Every AI transformation that fails inside an established company fails for one of these three reasons. Hold the line on all three before you spend a euro on Layer 1.
Not a one-off speech at the kick-off. Visible, repeated, public backing — every quarter, in every all-hands, on every spend review.
The minute the CEO and exec team go quiet on AI, the middle of the org defaults to the old way. Layer 2 dies in the budget cycle, Layer 3 never starts. Without ongoing top-down conviction, even the best champions burn out.
Litmus test: name the next three exec moments where AI will be on the agenda.One named person, full mandate, exec air-cover. Not a committee. Not a project office. Not the IT director by default.
The champion holds the roadmap, picks the pilots, kills the dead ones, and answers to Eldan directly. They have the political standing to say no to good ideas that aren't the priority — and the mandate to break Micromedia's most stubborn problem : the islands don't talk. Marketplace (Leap to See), Digital, main IT, BI — each one knows its corner; none of them share. The champion's real job is making them.
Litmus test: who has both the authority and the calendar to make the islands talk to each other this quarter?Ambition for the destination. Discipline at the start line. One process, one team, one measurable win — before week twelve.
The vision is Micromedia becoming an AI-Native company — the smart exclusive distributor that stays indispensable. The first move is one Category Manager — Razer, say — using Claude on Monday. Don't launch ten pilots; launch one, inside one brand, and let it succeed loudly. The other nine fund themselves once the first one ships. Eldan's words : “Look at the worm and ask how we make it a butterfly.”
Litmus test: what is the single specific win you'll point to in 90 days?All three. Two out of three is not enough.
