MANAGING AI INTEGRATION, EMPLOYEE UPSKILLING FOR CHANGE ENVIRONMENT

With over 20 years of experience, Sriraman is a seasoned leader in digital innovation, emerging tech, and sustainability

Sriraman Raghunathan
Head & Chief Architect Marlabs

He spearheads Marlab's innovation, tech solutions, revenue, and ESG integration. In a recent interaction with CEO Insights, he emphasized a leadership approach advocating for strategic vision, commitment, a culture of risk-taking, and autonomy to foster innovation and AI adoption. Below are the excerpts of the interaction.

How can leaders foster a culture of innovation to encourage experimentation and adoption of AI and ML technologies?

This requires a multipronged approach that combines broader strategic vision, organizational leadership commitment and support, nurturing the right mindset among team members and culture and environment to support it. Leadership should lead by example, by adopting AI themselves and they should commit capital, both financial and human, to lead and drive specific AI innovation initiatives. This could include funding for R&D, dedicated teams for AI projects and access to training and learning programs. A key attribute of experimentation is encouraging risk taking by creating an environment where failure is seen as learning opportunities. Lastly, organizations should provide autonomy by giving employees the freedom to explore new ideas and empower them to make decisions and take ownership of their work, which can increase motivation and creativity.