
AI and the CSO: 7 ways to drive competitive advantage
The role of the chief sustainability officer (CSO) has moved from the margins to the center of corporate strategy. Here are seven ways to harness AI to embed sustainability and drive growth....
To scale from isolated pilots to transformation, CEOs must provide an organizational environment that welcomes AI:
Programs must go beyond passive learning. Employees should work on real projects that integrate AI tools, whether experimenting with predictive analytics or GenAI in content creation. The emphasis must be on “learning by doing” and business relevance.
Provide safe environments in which teams can test AI use cases without performance pressure. These sandboxes encourage experimentation and foster a culture of curiosity. Crucially, you need to shield these sandboxes from bureaucratic drag to avoid smothering innovation.
Track how AI affects both internal efficiencies and customer-facing outcomes. Measuring impact helps maintain focus, justify investments, and reinforce a results-oriented mindset.
To deploy AI skills successfully, leaders must rethink how people learn, practice, and adapt. Ensure that your employees work on real projects that integrate AI tools, provide safe environments to test use cases, and measure internal and external outcomes.

LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation
Howard Yu, hailing from Hong Kong, holds the title of LEGO® Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD. He leads the Center for Future Readiness, founded in 2020 with support from the LEGO Brand Group, to guide companies through strategic transformation. Recognized globally for his expertise, he was honored in 2023 with the Thinkers50 Strategy Award, recognizing his substantial contributions to management strategy and future readiness. At IMD, Howard Yu co-directs the Strategy for Future Readiness program and the Future-Ready Enterprise program, which is jointly offered with MIT.

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