The technical are often held back by previous experience. Everyone else is empowered by an open frontier.
The "AI Champion" is an industry term for one or more people who ensure that the technology becomes a part of the workflows and overall strategy of their team. How this person shows up in the organization differs between industry, culture, and structure.
In my experience this person isn't necessarily selected ahead of time, but reveals themselves as usage and engagement with AI in the workplace moves forward.
A few days into a recent Foundation Install I noticed an example of this. The person that leadership had anticipated would become their AI Champion wasn't actually the one getting everyone on the team logged in, downloaded, and using the technology. It was someone else entirely. Someone who saw what needed to happen and just started making it happen.
Though they weren't the obvious choice, they were the right one.
The Box Leaders Put People In
When AI enters an organization, leaders usually have a pretty clear idea of who should "own" it. The technical person. The one who handles IT. The one who already knows how software works.
Makes sense on paper. But what I'm seeing in practice is this: that person isn't always the best fit.
Not because they're bad at their job but because their lens is technical. They're thinking about systems, integrations, permissions, configurations. And sometimes they're so technical others can't keep up.
What AI Actually Requires
AI has changed what it means to be "good with technology."
AI makes the connection between problems, creativity, and the computer more accessible than it's ever been. You don't need to know how to code. You don't need to understand APIs. You need to understand the problems your business is trying to solve on the frontlines.
The people who are closest to the actual problems, the ones in the field, the ones dealing with customers, the ones running operations, they're often the ones who can do the most with AI because they see the gaps. They know what's broken and what could be better. They see the results of strategies for improvement the quickest and clearly.
Technical Expertise Can Be a Hindrance
Technical people often have a framework for how tools are supposed to work. When AI shows up, they try to fit it into that same framework. That's not wrong. But it's limiting.
I've seen capable AI tools built for large teams go completely underutilized because they were built by someone technical for those who think the same way. The tool became too complex, the team was intimidated by it, and therefore they didn't use it.
If you're going to see ROI for your energy and time spent in AI, you cannot afford to let it be another tool that goes unused because it seems inaccessible.
The people who don't have that technical framework aren't as held back by it. They're asking different questions: What could this help me do? What's been frustrating me? What would make my job easier?
That openness is now more valuable than technical skill.
The Qualities That Actually Matter
From what I've seen, AI Champions tend to share a few things in common.
They're connected to the actual problems. They're not sitting in a back office thinking only about technology in the business. They're in the middle of it.
They're creative. They're willing to try things. They're experimenting, testing, asking "what if."
They know the systems. Not the technical systems necessarily, but the operational systems. How work actually flows through the organization.
They see what's missing. They notice when something should exist but doesn't. When a process takes too long. When people are doing work in a way that makes others' jobs more complicated.
AI Champions Reveal Themselves
Unless someone in your team is already encouraging and experimenting with AI use alongside the team, you don't designate an AI Champion. The AI Champion reveals themselves.
The technical folks still add massive value and very well may be your AI Champion. They just can't be the only ones in the room. And they probably shouldn't be leading the charge unless they're also connected to the real problems the business is facing.
The name of the game is no longer technical prowess. It's creativity. It's problem-solving. It's having a vision and the ambition to realize it.
Your AI Champion is out there. They might not be who you expected.
Let them emerge.
The full issue explores what this means for leaders and how to create space for AI Champions to step up.
Read the full issue on Substack →