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In many organizations, the most difficult part of AI readiness is not adoption itself but ensuring that C-suite leaders move in the same direction. Each executive approaches AI from their own vantage point: the CFO emphasizes cost and risk, the CIO focuses on infrastructure, and the COO looks to accelerate delivery. Without coordination, these agendas fragment into competing initiatives that dilute investment and slow progress.
This excerpt from our new playbook, Shift Happens: Get Ready for HR’s AI Reckoning, explores how HR leaders can align the C-suite around a unified HR data strategy, creating the foundation for AI initiatives that are secure, coordinated, and capable of driving lasting business impact.
Translate Priorities into People Terms
Executives respond best when AI is framed in the context of their objectives. HR can connect those objectives back to the workforce for each C-Suite leader:
- CFO: Demonstrate how fragmented data leads to inaccurate forecasts and regulatory exposure. Deloitte's CFO Signals research found that finance leaders are placing risk management and ROI at the top of their agendas. A single, governed people data platform directly supports those priorities, protecting capital and building confidence in AI investments.
- CIO: Highlight the security and scalability concerns that arise from uncoordinated AI pilots. According to PwC’s Tech CIO Priorities 2025 report, CIOs are most focused on cloud, security, and data governance. A unified HR data strategy strengthens those foundations while meeting workforce needs.
- COO: Show how visibility into skills and redeployment capacity enables faster delivery without destabilizing teams — making AI a tool for acceleration rather than disruption. By translating priorities into people terms, HR reinforces the relevance of workforce data to each leader’s agenda.
Connect the C-Suite Through a Shared Foundation
The risk is not that executives ignore AI, but that they pursue it in isolation. Workforce data is the common denominator that underpins finance forecasts, operational staffing, and sales performance. When these insights remain siloed, AI strategies fail to deliver their full value.
As Google Cloud’s notes, “your data is the fuel for AI.” Workforce data is no exception. A governed people data platform provides the shared foundation required for true C-suite alignment. It reduces duplication, mitigates risk, and ensures that each function is working toward a coordinated future.
Build Partnerships That Endure
Alignment is the first step; durable progress requires partnership. Research from Wharton’s AI for the C-Suite: Implementing Strategy and Change report shows that organizations investing in cross-functional change management are 70% more likely to achieve sustainable adoption.
A Cross-Team Alliance in the Headlines
BlackRock, one of the world’s largest investment managers and a One Model client, illustrates what this looks like in practice. Rather than treat AI as a siloed technology initiative, they paired their CHRO and CTO to co-develop strategy. Together, they embedded transparency, created guardrails, and built trust across the workforce. The result was faster innovation, deeper adoption, and a transformation that amplified employees rather than replacing them. (SHRM)
Such alliances demonstrate the potential for HR to drive beyond compliance or consensus. By fostering C-suite partnerships, HR leaders ensure that AI adoption advances organizational capability rather than fragmenting i
Sources
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Deloitte. (2025). 1Q 2025 CFO Signals: CFOs Eye Quantitative Skills, Risk.
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Google Cloud. (2025). Your Data Is the Fuel for AI. Google Cloud Blog.
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Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative. (2024). AI for the C-Suite: Implementing Strategy and Change.
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SHRM. (2025, March). BlackRock’s Case for CHRO-CTO Partnerships in Driving AI Success.
This blogpost is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of our new guide, which examines these strategies (and more) in depth.
Download the complete AI readiness playbook to access the full frameworks, metrics, and checklists you need to lead your organization’s AI transformation - and shape the future of HR.
