What should senior leaders experience before approving an AI initiative?
Give senior leaders a task they can inspect before you ask them to approve a broad initiative. Use material that's cleared for the exercise, have them prepare a short brief and compare it with the source, then name what still needs judgment. The questions that come up should shape the next decision.
Teresa Carlson described introductory sessions with senior government leaders who hadn't yet used the tools themselves. Her account made a useful point about learning: seniority and familiarity with AI are different things.
A made-up project update makes a good test
Try a fictional project update with a missing deadline and two conflicting status notes. Ask the AI agent for a decision brief that doesn't invent the missing information. Then have the leaders check whether the conflict is still visible and whether the brief names the unanswered question.
The conversation afterward gets specific. Leaders can talk about who would own the source material in a real workflow and who'd be allowed to use the brief. They can name which errors would make the output unusable and what a reviewer would need to check. A demonstration that only produces an impressive answer doesn't give them that practice.
What to try this week
Get the material for the exercise cleared first. Then write down what you want the leaders able to say about the brief afterward.