Every GBS leader is facing the same problem: how do you build an AI strategy when the technology moves faster than any organization can absorb it? Chasing every new breakthrough isn’t a strategy, and history suggests it’s a reliable way to accumulate technical debt.

In this episode of GBS Rewired, Sally Fletcher talks with Leigh Nicholson, Strategic Solutions Lead at Takeda Global Finance CoE. Leigh’s career spans large-scale transformation at PwC and GBS transition and transformation leadership at Heineken and Philips. He has lived through the ERP and RPA waves and is now navigating the shift to Agentic AI, so he knows what separates lasting transformations from those that quietly fall apart.

The conversation covers what earlier automation waves got wrong and what GBS leaders need to unlearn before AI can scale. It also covers the foundations that have to be in place before quick wins turn into fragmented solutions. Leigh weighs in on the growing debate over who should own AI (IT, the business, or a partnership between them) and on how to divide responsibilities without duplicating capabilities or creating new silos. He explains why governance has to be designed in from the start rather than bolted on later. Finally, he describes how leaders can stay genuinely optimistic about AI while keeping the critical thinking this moment demands.

Learn more about Hypatos and our Agentic AI Workforce here.

Follow host Sally Fletcher on LinkedIn for episode updates.