A Practical Guide for Business Leaders to Drive AI Adoption in the Boardroom


Why AI Needs to Be on Your Board’s Agenda in 2025

The conversation around AI has shifted. It’s no longer about whether businesses should adopt AI but how quickly they can integrate it into their operations.

Yet, one of the biggest challenges we witness business leaders face is articulating a clear AI strategy to their board. Many executives struggle to define why AI is a priority right now, showcase real business value and ROI, address risks and operational challenges and provide a practical roadmap for AI adoption.

If you’re responsible for bringing AI into your organisation, you need to prepare a compelling AI board presentation that secures buy-in from leadership. Not sure where to start? Not to worry, we have created this how to guide to help walk you through exactly how to do it using a proven five-part framework. This is the same process we use with our clients to transform their businesses.

Our aim for this guide is to leave you with a structured, well-researched, and persuasive AI board presentation that answers key leadership questions and sets your company on a strong AI adoption path.

Furthermore, take a look at the bottom of this guide to see how a Founder + Lightning AI Discovery can help prioritise these opportunities against your business goals, making for a more persuasive argument to use AI to present to your board.

📌 The AI Board Presentation Framework

When building your AI Board Presentation make sure you include:

1️⃣ Craft a compelling executive Summary → Why is AI critical now?

2️⃣ Discuss the AI Landscape & its relevance → How AI is shaping industries?

3️⃣ Provide a current State Assessment → Where does your company stand today?

4️⃣ Show both the AI Opportunities & Risks → What you can achieve & what to watch out for?

5️⃣ Finish with an AI Roadmap → How to execute AI adoption successfully.

Let's break it down

Each section is designed to answer key board-level questions while ensuring your leadership team understands AI’s potential, risks, and implementation strategy.

1️⃣ Starting with the Executive Summary: Setting the Vision for AI,

This is where you set the tone for your board presentation by answering:

• Why should AI be a priority now?

• What’s the value of AI for our business?

• How do we measure success?

A great idea here would be to add some up-to-date statistics that backs up why AI should be a priority and why your company should be taking it seriously.

An example of this in 2025 so far could be:

The Productivity Crisis → 58% of employees report spending time on repetitive, manual tasks. AI can eliminate inefficiencies.

Or your Customer Expectations → 68% of buyers want hyper-personalised experiences. AI enables mass personalisation at scale.

or Competitive Pressure → 40%+ of businesses are already investing in AI. Early adopters gain a long-term advantage.

Each point here is equally valid as to why you should use AI so maybe choose an angle which you think will resonate with your board the most based on your goals for your year.

Just make sure that you are clearly showing your board that if you don’t integrate AI into our strategy now, you risk being left behind.

2️⃣ AI Landscape & Industry Relevance

In this section make sure to consider the HOW. Looking at how AI is Transforming Business in 2025. This could be done by explaining

-HOW AI is automating workflows, cutting costs, and improving decision-making. 

-HOW Industries from financial services to retail are embedding AI at an accelerating pace.

or

-HOW Companies that wait will struggle to compete with AI-enabled businesses.

After defining the how it allows you to smoothly transition the board into seeing the Cost to them of Doing Nothing (Competitive Risk Assessment)

These risks include

✅ Market Shift → AI-driven companies outperform traditional competitors.

✅ Talent Drain → The best employees want to work for AI-forward businesses.

✅ Customer Loss → Customers expect AI-powered efficiency and personalisation.

A key example of this can be seen with  Salesforce & Klarna, who are redefining their CRM and customer service with AI. If we don’t act, we risk losing ground in our own industry.

In the section, you should make sure that the Key Board Takeaway is “We need to define our AI adoption roadmap before competitors gain an insurmountable lead.”

3️⃣ Current State Assessment: Where Do We Stand?

Before pitching AI solutions, it’s crucial to assess the company’s AI readiness.

In order to do this you should ask your team these questions.

1️⃣ Are we already running AI pilots?

2️⃣ Do we have AI expertise in-house, or do we need external support?

3️⃣ How mature is our data infrastructure?

4️⃣ Do we have a dedicated AI budget?

In the section, you should make sure that the Key Board Takeaway is that your company’s AI adoption must be structured, with a clear data and execution strategy.

4️⃣ AI Opportunities & Risks: Where We Can Win & What to Watch Out For

AI presents game-changing opportunities, but also new risks. Sometimes spotting new opportunities can be tricky. F+L can help you do this with an AI Discovery. We will give you access to a team of experts in Product, Tech and AI, who uncover new opportunities you may not have spotted to harness AI with a defined plan to execute.

A few typical opportunities in the meantime that you could present to your board are:

✅ Automate Repetitive Tasks → Free up employees for higher-value work.

✅ Enhance Customer Experience → AI-powered personalisation drives loyalty.

✅ Optimise Decision-Making → AI insights lead to smarter business strategies.

✅ New Revenue Streams → AI can create innovative products & services.

When looking where to start, use these steps to help you identify AI use cases:

•Look for processes with high manual effort & repetitive steps.

•Identify data-heavy workflows that can be improved with AI insights.

•Focus on areas where AI-driven decisions can reduce costs or boost revenue.

Equally you should show you have considered the AI Risks & How to Mitigate Them for a balanced perspective. These risks could include:

⚠️ Security & Data Privacy Risks → Implement robust AI governance policies.

⚠️ Regulatory Compliance → Align AI initiatives with industry laws & best practices.

⚠️ Integration Challenges → Ensure AI solutions work seamlessly with existing tech.

⚠️ Employee Resistance → Provide AI upskilling to ease workforce transition.

In the section, you should make sure that the Key Board Takeaway is that AI presents massive opportunities, but we must implement it responsibly.

5️⃣ AI Roadmap: How to Execute AI Adoption Successfully

After completing steps 1-4 you are ready to conduct the AI Implementation Strategy

📌 Phase 1: AI Pilot Programs

•Identify quick-win AI use cases with clear ROI.

•Launch AI pilot projects in targeted business areas.

•Measure impact & refine implementation strategy.

📌 Phase 2: Scaling AI Initiatives

•Expand successful AI pilots across departments.

•Invest in AI training & internal expertise development.

•Strengthen data infrastructure for AI readiness.

📌 Phase 3: Full AI Integration 

•AI embedded across all business operations.

•Continuous AI optimisation & scaling.

•Ongoing monitoring of AI-driven business performance.

In the section, you should make sure that the Key Board Takeaway is that AI adoption should be gradual, data-driven, and aligned with business objectives.

In summary, by structuring your AI board presentation using this framework, you can:

✅ Clearly communicate why AI is essential now.

✅ Showcase real-world business impact & ROI.

✅ Address AI risks & strategic considerations.

✅ Provide a clear roadmap for AI implementation.

Our final board recommendation AI adoption is not just a technology initiative—it’s a business survival strategy. We must act now to maintain competitive advantage, improve efficiency, and drive innovation in 2025 and beyond.At F+L we offer AI discoveries where we look across your business and uncover the various opportunities where you could be harnessing AI. As well as this we will help you to prioritise these opportunities against your business goals which can then be used when trying to convince your board. Whether you are looking for multiple quick wins across your business with AI or looking to focus on one specific use case, we can help. If you would like to hear more please contact cx@founderandlightning.com.