Three Shifts Defining Growth-Ready Governance in the Age of AI

Three Shifts Defining Growth-Ready Governance in the Age of AI

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What was once a distant, futuristic concept is now a permanent feature and an invisible current running through our daily lives. It’s a genuine topic of interest around the dinner table; we debate what’s real and what it all means for the future. 

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After eight years of countless discussions, planning sessions, and conference panels on AI, one thing is clear to me: even as adoption accelerates, the attitudes vary wildly. It’s curiosity, hesitation, fear, and fascination rolled into one.

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In our recent Global Board Report Series: Breaking & Remaking the Next Generation of High Impact Boards, AI appears among the top three challenges for scaling companies, right alongside go-to-market strategy and just ahead of funding readiness. It raises an interesting question… 

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Are businesses genuinely describing a challenge, or simply articulating a fear of something not yet fully understood?

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But businesses operate under different conditions now; with higher stakes and expectations for leaders and directors. Companies are accountable to customers, investors, and regulators. So if a board and its advisors are uncomfortable with technology or simply uninformed, that’s no longer acceptable.

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Shift 1: AI-literacy is the new baseline for boards

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AI isn’t a simple ‘plug in tool’, it’s an accelerator, innovator and a differentiator. Which is why swinging an AI hammer at every problem just wastes time and resources and won’t achieve ROI. Instead, leaders must understand the ‘appropriate’ application for it. 

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If you’re like me, in that you witnessed data enter the analogue world, then this might all feel familiar to you. Because data and leadership have always evolved together. 

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Twenty-five years ago, data transformed customer communication with the rise of digital and personalised printing. Companies like Booksurge (acquired by Amazon) revolutionised business models with data management by printing books on demand. A decade later, I was in whiteboard sessions exploring how construction could move from retrospective reporting to predictive insight. Boards today face the same shift: from risk review to readiness. 

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I’d even consider ‘initiating digital transformation’ as a pivotal initiative a red flag for stakeholders and shareholders in 2026. That boat party left the jetty before ChatGPT arrived. As Think & Grow’s research shows–boards fluent in AI and data governance are better equipped to make strategic decisions at pace. Supportive studies from the MIT Centre and the Diligent Institute Governance Outlook Report back this up. 

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And if you still weren’t convinced, APAC businesses that had strengthened their AI governance support saw up to 34% higher revenue growth and 65% stronger cost savings. Further proof that AI-literate boards consistently outperform those that don’t. 

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Shift 2: Genuinely understanding operations, without having to be ‘in them’

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Operational awareness is shifting too. In our research, 78% of board members and business leaders across APJ said closer engagement with execution is now essential. The fastest-scaling businesses are responding with hybrid advisory models that combine governance with real-time operational insight. Directors who can read data in context are becoming the defining difference between boards that oversee and boards that accelerate.

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At our Report launch in Sydney, this challenge came up again and again: How can founders evolve a board that sustains their pace of growth? Because too often, as boards expand, governance becomes a handbrake.

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Shift 3: Build for what’s next, not what's passing now

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Board evolution must anticipate growth. Our research shows 78% of founders and directors believe boards should evolve before major funding rounds or international expansion. Companies that bring in independent, tech-literate directors early navigate scale with more stability; those that don’t often find their governance lagging behind their growth.

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I saw this firsthand at IBISWorld, where organisations started applying industry research data to their planning and strategy, moving from static reporting to predictive insight. That shift changed executive behaviour—which is why market insight sits at the centre of Think & Grow’s GTM Readiness Methodology.

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The best boards are now making that same transition, treating governance as an adaptive system, informed by data and grounded in foresight, rather than relying solely on past experience to shape risk appetite and growth plans. 

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All this points to a changing expectation of leadership. As consumers, we can afford to be dazzled or doubtful about AI. As business leaders, we don’t have that luxury. We’re accountable for how it’s used, for the decisions it drives, and for the impact it creates.

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That’s why Think & Grow’s research feels so relevant right now. It offers both evidence and language for the shift underway. Modern governance is not about formality or compliance, but about momentum, alignment, and intelligent risk-taking.

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From digital printing and data-driven marketing to predictive analytics, and now to AI-enabled decision-making, one truth stands out: Technology always outpaces governance until leaders close the gap.

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The boards that will define the next decade aren’t those that continue to rely on external expertise, but those that learn, apply and think faster. Boards that see technology as the language of strategy and use it to build clarity, confidence, and scale.

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In the age of AI, that fluency isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the measure of modern leadership.

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To see all the board-related findings and discover more about future-proofing your board, download the Global Board Report Series by Think & Grow.

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