Effective change management is the linchpin of enterprise-wide AI implementation, yet it’s often underestimated. I learned this first-hand in my early days as CEO at Sanofi. I had made it a habit to drop in on meetings to learn as much as I could about the organization. In one such meeting I was told, quite directly, they were discussing how to avoid giving me raw data without first thoroughly reviewing it and deciding on the “narrative.” That moment was a wake-up call. I realized I had underestimated not only the scale of change management required, but also my own learning curve in leading such a transformation. The real challenge was not technical—it was cultural.
