Top AI Execs to Watch in 2026: Amentum's Sam Nazari | WashingtonExec

The dirty secret enterprise AI leaders won't say out loud: most AI pilots fail not because the technology is bad — but because nobody planned for adoption. You bought the tool. The team nodded polite

The dirty secret enterprise AI leaders won't say out loud: most AI pilots fail not because the technology is bad — but because nobody planned for adoption.

You bought the tool. The team nodded politely. Then went back to doing things the old way. $200/month, quietly canceled six months later. That's not a you problem. That's how most AI implementations go, even inside Fortune 500 companies.

Here's what the best AI executives actually do differently. They don't start with the flashiest tool. They start by identifying one painful, repetitive task that already has a clear outcome attached to it. Something measurable. Something the team already hates doing manually.

Then they pilot it small. One person. One workflow. Two weeks. If it saves time, they expand. If it doesn't, they've lost nothing significant.

That's the framework. Not six-figure consulting engagements. Not ripping apart systems that work. Just a small, honest test with a real business problem attached to it.

Your action this week: Write down the one task your team does manually that produces something you could actually measure. That's your AI starting point.

What's one tool you've paid for that nobody ended up using — and what do you think went wrong?

#AIStrategy #SmallBusiness #BusinessGrowth #AIImplementation

Original Source

Together, these initiatives transform isolated AI pilots into scalable, enterprise ... AI solutions faster. “Sam possesses an extraordinary depth and ...