AI’s rapid adoption offers transformative potential but also introduces significant risks — some with potentially irreversible consequences. This Advisor highlights the importance of strategic leadership in managing these risks through integrated business, AI, and organizational strategies. It underscores the need for human oversight in critical systems, structured AI risk management frameworks, and a commitment to responsible development.

Trevor Hunter examines how leader character strengthens board decision-making. As ESG considerations and the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) reshape board responsibilities, directors are now accountable to a broader set of stakeholders beyond shareholders. Hunter draws on the Leader Character Framework developed by Mary Crossan, Gerard Seijts, and Jeffrey Gandz of Canada’s Ivey Business School, highlighting its role in navigating complex — and sometimes conflicting — obligations.

Shuhui Wang and Hirindu Kawshala analyze more than 14,000 earnings call transcripts to examine how CEO overconfidence impacts firm complexity. They find that overconfident CEOs tend to reduce complexity, often at the cost of long-term alignment, as illustrated by John Flannery’s short tenure at General Electric. Their study underscores the importance of aligning CEO traits with a firm’s strategic and operational needs, particularly during leadership transitions. Boards must discern whether simplification efforts reflect sound strategy or risky overconfidence.

Siah Hwee Ang calls for a shift in how executives engage with boards — not just as monitors or advisers but as long-term strategic assets. He advocates for structures that tap into directors’ expertise through agenda setting, follow-ups, and subcommittees. Boards’ hard skills can be institutionalized via staggered succession, while soft skills can be preserved by documenting decision-making processes. Regular engagement is key, with boards contributing to short-, medium-, and long-term strategic discussions.

Filip Lestan and Ruy de Quadros Carvalho analyze 249 Brazilian firms to assess how board structure influences innovation governance. They found that forming innovation-related committees is far more impactful than vision statements or rhetoric, enabling boards to ask better questions and oversee complex initiatives. Larger boards are more likely to form such committees, while CEO duality and director busyness significantly reduce the likelihood. The article concludes with four actionable steps to strengthen innovation governance through board design.

David F. Larcker, Amit Seru, Brian Tayan, and Laurie Yoler explore how AI could reshape boardrooms by enhancing the volume, quality, and timeliness of information available to directors. AI can reduce information asymmetry, support predictive analysis, and enable real-time scenario planning. These tools help boards become more proactive and better prepared for meetings. However, the authors caution that greater access to information may blur the line between governance and operations, requiring executives to manage directors’ deeper involvement carefully.

David F. Larcker, Amit Seru, Brian Tayan, and Laurie Yoler explore how AI could reshape boardrooms by enhancing the volume, quality, and timeliness of information available to directors. AI can reduce information asymmetry, support predictive analysis, and enable real-time scenario planning. These tools help boards become more proactive and better prepared for meetings. However, the authors caution that greater access to information may blur the line between governance and operations, requiring executives to manage directors’ deeper involvement carefully.

This issue of Amplify invites a reexamination of what makes boards truly effective. It features a collection of articles that explore how boards can evolve beyond conventional roles to become active stewards of long-term value — drawing on leader character, data and analytics, behavioral insight, structural design, and strategic engagement.

Alessia Falsarone examines the evolving role of lead independent directors (LIDs), offering a five-part framework to assess when and how to appoint them. Although LIDs can strengthen board independence and communication, their function varies by context. In firms where the CEO also chairs the board, LIDs often serve as a bridge to management and stakeholders. In other cases, they foster open dialogue on issues like ESG and AI ethics. Falsarone illustrates this with examples, including Coca-Cola’s LID leading efforts in transparency and sustainability amid activist pressure.

Many organizations are stuck in pilot mode, using AI for incremental gains rather than transformative impact. This Advisor, based on ADL’s recent CEO Insights study, calls for a shift toward enterprise-wide adoption, strategic alignment, and long-term vision to fully capture AI’s disruptive potential and stay ahead of emerging competitors.

As organizations pursue purpose-driven goals, true leadership requires more than bold statements — it demands rigorous measurement of real-world impact. This means shifting from tracking inputs to evaluating tangible outcomes, acknowledging unintended consequences, and staying adaptable in the face of uncertainty. As this Advisor explores, effective leaders build systems that capture both direct and ripple effects of their actions, enabling smarter decisions and more resilient strategies.

The convergence of quantum computing and AI marks a transformative leap for business, redefining how organizations process information, generate insights, and innovate. This fusion unlocks scalable efficiency, sustainable computing, and advanced analytics — enabling real-time decision-making, deeper customer understanding, and accelerated R&D. As these technologies mature, they promise to reshape business capabilities across industries.

Arthur D. Little’s 2025 CEO Insights study, “Proactively Embracing Change,” reveals that today’s CEOs are confidently navigating geopolitical and economic volatility through bold, proactive strategies. The first in a series of insights, this Advisor explores five strategic imperatives and identifies seven growth areas CEOs are prioritizing, such as institutionalized innovation, ecosystem collaboration, and agile M&A strategies. The study underscores the need for CEOs to transform uncertainty into opportunity by embedding agility, resilience, and forward-thinking into their organizations.

In today’s business landscape, purpose is essential — not a side note. Yet, many purpose-driven efforts lose momentum due to common behavioral pitfalls. Drawing from the Purpose-in-Practice Community, this Advisor identifies nine traps that undermine lasting, transformative change. Avoiding these traps can help leaders embed purpose more meaningfully and sustainably across their organizations.

This Advisor distills key lessons from the Syn.ikia project’s implementation of digital twins in Uden, the Netherlands—an EU-funded initiative focused on positive-energy districts. It explores how predictive digital twins, combining building simulations with AI-driven user behavior models, can optimize renewable energy use. It also emphasizes the importance of ethical data management, user empowerment through intuitive design, and value chain collaboration to ensure digital twins enhance sustainability without alienating end users.

Despite AI’s transformative potential, over 80% of AI projects fail — double the rate of traditional IT initiatives. As this Advisor points out, key pitfalls include unclear objectives, poor data quality, inadequate infrastructure, and misaligned expectations. To reverse this trend, organizations must align AI capabilities with real-world needs, invest in robust systems, and build multidisciplinary expertise. Establishing clear metrics and knowing when to pause or pivot projects are also critical for long-term success.

This Advisor argues that professional ethics education must go beyond rules and codes of conduct to truly prepare individuals for the complex, high-stakes challenges of modern professional life. It advocates for a virtue ethics approach — rooted in purpose, character, and moral reasoning — as essential to shaping a resilient, reflective, and ethically grounded professional identity. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, the article emphasizes the importance of joy, fulfillment (eudaimonia), and the cardinal virtues as guiding principles for meaningful and ethical professional practice.

Giuseppe Bisicchia, José Garcia-Alonso, Juan Murillo, and Antonio Brogi lay the historical and theoretical groundwork for understanding quantum software engineering (QSE) as a discipline, tracing its origins to Richard Feynman’s call for quantum simulation and following the evolution of quantum algorithms from Peter Shor’s and Lov Grover’s breakthroughs to today’s hybrid implementations. The article argues that QSE must strike a balance between importing proven classical software engineering practices and cultivating quantum-specific innovations.

Joseph Byrum examines the transformative intersection of quantum computing and AI, contending that the convergence is not merely technological. He explores five innovation vectors — from quantum-enhanced attention mechanisms and quantum compression techniques to AI-augmented quantum circuit design — demonstrating how each could dramatically reshape computation, knowledge processing, and enterprise workflows. Beyond technical sophistication, the article proposes a human-centric philosophy of computation that emphasizes integration, uncertainty as a resource, and ethical design.

Michal Baczyk delves into the pressing need for architectural rigor in quantum software development. As enterprise adoption looms, Baczyk proposes a three-layer taxonomy of patterns (design, algorithmic, and architectural) intended to address the complexity of hybrid quantum-classical systems. The article offers both a conceptual roadmap and a pragmatic toolkit for organizations seeking to build scalable, maintainable quantum systems.

Guido Peterssen and José Luis Hevia focus on the operational and organizational dimensions of quantum computing. They provide a compelling call to action: without robust governance, quantum computing projects will likely spiral into unmanageable complexity. Through a detailed case study of Bizkaia Quantum Advanced Industries (BIQAIN), the authors introduce the concept of the private quantum hub as a model for resource coordination, lifecycle management, and cost control across distributed quantum infrastructures.

This issue of Amplify explores the emerging discipline of quantum software engineering (QSE), highlighting the paradigm shift required to build, manage, and govern robust quantum software systems. Through expert contributions, it addresses foundational theory, architectural innovation, hybrid classical-quantum system design, operational governance, and the convergence of quantum computing with AI.

As Cutter Expert Curt Hall explores, AI is transforming legal systems worldwide, from AI-powered “smart judges” in China’s virtual courts to the UAE’s ambitious regulatory intelligence ecosystem designed to streamline lawmaking. These technologies promise greater efficiency, accessibility, and responsiveness in legal processes. However, they also raise critical concerns around bias, transparency, accountability, and overdependence on automation — highlighting the need for ethical frameworks and strong human oversight to ensure justice remains fair and grounded.

Great communicators and leaders distinguish themselves by mastering the art and science of asking powerful questions — of others and themselves. Clear, purposeful questions foster trust, drive innovation, and reveal hidden insights, while empathetic, well-timed inquiry builds psychological safety and emotional intelligence. Combining strategic questioning with strong interpersonal skills transforms conversations, strengthens relationships, and accelerates learning and impact.

Legacy data management practices, where insights are delayed and decisions rely on instinct, are no longer sufficient in today's fast-paced business environment. To stay competitive, organizations must decentralize decision-making and ensure frictionless, timely access to data for all employees. As this Advisor explores, a strategic, tailored approach to data recency and accessibility will define future-ready enterprises.