Leadership

For Boards, It’s Not Just About AI Expertise

Smart boards are moving beyond just hiring AI directors and looking for those with an array of tech skills. Quantum, anyone?

Four Kinds of Digital Directors Boards Need to Understand

After an extensive search, the retail company’s board was excited to bring on a new director who had turned an in-house AI experiment into a new revenue stream. They expected him to scale a similar operating capability for them, too. But while he had sharp AI skills, they discovered, he lacked the knowledge to tackle the other advanced technologies the organization was looking to roll out.

Most boards know they need AI expertise, but experts say the smart ones are realizing they also need to understand a host of other technologies, such as quantum computing and extended reality. Should the board find someone who’s built multiple AI products, or someone who’s led a major digital transformation? “There’s a strategic inflection point that’s happening,” says Matt Bohn, senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s Technology practice. “Organizations need to figure out what perspective they need on the board to drive the business forward.”

The distinction matters, because the stakes are so high for getting future technologies right. According to a recent report, 42% of board directors say technology integration will drive their capital allocation decisions this year. But the technology, experts say, is just enablement. “The real challenge is figuring out how to overcome the disruption AI and other technology brings,” Bohn says.

To help clarify what’s needed to meet these challenges, Korn Ferry has created four distinct director archetypes, each of them offering a different lens and value, according to a board’s technology needs. When looking at these archetypes, it’s important for boards to ask several key questions. “Every board member needs to know how AI and other technologies will impact the underlying mechanics of the business,” says Scott Atkinson, senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services and Financial Officers practices. What are the operational risk and talent implications? And perhaps most crucially: Does the current board have the expertise to evaluate whether management’s answers to these questions are actually good enough?

1. The Builder

Builders have actually created and shipped advanced tech products from the ground up. They’ve navigated the gap between promising models and reliable services, and know firsthand what enterprise-grade performance requires. They bring credibility on product governance, consumer trust and safety, and the all important question of whether a technical road map is realistic or aspirational.

For boards whose directors come mostly from finance, law, or general management, a Builder fills a specific and critical void: They can evaluate what’s actually being built, not just what’s being promised.

2. The Scaler

Scalers have a different superpower: turning a working AI or quantum product into a market advantage. Through commercial strategy, partnerships, or M&A, they’ve moved an advanced technology from internal capability to external differentiation. Critically, they shift board conversations from "Can we build this?" to "Can we win with this?"

They’ve also seen digital products fail—not in the lab, but in the market (for instance, because the pricing was off, or the sales team couldn’t tell the story). That hard-won perspective helps boards avoid mistaking a good demo for a scalable business.

3. The Impact Driver

Impact Drivers have done the unglamorous but essential work of making AI or other tech actually stick inside large organizations. They’ve navigated legacy infrastructure, regulatory constraints, and cultures that resist change—and produced real operational results. “These people have taken a new technology and leveraged it internally to transform their business,” Bohn says.

Where other archetypes focus on what technology can do, Impact Drivers focus on whether an organization is actually ready to do it. That’s a question boards increasingly can’t afford to leave unanswered.

The Champion

Champions have seen the full arc of a technology’s growth—from early bet to enterprise-level transformation. They’ve shifted operating models, driven acquisitions, and created new revenue streams through advanced tech. Among the four archetypes, they’re the most persuasive in holding management accountable: They’ve lived the difference between a credible tech strategy and one that’s merely rebranded incrementalism.

For boards trying to assess whether a company is genuinely ahead of the curve or simply catching up, a Champion brings a clarity that’s hard to replicate. “At the end of the day, the distinction comes down to what’s material to your business and what problems you’re trying to solve for,” Atkinson says.