AI and the Executive Table

Kenza Ait Si Abbou
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The Podcast where AI meets real world decisions Kenza Ait Si Abbou Lyadini | Scailers GmbH AI and the Executive Table is the podcast for C-suite leaders and board members navigating the real decisions of AI transformation. Hosted by AI strategist and Spiegel bestselling author Kenza Ait Si Abbou, each episode unpacks the human, organizational, and technological shifts that turn AI from boardroom pressure into lasting business value. No hype. No theory. Just the conversations that matter at the top. ------- About Kenza Kenza Ait Si Abbou-Lyadini is one of Germany’s most sought-after voices on AI transformation and leadership in uncertain times. Born in Morocco, she studied electrical engineering in Spain and industrial engineering in Berlin. As a former CTO and board member at Fiege Logistik, as well as a senior manager at IBM and Deutsche Telekom, she brings operational credibility across all scales, from global technology conglomerates to complex family-run businesses. Today, she is the founder and CEO of Scailers, an AI consultancy focused on sustainable transformation. Her work combines AI strategy, leadership and governance. Kenza is the author of three Spiegel bestsellers, including 'Keine Panik, ist nur Technik' (, 'Menschenversteher' nominated for the German Business Book Award and 'Meine Freundin Roxy', which was adapted into a fulldome film. She regularly appears on TV, radio and in print as a sought-after expert on AI and digital transformation. In 2020, 'Capital' magazine named her one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Germany, and in 2021, the 'Handelsblatt' named her a “pioneer of transformation”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

  1. 28 Jul

    From Regulation to Ambition | Co-Host Dr. Abir Haddad

    The Middle East is not just a market to expand into; for the right founders, it may be the best place to build. Countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia are making AI a national strategic priority, moving faster, investing bigger, and building governance frameworks designed to attract tech talent. In this episode, Kenza continues her conversation with Dr. Abir Haddad, who works extensively in the region, for a ground-level view of what is actually happening. They explore what Europe can learn from the Gulf's approach to AI and why the region is uniquely attractive for startup founders and growth-stage CEOs: direct access to governments as first customers, national AI strategies that actively seek technology partners, and an innovation culture that moves at a speed most European ecosystems simply cannot match. KEY TAKEAWAYS The Gulf is investing heavily in AI ecosystems and talent.Start-ups gain easier access to funding and government projects.Regulation relies more on guidelines, sandboxes and experimentation.Central AI governance coordinates activities across institutions.Human oversight and continuous upskilling remain essential.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    From Regulation to Ambition | Co-Host Dr. Abir Haddad

  2. 21 Jul

    Beyond the EU AI Act | Co-Host Dr. Abir Haddad

    In this episode, Kenza speaks with Dr. Abir Haddad, legal futurist and advisor to governments and regulators across multiple jurisdictions, for a clear-eyed view of what the global regulatory landscape actually looks like and what it demands from leadership. From the EU's risk-based AI Act to the US sector-specific approach, China's state-led model, and emerging frameworks in the Gulf, this episode gives global executives the map they need to navigate regulatory fragmentation without losing competitive agility. KEY TAKEAWAYS AI regulation is becoming global.EU, US and China follow different models.The use case determines the actual risk.Clear governance enables faster AI adoption.Executives must know how AI is governed, documented and controlled. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Beyond the EU AI Act | Co-Host Dr. Abir Haddad

  3. 14 Jul

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

    When executives talk about AI risk, the conversation usually starts with regulation. But many of the real risks appear much earlier — inside everyday decisions, inside teams experimenting with new tools, inside the quiet accumulation of trust in AI outputs that nobody formally approved. In this episode, Kenza and Naureen explore the full spectrum of AI risk beyond legal exposure: bias, unreliable outputs, data privacy, reputational consequences, and the risk that receives the least attention — gradual, unnoticed reliance. They introduce a practical framework for building risk awareness across the organization, and discuss why silence from employees is often the biggest risk signal of all. This is also the final episode of Season 2. Kenza thanks Naureen for bringing her perspective to the podcast, and previews what is coming in Season 3: what it actually takes to scale AI inside organizations, and how AI capabilities eventually lead to entirely new business models. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      AI rarely creates risk through dramatic failures. It creates risk through gradual trust — outputs that quietly shape decisions before anyone formally validated the model. •      The risk leaders most often underestimate: AI becoming embedded in decision-making without clear oversight or accountability. •      A practical framework for managing AI trust: Visible (everyone knows where AI is used), Questioned (outputs are open to challenge), Verified (systems are regularly reviewed). •      Responsible AI is not just about frameworks. It is about how people act within them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

  4. 7 Jul

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

    When compliance enters an AI initiative at the end of the process, it becomes friction. When it is built in from the beginning, it creates clarity — and clarity allows organizations to move faster. That shift, from compliance as checkpoint to compliance as capability, is what this episode is about. Kenza and Naureen explore why traditional compliance models struggle with AI, what compliance by design looks like in practice, and how the EU AI Act changes what organizations need to prepare for. They challenge the most common misunderstanding: that regulation is designed to stop AI. It is designed to create trust in AI adoption — and companies that prepare early usually find that good compliance is simply good governance. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      Compliance works best when legal and compliance teams participate in shaping AI initiatives — not when they review them at the end. •      The EU AI Act uses a risk-based approach: not all AI systems carry the same obligations. Classification is the first step. •      High-risk AI systems require documented governance, human oversight, and clear accountability — not just a privacy policy. •      Organizations that treat the AI Act as a trust-building exercise rather than a penalty-avoidance exercise gain a competitive advantage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

  5. 30 Jun

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

    AI responsibility is quietly moving up the executive agenda. The question is no longer whether to use AI — but how to govern it properly while still moving fast. And that is where many organizations hesitate: they assume governance will slow them down. In this episode, Kenza is joined by Naureen, a governance and compliance expert with over twenty years of experience in complex regulated environments. Together they explore what AI governance actually looks like when it is designed to enable innovation rather than block it — and why organizations that introduce governance early consistently move faster later, because teams already know the boundaries. They also discuss the CEO's personal role in making governance work, and why conflicting signals from leadership are often the biggest compliance risk of all. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      Governance creates confidence to move. Without it, people slow down because nobody is sure where the boundaries are. •      The right moment to introduce AI governance is when AI starts influencing real business decisions — not when regulation forces you to. •      Introduce governance one step before you scale AI, not one step after. •      CEOs who treat compliance as part of how the company operates — not as a side function — are the ones whose organizations actually adopt it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Governance, Compliance & Risk | Co-Host Naureen Hussain

  6. 23 Jun

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

    SHOW NOTES Once organizations move beyond early AI experiments, a new question appears: Do we have the right people to scale this? Eventually internal learning reaches its limits. You need deeper expertise. But hiring AI talent is one of the most competitive challenges companies face today — and the real question is not just who to hire, but how to build the right combination of people. In this episode, Kenza and Amanda discuss when external AI expertise is actually needed, why the search for a unicorn AI hire so often fails, and what a healthy AI team really looks like. They explore how to integrate new talent without creating an elite separate group — and how to retain people who have endless options elsewhere. This is also Amanda's final episode as co-host. She hands over to the next season with a clear message: AI transformation starts with the people who already understand your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      Hiring too early is as problematic as hiring too late. The trigger should be scaling from pilots to production — not ambition. •      AI success does not come from one brilliant hire. It comes from a system of people working together. •      The strongest teams combine technical specialists, domain experts, and operational leaders — and pair new external talent with long-tenured internal knowledge. •      AI talent stays where they can see their work matter. Meaningful problems and speed of execution matter more than compensation alone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

  7. 16 Jun

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

    SHOW NOTES When organizations talk about AI transformation, the instinct is often to hire. But that is usually the wrong starting point. The real question is how to enable the people already inside the business. In this episode, Kenza and Amanda explore what AI literacy actually means inside organizations and why treating it as a training program rather than a business capability is where most companies go wrong. They discuss the three levels of AI literacy (leadership, operational, and technical), why upskilling existing employees should come before external recruitment, and how co-creation across functions accelerates adoption in ways that top-down rollouts rarely do. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      AI adoption is not primarily a hiring challenge. It is an activation challenge. •      AI literacy only sticks when people apply it to their own decisions and processes - not when it stays in a training room. •      Leaders who visibly participate in AI learning send a signal the rest of the organization cannot ignore. •      Early adopters who pull others along are more valuable than any single AI hire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

  8. 9 Jun

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

    SHOW NOTES When executives ask about AI transformation, the question is often: what is the right organisational design? Central team or decentralised? The honest answer is: you need both - and the balance shifts as your transformation matures. In this episode, Amanda and Kenza explore what it actually takes to structure an organisation for AI. They discuss why a dedicated central team is critical in the early stages, how to handle the tension between day jobs and transformation work, and why measuring return on investment in AI is far harder - and more nuanced - than most boards expect. KEY TAKEAWAYS Start with a central team close to the CEO to orchestrate initiatives and set the guardrails. Its importance decreases as the organisation matures.People cannot drive transformation on top of their day jobs. Organisations must explicitly free up capacity or accept that performance targets will temporarily take a back seat.AI handles structure well. Humans handle chaos. The smartest deployments automate the repetitive 80% and invest in people for the complex 20%.Before you automate anything, optimise the process first. Automating a broken process just makes the broken parts faster. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

  9. 2 Jun

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

    When organizations talk about AI transformation, the instinct is often to ask: how do we measure culture? But the harder question is how to shape it. Culture is not what is written on a values poster - it is what people do when no one is watching. In this episode, Amanda and Kenza explore why culture is the single most important lever in any AI transformation and how to move it deliberately. They discuss how a clear strategic vision needs to reach every level of the organization, why middle management deserves far more attention than it typically receives, and how to build a genuine learning culture where experimentation is encouraged and mistakes are not punished. KEY TAKEAWAYS Culture is not the values on the lobby wall. It is how people behave when no one is watching.AI transformation cannot be delegated to the CTO alone - every executive owns a piece of it.The "frozen middle" is not resistant to change. It is overwhelmed. Organizations must explicitly create space for managers to learn and experiment.As long as mistakes carry career risk, adoption will stall. Psychological safety is not a nice-to-have. It is a prerequisite. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

  10. 16 May

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar

    Right now, in boardrooms everywhere, the same question keeps coming up: What are we actually doing about AI? Not in theory. Not in a pilot. But in the business. In this first episode, Kenza and her co-host Amanda introduce the podcast and the question that drives it: why AI transformation has moved from the innovation lab to the executive agenda — and what that shift really means for leaders. They explore the gap between AI expectation and organizational reality, why most leadership teams are still figuring it out, and what a genuinely useful conversation about AI at the executive level actually looks like. The show is positioned not at the extremes — not deep tech, not distant future — but in the messy middle where real leadership decisions happen. KEY TAKEAWAYS •      AI has moved from innovation experiment to strategic priority — and leadership teams are expected to have answers. •      The real challenge is not technology. It is deciding where to place the first serious bet — and what that means for the rest of the organization. •      The most valuable AI conversations are the ones that usually stay inside executive rooms. This podcast brings them out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    People & Transformation | Co-Host Amanda Rajkumar
  • 10 Episodes

About

The Podcast where AI meets real world decisions Kenza Ait Si Abbou Lyadini | Scailers GmbH AI and the Executive Table is the podcast for C-suite leaders and board members navigating the real decisions of AI transformation. Hosted by AI strategist and Spiegel bestselling author Kenza Ait Si Abbou, each episode unpacks the human, organizational, and technological shifts that turn AI from boardroom pressure into lasting business value. No hype. No theory. Just the conversations that matter at the top. ------- About Kenza Kenza Ait Si Abbou-Lyadini is one of Germany’s most sought-after voices on AI transformation and leadership in uncertain times. Born in Morocco, she studied electrical engineering in Spain and industrial engineering in Berlin. As a former CTO and board member at Fiege Logistik, as well as a senior manager at IBM and Deutsche Telekom, she brings operational credibility across all scales, from global technology conglomerates to complex family-run businesses. Today, she is the founder and CEO of Scailers, an AI consultancy focused on sustainable transformation. Her work combines AI strategy, leadership and governance. Kenza is the author of three Spiegel bestsellers, including 'Keine Panik, ist nur Technik' (, 'Menschenversteher' nominated for the German Business Book Award and 'Meine Freundin Roxy', which was adapted into a fulldome film. She regularly appears on TV, radio and in print as a sought-after expert on AI and digital transformation. In 2020, 'Capital' magazine named her one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Germany, and in 2021, the 'Handelsblatt' named her a “pioneer of transformation”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Kenza Ait Si Abbou
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Kenza Ait Si Abbou
  • Show Website
    AI and the Executive Table

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