provides artifacts, not competence.
  • The true end-state of AI adoption is not a new department, but an operating model where every team integrates AI agents into its daily workflow.
  • Effective AI adoption requires leaders to experience the technology through direct application, informing strategic decisions with practical understanding.
  • Building AI capability is a process of active re-skilling and un-learning, demanding protected time and a focus on demonstrable output over passive training.

The first question for any AI program: who is building, and what are they building into?

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Norman

After 20 years in software development, Norman is both a hands-on leader and defining the new age of AI SDLC for some of the biggest brands in the world — and exploring it with the builders. He writes here about things he is hearing and seeing. All posts are his personal points of view and do not reflect any employer or any customer he has ever had contact with.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the positions of any employer, client, or affiliated organization.

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