McKinsey's latest report highlights how 'Executive AI' can capture CEO decision-making experience, making leadership knowledge an organizational resource to improve efficiency, streamline processes, and aid strategic decision-making.
How Executive AI Can Capture Leadership Knowledge
Artificial intelligence (AI) can help companies capture the decision-making experience and leadership knowledge of chief executives and make it accessible across the organisation, potentially improving decision-making and reducing dependence on individual leaders, according to a report by McKinsey. The report said AI could convert the experience and judgment of senior executives into a shared organisational resource, helping employees understand how leaders assess options, evaluate risks and make important decisions.
"What AI makes possible, for the first time, is a means of extending the reach of a leader's reasoning further than any calendar or organizational hierarchy could enable," the report said. McKinsey said such systems, described as "executive AI", could capture information from leaders' documents, emails, meeting notes and other work records to build a knowledge base that employees across the company can access.
The Core Functions of Executive AI Systems
The approach involves five key functions, including identifying matters requiring leadership attention, recording decision-making patterns, supporting decisions in real time, testing strategies through different perspectives and learning from the outcomes of decisions.
The report highlighted a case study involving a company whose chief executive had attended 1,800 meetings in the previous year, nearly 500 of which did not result in decisions and required follow-up. After introducing an AI-based system, the organisation saw 30 per cent more decisions becoming ready for approval at the first presentation within a few months. Escalations to the CEO also declined sharply, while the company developed around 100 reusable knowledge resources documenting leadership standards that had previously remained largely undocumented.
Reclaiming Time and Addressing Implementation Risks
McKinsey also cited a 12-year Harvard Business School study which found that the average CEO works 62.5 hours a week, but spends less than half that time advancing strategic priorities. The report said AI could help executives reclaim time by reducing repetitive work and improving preparation for important decisions. Based on its experience, McKinsey said decision support and prioritisation could begin returning usable time within the first month, while the operating model could be recalibrated after two to three months of adjustment.
However, the report cautioned that companies must address risks such as excessive dependence on AI, reduced diversity of opinion and questions around data access and retention. It stressed that AI should strengthen rather than replace human judgment, with executives continuing to take responsibility for decisions.
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