AI Drives Organizational Leadership Transformation, Experts Say
Ido Ron, partner and head of AI and digital transformation at KPMG Israel, emphasized that AI change leaders will guide major organizations and business initiatives in the near future. Speaking at the second XimusNxt Change Leaders project workshop, held quarterly with KPMG experts, Ron highlighted practical tools for leading organizational change amid rapid technological advances. The XimusNxt forum gathers executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and senior professionals across product, marketing, finance, and technology sectors to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration.
Ron illustrated AI’s impact with examples such as Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance, which digitally animates Maimonides to engage visitors in multiple languages, and Sheba Medical Center’s AI-driven emergency triage system “Dr. AI” that streamlines patient intake and reduces unnecessary ER visits. He noted AI’s broad integration potential across functions but warned that uneven adoption could create bottlenecks, urging leaders to focus on 10% technology, 20% data, and 70% human factors in transformation efforts.
Leah Hameiri, Chief AI Officer at Meuhedet Health Services, shared her experience as a change agent in government and healthcare sectors. She stressed that the biggest challenges lie in human adoption and trust-building, not just regulatory or technical barriers. Hameiri led initiatives to make AI tools accessible to public sector employees, including an AI-powered organizational chatbot for the Ministry of Welfare, enhancing knowledge retrieval while maintaining data security.
Both speakers agreed that successful AI integration requires leadership to prioritize problems, map solutions, and balance quick wins with strategic impact. Ron advised managers to engage employees to identify pain points and categorize solutions into quick, growth, or strategic types. He also recommended five critical questions before approving AI projects, focusing on accountability, risk, explainability, and ongoing validation.
Ron concluded, “Managers must be change agents,” as their roles shift from data processing to problem definition, team building, and driving organizational progress through AI-enabled innovation.
