AI efforts often struggle for reasons that have little to do with the model itself. Teams that are clear from the start about validation effort, data reliability, and how work will actually change are far better positioned to deliver results instead of stalled pilots.

Sustainable AI adoption depends on protecting how humans think and adapt to change as pace accelerates.

AI agents are not tools. They are participants that require roles, boundaries, and accountability by design.

AI does not create abundance by default. Advantage comes from how leaders reinvest the capacity AI makes possible.

AI creates leverage, but leverage without direction magnifies noise. Leaders must choose deliberately where AI acts, and where it does not.

As AI makes prediction cheap, human judgment becomes the true source of advantage. The organizations that win are designed to adapt when patterns break.

Forum Solutions Co‑Founder and Managing Director, Shelley Holm joins Rich Tong, Co‑Founder and CEO of Total Neural Enterprises for an in-person discussion with the Seattle CFO Leadership Council. The discussion, designed for senior finance leaders navigating the realities of AI adoption, focuses on what it truly takes to move from AI experimentation to disciplined, decision‑driven execution.

Jacob Colker, managing director of AI2, the Paul Allen Institute for AI on building team culture, especially in the intense dynamic of a start-up.