Executive Sprint | AI and Business Strategy

Four weeks1.5 hours per week

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Live instructor-led seminars (virtual)

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Like the printing press, steam engine, and electricity of previous eras, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to become one of the most consequential general-purpose technologies the world has ever seen—one that will radically transform business, government, and society.

In this executive sprint, three top University of Waterloo faculty experts will provide aspiring and seasoned executives with an opportunity to consider the magnitude of the potential changes AI will bring to business and government. By navigating through four logically flowing virtual sessions, you will develop a better understanding of the disruptive potential of AI, how it fits into the long arc of technological change, and how this time is different.

You will also develop greater awareness and appreciation for how generative AI technologies are transforming organizational functions and processes—as well as catalyzing product and service innovations at breathtaking speed—while recognizing important ethical issues that need to be addressed. Looking ahead, you will come to better appreciate how the AI landscape is evolving and the implications this will have for the future of work and organizational strategy at large.

This executive sprint is designed for:

Senior leaders who wish to understand how AI is reshaping businesses, industries, and government organizations.
Functional leaders from marketing, operations, HR, and finance who wish to understand the potential for harnessing AI applications in their work environments.
Government administrators seeking opportunities to improve operational processes and service innovations.
Entrepreneurs who wish to leverage AI services to drive innovation and competitiveness.
Consultants and business analysts who wish to further understand the application potential of generative AI technologies for different industries.

Session 1: AI and the Changing Strategy Landscape	Understand the basics of AI and why it is poised to become a general-purpose technology that will radically transform business, government, and society. Identify ethical issues related to AI including trust, bias and fairness, data privacy, transparency, and accountability. Introduce the 3Rs model of “replace, reimagine, and recombine” as a framework for rethinking processes, product and service innovations, new business models, and strategies.
Session 2: The Disruptive Power of Generative AI	Explore how large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, can be used to improve business functions, processes, and innovations across the enterprise. Discover how different industries are harnessing generative AI imaging applications to increase organizational performance and competitiveness. Apply the “replace, reimagine, recombine” model using generative AI as a foundation for rethinking processes, products and service innovations, and business models.
Session 3: The Future of AI and its Strategic Implications	Investigate the big players and trends shaping the future of AI, as well as the potential impact of novel AI applications. Consider the future of work in an increasingly AI-driven world and the implications it will have for organizational culture, talent development, and recruiting efforts. Synthesize and situate key learning points from the program in the context of your organization’s strategy and operations.
Session 4: Leading Organizations in an AI Age	Plan for successful organization change that considers the needs, emotions, and motivations of your people. Craft narratives and communications that support and enable your strategic objectives. Engage the contributions and participation of everyone in solving problems and overcoming obstacles that are unavoidable in large-scale, systemic change.

This executive sprint offers multiple modes of learning that will allow you to get up-to-speed quickly on how AI is set to radically transform business, government, and society. This includes:

90-minute live sessions, taking place via Zoom on Tuesdays from 12 - 1:30 p.m. ET, comprised of short presentations and faculty-guided and peer-led discussions.
Curated readings that will allow you to dig deeper into specific topics of interest.
Action learning thought-starters that will apply the 3R model to your organization or one with which you are familiar.

Receive a certificate from the University of Waterloo

Upon successful completion of this program, you will receive a professional education certificate from the University of Waterloo.

Headshot of Dr. Jimmy Lin

Dr. Jimmy Lin

Cheriton Chair, Cheriton School of Computer Science | Co-Director, Waterloo.AI

Dr. Jimmy Lin is a professor and holds the David R. Cheriton Chair in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He also serves as the co-director of the Waterloo AI Institute, which has the mission to promote cross-disciplinary research at the frontiers of artificial intelligence and its applications across the entire campus.

Dr. Lin’s area of research lies at the intersection between natural language processing and information retrieval. In addition to being one of the most cited artificial intelligence scholars in the world, he has been frequently and deeply engaged with both the private and public sectors throughout his career, including an extended sabbatical at Twitter and visiting positions at the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

He presently serves as the chief technology officer of Primal, a Waterloo-based AI company focused on creating meaning that computers can understand. Dr. Lin holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and is a fellow of the ACM.

A headshot of Joel Blit

Dr. Joël Blit

Chair, Council on Innovation Policy | Senior Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIHI)

Dr. Joël Blit is a professor of economics, chair of the Council on Innovation Policy at the University of Waterloo, and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). His main research interests are in the economics of innovation and innovation policy. He studies, among other things, AI, economics and the future of work, the diffusion of disruptive technologies and their impact on productivity and jobs, as well as the effect of that intellectual property rights (patents) have on innovation. Dr. Blit’s most recent work, examining how COVID-19 has transformed the economy through automation and reallocation, has been featured in numerous media outlets including The Economist, The Globe and Mail, and CBC.

He has also received numerous research grants from agencies such as SSHRC, NBER, CIBER, INET, CIGI, the AI Institute at the University of Waterloo.

Prior to joining Waterloo, Dr. Blit was an assistant professor of economics and international affairs at the George Washington University. He has also been a business consultant to financial services firms in Asia, Australia, and North America, which has included formulating the strategy for a $100M USD startup. He holds a BASc Engineering Science (Toronto), MASc Computer Engineering (Waterloo), MBA (INSEAD), MA Economics (Western), and PhD Economics (Toronto).

Headshot of Dr. Mark Weber

Dr. J. Mark Weber

Special Advisor to the Provost on Leadership Strategy and Development | Professor of Management and Organizations

Dr. J. Mark Weber is special advisor to the Provost on Leadership Strategy and Development at the University of Waterloo. Prior to his current role, Mark was the Eyton director of the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business at Waterloo, the inaugural director of Waterloo's Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation, and a former faculty member at the Rotman School of Management and UTM at the University of Toronto. He also taught courses at Northwestern University, INSEAD, and the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan.

Dr. Weber is an award-winning teacher and researcher, and his research focuses on leadership, cooperation, negotiations, decision-making, and trust. He consults extensively and has provided training to executives and professionals in the automotive, education, healthcare, pharmaceutical, broadcast media, entertainment, telecommunications, professional services, and financial services industries, and in government at all levels.