Seth Cohen is the CIO of Procter & Gamble.
The most important technology conversation in your company probably isn’t about technology. It’s about capability.
Every organization is asking how AI, data and digital technologies will reshape the future. But I believe many are starting with the wrong question. Rather than asking what technology to deploy, leaders should ask, “What new capabilities are we trying to build?”
Technology doesn’t create competitive advantage on its own. Organizations do.
Even as a CIO, I spend remarkably little time talking about technology itself. My conversations are about growth, productivity, decision-making, innovation, talent and how organizations adapt to change. That’s because technology is no longer a separate conversation. It has become part of the operating fabric of the enterprise.
One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing people refer to “the business” as though it exists independently from technology, as though business leaders set strategy while technology teams simply support execution. That distinction may have made sense years ago. Today, it doesn’t.
Technology no longer sits alongside the business. It shapes how people work, how leaders make decisions, how organizations operate and ultimately how companies create value.
That’s why leaders in this space shouldn’t view their team’s mission as delivering technology. They should view it as helping build the capabilities a company needs to compete and grow. The technology matters, but capability matters more.
The Problem Isn’t Technology: It’s How We Think About It
Many organizations still treat technology as a function rather than an enterprise capability. As a result, technology discussions often become disconnected from business outcomes. Teams focus on platforms, systems and projects before aligning on the problem they’re trying to solve or the capability they’re trying to create.
The most successful organizations I’ve observed start somewhere different. They begin with outcomes.
They ask several questions: How can we make better decisions? How can we improve the way work gets done? How can we help people spend more time creating value? How can we respond faster to change? How can we better serve customers and consumers?
For example, when we identified a consumer insight for one of our a hair care brands in Europe—that sun protection was a major skincare driver in summer, but no hair care offering existed—we didn’t just look for a tech tool. We asked, “How can we build the capability to rapidly develop, package and communicate a superior product to meet this need?”
Leveraging AI to create digital twins of target consumers and brainstorm concepts in real time, we brought a new, highly effective UV protectant hair spray to market five times faster than traditional timelines. This wasn’t about deploying AI; it was about building a faster, more effective brand innovation capability.
In cases like these, technology should become an enabler, not the objective. It may sound like a subtle shift, but it fundamentally changes how organizations prioritize investments, develop talent and create value.
AI Is A Capability Conversation
AI is perhaps the clearest example of why this mindset matters. Too many AI conversations begin with questions about models, tools, adoption rates, budgets or return on investment. Those are important questions, but they aren’t the first questions.
The better question is: What capabilities will AI make possible that were previously difficult, expensive or even impossible to achieve?
At my company, that’s where we begin. Instead of asking where we can deploy AI, we ask what outcomes we want to enable: Will employees make better decisions? Will leaders have better information? Will expertise become more accessible? Will our organization move faster? Will people spend less time on routine work and more time solving higher-value problems?
This is about building real business capabilities. For instance, we have an AI-powered R&D capability used to accelerate molecule discovery that has fundamentally changed how we innovate. Traditionally, identifying new molecules for products like fragrances could take years. By using AI algorithms, we can now find and test superior formulations faster and with significantly fewer resources. This capability allows us to bring new products to market far quicker, directly impacting our growth and competitive advantage.
Ultimately, AI isn’t just a technology story. It’s a capability story.
The Future Of Technology Leadership
Technology leadership has never been more important. But the role itself has fundamentally changed. Today’s CIOs, CTOs and digital leaders are expected to connect business strategy, organizational capability and technology innovation, not simply steward technology investments. Success increasingly depends on thinking like a business builder rather than a technology operator.
The organizations that outperform over the next decade won’t necessarily be the ones with the most advanced technology. They’ll be the ones that build the strongest capabilities: making better decisions, learning faster, adapting sooner and empowering their people to do their best work.
Technology is essential to strengthening those capabilities, but it is only part of the equation. The future belongs to leaders who understand that technology is no longer the destination. It is the foundation upon which resilient, adaptive and high-performing organizations are built.
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