#353 AI Leadership in the Real World: Accountability, Decisions, and Transformation

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:00)
Yeah, no, you're right.

**Sid Revilla** (0:02)
That seems rude if a leader joins on a call and says, everybody drop off and hear the three people I need on the call, and that's where people get nervous. That's why I'm saying that the leadership alignment.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:11)
Yeah, they get nervous because they think, what decisions are they going to make? They're going to make a decision to get rid of me. I need to be visible. Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation, where we explore how people process policy and technology drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, Chief Enterprise Architect, Educator, Author, and most importantly, your host. On this episode, AI Leadership in the Real World, Accountability, Decisions, and Transformation, with Executive Change Agent and Advisor, Sid Revilla.
Sid, welcome to the show.

**Sid Revilla** (0:56)
Thank you, Dr. Darren.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:58)
Hey, I'm actually really excited to talk about this because it fits really well with a book that I have coming out in the middle of May, which is called AI Teams, AI Augmented Teams. And the storyline is all about getting board approval for something.
So this fits in really well with what we're going to talk about today, which I'm really excited about. But before we dive into that, Sid, everyone that listens to my show knows that I only have super heroes on the show. And every superhero has a background story, an origin story. So without revealing too much of your secret identity, Sid, what's your background story?

**Sid Revilla** (1:41)
Again, Dr. Darren, thank you so much for having me on the show. And I really appreciate you calling me a superhero. By any stretch of imagination, I am not a superhero, but I'm glad you recognize me as a superhero. So quickly getting into my background, I have spent over 25 years in both the tech and telecom industries. I currently live in Dallas, Texas. Professionally, I have built a career bridging the gap between a board's vision and a real world execution. That's what I have written in my books as well.
Currently, I am advising CEOs and founders on how transformation can be executed in a way that can actually stick in complex enterprises.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (2:26)
Okay. So how did you get to that point in your career? I mean, because you don't just wake up and start your career. I'm going to advise board of directors. Doesn't start that way, Sid. So you had to do something to get to that point.

**Sid Revilla** (2:38)
You're absolutely right. So I have spent, as I said, most of my career in a large scale transformation roles.
One pattern kept showing up. Transformations rarely fail because of technology. Technologies come and go, we do transformations around technology, but they don't fail because of technology.
I noticed it fails because leadership doesn't scale. Decisions slow down, priorities multiply, and complexity creeps in. So my focus now is simple. Help leaders reduce noise, create clarity, and make better decisions consistently.
So that pattern actually drove me to pivot my career and interest to go and help and work with some of the founders and CEOs to bring that clarity and help them make better decisions consistently.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (3:30)
Okay.
Well, that helps. How has that been? Have you seen any big changes since COVID hit in the way that executives and boards are addressing issues? Because a lot of stuff happened during the first six months of COVID where decisions were made pretty quick. Have you seen them still adopting those same muscles that they used during the beginning of COVID, or are they back to the old way of doing things?

**Sid Revilla** (4:00)
There are different ways. COVID is one big factor that actually made people think differently. Now, you're working remotely, so which means they have to bring in new tools. That's the technology boom again, right?
But one thing I consistently notice is people are trying to change.
Mostly the technology drives the change in the leadership, which is a good thing. But what's still unclear is the decision ownership is unclear. Committees grow, accountability shrinks. That's the key thing I am trying to bring up to the leadership level. Sometimes they don't even notice this. Way too many priorities. Leaders keep saying yes, so focus disappears. Everything becomes important and nothing gets done. Again, Dr. Darren, for your listeners, I don't want them to think it's 100% of the case. It's 80-20 rule. You have to apply this 80-20 rule, everything we discuss in general. There are some companies have done fantastic and phenomenal job. Most of the companies are still struggling only because the leadership are heading in the right direction, their vision, their priorities are correct, but execution is where they don't spend enough time.