Wanstor at the Vistage AI for Growth Forum
Earlier this month, our AI and Transformation Practice Lead Ross Hale spoke at the Vistage AI for Growth Forum in London. The event brought C-suite leaders together to talk about practical AI adoption, and Ross led a breakout session on a question many business leaders are wrestling with right now. How do you move from a few promising pilots to something that actually lasts?
About the AI for Growth Forum
Vistage hosted the forum at IET Savoy Place on 8 May 2026. The day was built around a simple idea. Cut through the noise around AI, and focus on what leaders can put into action this quarter. Alongside Ross, the lineup included Virginia Holden, Conrad Ford from Allica Bank, and Jamie Claret from Autonomate. Together they covered strategy, culture, and the practical side of building AI into a growing business.
Why do most AI pilots stall?
Ross opened his session with a story plenty of leaders in the room recognised. Many businesses have tried Copilot. Many have tested ChatGPT across a few teams., yet the results often feel patchy, and the value never quite shows up in the way leaders hoped it would. The technology is rarely the problem. According to Ross, the real issue lies elsewhere; IT teams enable, operations react, and compliance moves cautiously. Different parts of the business pull in different directions, and the pilot loses momentum before it has a chance to mature.
Three ways to make AI adoption durable
Rather than running through a long list of best practices, Ross focused on three areas where CEOs can make a clear difference.
Start small and get the governance right
Big bang launches tend to fail. Smaller, well governed pilots are far more likely to scale. That means setting clear rules around data, risk, and accountability before the first prompt is even written.
Pick use cases tied to real value
Plenty of teams chase novelty when they should be chasing outcomes. Ross encouraged leaders to prioritise the use cases that connect directly to revenue, cost, or customer experience. If a use case cannot be linked to one of those, it probably belongs further down the list.
Design adoption around how people actually work
Tools sit unused when they sit outside the daily flow of work. Ross talked about building AI into the rhythm of the working day, so adoption becomes a habit rather than a forced behaviour. The outcomes leaders should look for are simple. Time back for teams, faster throughput, and clearer accountability.
The Ship of Theseus
Ross closed his session with a story that landed strongly with the room. We have shared it in full below, because the message reads better in his own words.
“I want to leave you with a story from Ancient Greece. A thought experiment called the Ship of Theseus. The hero Theseus returned from his voyages in a great wooden ship. Over decades, the planks began to rot. One by one, they were replaced with new, stronger timber. Eventually, not a single original piece of wood remained. Philosophers have debated for centuries: Is it still the same ship? Today, your businesses are undergoing exactly this transformation. AI is replacing the planks, the way you analyse data, the way you communicate with customers, the way you manage supply chains. Piece by piece, the old timber of manual process is being replaced with something stronger. But what is the answer to the age old question? The ship was never the wood. The ship is the mission. The ship is Theseus. Your organisation’s identity lives in its culture, its purpose, and the trust it has built over years. You can replace every process with an algorithm, and as long as the intent remains yours, it is still your ship. So don’t fear the new timber. Every plank you replace makes the vessel stronger. Use it to build something that carries your purpose further, and lasts longer, than anything you could have sailed before.”
The story pulls together everything the session covered; AI is replacing the planks of how businesses operate, the way data gets analysed, the way customers are served, the way decisions are made. We know that this can feel unsettling, especially when so much of what made a business successful is now being rebuilt with new tools.
The reassurance in the metaphor is simple. The ship was never the wood. A business is held together by its mission, its culture, and the trust it has earned over the years. Those things do not get replaced when AI comes in, they instead get carried forward, on a vessel that is now stronger than the one that set out.
That is why the right approach (or choosing the right planks) matters so much. Replace them in an order that keeps the ship steady, and making sure the crew can sail with the new rigging. Done well, every change strengthens the journey ahead rather than pulling the ship off course.
How Wanstor can help
If your business has run a few AI pilots and is now asking how to scale them safely, this is the work we do every day. Our team helps leaders build the right governance, identify the use cases that move the needle, and design adoption programmes that actually stick.
Get in touch with our AI and Transformation team to start a conversation.