Russ Reeder

70% of enterprises use AI. 95% of pilots fail. The difference isn't the technology. It's the mindset. In my latest @ForbesTechCncl article, I break down why the AI learning curve collapsed from 6 months to 6 weeks, and the six moves every CEO should make in the next 42 days.

Thanks for the share, @ForbesTechCncl. The line I keep coming back to: clinging to "AI hallucinates" in 2026 is like refusing to use email in 2005 because AOL was slow. The tech moved. The question isn't whether AI works. It's whether you're willing to work with it. 70% of enterprises are already in. The gap isn't narrowing. It's widening. Six weeks of real commitment changes everything.

Six Months To Six Weeks: Why The AI Learning Curve Just Collapsed hubs.li/Q04c1L1T0 Written by @RussReeder of KeyDelta

Buckle up! Everything is moving faster, especially in cybersecurity. I've always said that the hackers are using AI better than most companies, and the trend will continue. Make sure to lean in and stay ahead. Claude Mythos Preview is officially a "step change" in AI. 🛡️💻 Anthropic built it, saw what it could do, and decided the world wasn't ready. Here’s why: • Elite Coding: 93.9% on SWE-bench Verified. • Zero-Day Discovery: Found a 27-year-old bug in OpenBSD and a 16-year-old flaw in FFmpeg that 5M+ tests missed. • Autonomous Hacking: It can chain Linux kernel bugs to gain root access in hours—no human needed. The Response: Project Glasswing. Anthropic is committing $100M in credits and $4M in donations to help defenders patch the internet’s critical infrastructure first. In the AI arms race, the "good guys" just got the ultimate head start. #ClaudeMythos #AISafety #ProjectGlasswing #Infosec

Honest question for operators: When big initiatives stall, is it usually a people issue, or an operating design issue? What’s the first thing you look for when progress stops?

Just published in @ForbesTechCncl. Most stalled mission-critical projects aren’t stalled because people don’t care. They’re stalled because ambiguity survives: • “Done” isn’t defined • Ownership lacks authority • Decisions don’t close The fix isn’t more pressure. It’s better structure. AI just raises the stakes. forbes.com/councils/forbe…

Great strategy is table stakes. The real differentiator is strategic foresight that actually changes decisions. Nice @HarvardBiz article by Wendi Backler, Alan Iny, and Moe Turner. This HBR piece reinforces something we see every day in our work with CEOs and boards: companies that excel at foresight do not just predict the future, they institutionalize how they sense, decide, and act. Foresight only creates value when it is paired with: • Clear priorities • Explicit tradeoffs • Decision ownership • Execution discipline Otherwise, it stays interesting and never becomes impactful. At KeyDelta, we focus on turning foresight into operational judgment. That is where advantage compounds. 🔗 Harvard Business Review: hbr.org/2026/01/what-c… #StrategicForesight #OperationalJudgment #Execution #Leadership #CEO #Boards #PrivateEquity #Strategy #KeyDelta

Just watched a powerful live conversation with @DarioAmodei, CEO of @AnthropicAI, at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, hosted by Emma Tucker of The Wall Street Journal. Amodei’s perspective cuts straight to the heart of where we are with AI right now: the intersection of rapid technological capability and the need for responsible industry and policy leadership. His leadership at Anthropic — a company that has raised billions to push the frontier of large language models like Claude — is shaping how business and society think about scaling AI safely and responsibly. Key takeaways that every leader should hear: • AI’s trajectory isn’t just about capability — it’s about impact and accountability as models scale. • Conversations about AI must expand beyond tech circles and into strategic policy and societal dialogue. • The Davos platform continues to be invaluable for grounding high-impact tech discussions in global context even as geopolitical uncertainty looms large. 📺 Watch the full conversation here: youtube.com/watch?v=K7F6oh… If you’re navigating AI strategy, tech governance, or future workforce implications, this is worth your time. #WEF2026 #AI #Leadership #TechPolicy #Anthropic #Davos #FutureOfWork@

Worth reading: Ross Kelly at @ITPro reports that 59% of CFOs expect AI-driven productivity gains, with 96% increasing tech spend. The shift is clear: AI is moving from pilots to core operating investment. Execution — not tooling — will determine ROI. itpro.com/business/busin… #AI #CFO #Productivity #Execution

I’m excited to share important news for James Madison University and the Madison Center for Civic Engagement. Last year, JMU received one of the largest competitive grants in the university’s history: a $2.1M U.S. Department of Education American History and Civics Seminars grant, recognizing the Center’s growing national impact. Now, JMU has been awarded an additional $2.7M U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grant to further expand and scale civic discourse efforts, bringing nearly $5M in federal investment to support this work. This investment reflects a clear priority: strengthening civic engagement and civil discourse at a time when the ability to engage thoughtfully across differences matters more than ever. Congratulations to Kara Dillard, David Kirkpatrick, Jim Schmidt, and everyone at JMU who helped make this happen! Thank you to the external advisory board, Wilma Cairns Bowers, Matt Carr, Steve Hufford, Elizabeth Vickrey Lodal, Armstrong Marshall (Raleigh Marshall), Woodson Martin, Arthur Moats III, Deanna Reed, Jennifer Park Stout, and Doug Trout — who were involved from the earliest days of this mission and helped lay the foundation for this impact. Great to see JMU as a national leader in civic engagement and helping promote civil discourse! hashtag#JMU hashtag#CivicEngagement hashtag#CivilDiscourse hashtag#HigherEducation hashtag#Leadership linkedin.com/posts/russellp…

Sharing this because I’ve seen this pattern repeat itself too many times post-close.Most integration issues aren’t about strategy. They’re about decision ownership and pace. Curious if this resonates with what you’re seeing. linkedin.com/posts/keydelta…

@ChildSci @Aramco_Americas Thanks to the team at @aramco or your generous support

Thank you @Aramco_Americas for partnering with us to champion curiosity, innovation, and workforce development! You are impacting thousands of children through your support of our beyond-the-classroom programs. #STEMeducation #NOVAnonprofit #ScienceForAll #AramcoAmericas

Insightful @CNN article on @JMU's journey. @JMUFootball didn’t get here by accident. They didn’t wait for permission. They didn’t whine about being underestimated. They focused on execution, culture, and belief. cnn.com/2025/12/19/spo… This story hits close to home. I’ve spent my career helping companies move from capable to contender, often against much larger, better-funded competitors. The winning receipt is always the same: - Clear purpose - Relentless focus on fundamentals - Trust in the team - Leaders who raise the bar and demand accountability - And a refusal to play small just because others expect you to Winning organizations look a lot like winning teams. Talent matters, but culture, discipline, and belief matter more. JMU's rise is a reminder that momentum is built, not granted. And when everyone is aligned around a shared mission, the ceiling is a lot higher than outsiders think. Proud to be a Duke. #Leadership #CultureWins #ExecutionMatters #Underdogs #JMU #WinningTeams #PurposeDriven

Great second day at the 10th #AISummit in NYC. The biggest theme today: the math is easy – the data is hard. Session after session, the same challenge kept coming up: building, cleaning, and connecting more useful datasets so AI can actually be trusted in production. From @neo4j Graph Database platform to an excellent technical masterclass from Arpit Narain, CFA, FRM, CQF on how to build, train, and test your own vector LLM, the real work wasn’t “which model?” — it was “do we really understand and trust the data underneath it?” My favorite line from Arpit: “This is easy to do, anyone can do it, it’s just math.” The catch, of course, is that your math is only as good as your data. #KeyDelta #AISummit #AI #GenAI #EnterpriseAI #DataStrategy #MLOps #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #NYC

Day 1 at the 10th AI Summit in NYC. First takeaway: AI isn’t just the next step in the Digital Age — it’s a reset. The companies that win will be the ones who have an open mindset, move faster, learn faster, and rebuild how they work around AI. Excited about launching KeyDelta to help leadership teams tackle their most complex, high-impact challenges in this new era. #AISummit #KeyDelta #AI #GenAI #NYC #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #PurposefulProductivity

@JMUPresidentJim Go Dukes! Let's go beat the Ducks! See you there!

The 🏈ANNOUNCEMENT! Let the streamers sail! 💜💛

Most people are selling when they should be learning. Slow down. Ask better questions. See the world through your client’s eyes. That’s where real influence begins. Full article: linkedin.com/pulse/stop-sel…

Interesting

Your packed calendar is not a badge of honor. It's a sign of a critical misalignment. I see this everywhere: Smart, dedicated teams are running faster than ever, yet they're stuck in a "culture of constant activity." This busy desire is a psychological reflex driven by action bias, urgency effect, and completion bias, and it's slowly eroding time, clarity, and creativity. The shift from busyness to focus is a shift from micromanagement to trust. It's about empowering teams to own results, not just tasks. In my new article for @ForbesTechCncl, I dig into the psychology behind why we confuse movement with meaning, and offer a tested framework to reclaim the focus that drives real results. Read and challenge your assumptions about productivity here: forbes.com/councils/forbe… #WorkplaceCulture #HighPerformance #ExecutiveCoaching #Clarity #BusinessGrowth

Season-best #19 ranking in this week's AP Top 25 📈 #GoDukes