As someone who’s spent years leading transformative projects in some of the world’s largest organizations, I know the challenges executives face when trying to harness the full power of emerging technology. 

I didn't start HumanX to merely sell tickets to a conference—I came to redefine what’s possible for leaders, creators, and strategists navigating the AI frontier. HumanX was born from my experiences as an entrepreneur, technologist, and executive, and it’s grounded in deep, evidence-backed insights from our groundbreaking research partnership with HarrisX. 

Through extensive conversations with industry leaders and HarrisX’s rigorous market analysis, we uncovered the essential themes that executives need to master today—not just to survive, but to thrive. These aren’t buzzwords or passing trends; they’re a blueprint for making real impact in an era of rapid, often unpredictable change. Each theme is crafted to address the very real pressures and opportunities that leaders are facing in 2024 and 2025, from the challenge of staying competitive against lightning-fast disruptors to the need for disciplined, high-impact AI investments.

That’s why we built HumanX—to bring together the sharpest minds and most actionable insights, helping you cut through the noise and make decisions that lead to measurable results.

As you engage with these themes, I invite you to think beyond today’s solutions. Together, let’s envision the future we’re building and set a course that makes AI not just a technology, but a true driver of lasting impact. This is HumanX. Welcome to the future of leadership in the AI era.

2. Ready, Fire, Aim

Disciplined AI investment isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity in 2024. It’s time to go beyond experimentation and focus on impact.

In 2024, it’s tempting for companies to jump into AI with flashy, consumer-facing projects. Customer service, engagement, and experience are often the first areas where businesses apply AI, and with good reason: personalized interactions, real-time insights, and seamless customer journeys have become essential in today’s market. Consumers now expect brands to deliver hyper-personalized experiences, and AI offers powerful tools to meet that demand.

However, while AI-enhanced customer engagement is a strong use case with clear benefits in loyalty and brand perception, it isn’t necessarily the highest-ROI use case for every organization. This is where many companies fall into the trap of “Ready, Fire, Aim.” By rushing into customer-facing AI projects without a structured roadmap, executives risk missing opportunities for AI to create value in other parts of the business—where its impact could be even greater.

With AI maturing at an unprecedented rate, it’s no longer acceptable for executives to chase the latest trends without a clear business purpose. We’re at the point where every dollar spent on AI must yield measurable value. The hype-driven “experiment phase” is over, and it’s time to deploy AI in ways that create real competitive advantage.

This year, more than 77% of executives say AI will be a key differentiator for their business (Deloitte), yet only 15% feel confident they’re investing in the right areas. The truth is, without a disciplined approach to AI prioritization, many of those investments will end up wasted.

The “pilot purgatory” phenomenon—where AI projects stall without scaling—is a very real risk. Companies that aren’t intentional in their investments may find themselves locked in endless experimentation, with little to show for it.

Ready, Fire, Aim challenges executives to ask: are we investing in AI projects that directly contribute to our strategic goals, or are we just keeping up appearances?

• AI pilot projects fail to scale 85% of the time (Gartner), largely because of a lack of alignment with core business outcomes. Is your AI strategy focused on sustainable, high-impact projects, or scattered across shiny new tools?
• Executives who establish clear decision-making frameworks for AI prioritization have the highest success rates. What metrics are you using to filter out hype from meaningful opportunity?
• Case Study of Effective Prioritization: Just because customer experience applications are popular doesn’t mean they’re right for every business. Mastercard’s AI strategy focused on a specific goal—fraud detection—rather than implementing AI across multiple scattered initiatives. This focused investment helped the company reduce fraud by 50% in certain segments, directly impacting the bottom line.

“Ready, Fire, Aim” is about balancing immediate wins with a long-term perspective on AI. For many companies, AI-driven customer engagement will be a valuable entry point, offering a quick ROI while building foundational AI capabilities. But the goal is to look beyond these initial wins. Executives who take a strategic, ROI-driven approach to AI will uncover higher-impact applications across the organization that go beyond consumer-facing features, establishing AI as a true driver of competitive advantage.

2024 demands that companies apply AI with purpose. For those who can, the rewards will be transformative.