AI Fluency Coach

AI Fluency for
Senior Leaders

A structured six-week experience programme that puts AI directly into the hands of C-suite executives — building genuine fluency through real use, not another briefing.

6
Weeks
4
Hours guided calls
1
Private AI environment
Week 1
Your First Conversation
Talk to your AI about your own role. Break the mystique. Build the habit.
💬
Week 3
Content Creation
Commission, critique, and refine. Discover where AI earns its place — and where it doesn't.
✍️
Week 5
The Commercial Lens
Identify three AI opportunities in your own function, ready to act on.
💼

Most executives know AI matters.
Very few have actually used it.

Decisions about AI investment, governance, and strategy are being made by leaders who have never had a meaningful AI conversation. This programme changes that — one week at a time, using real work, in a private environment designed around each participant.

The Problem

Why senior leaders need
direct experience

Awareness isn't fluency. Reading about AI isn't using AI. This programme bridges the gap between knowing and understanding.

01

Awareness without experience

Most senior leaders are aware AI is significant. Very few have spent meaningful time actually working with it. The result is opinion without foundation — formed from headlines, not hands-on use.

02

Decisions without grounding

AI investment decisions, governance choices, and strategic priorities are being made by people who have never personally tested the technology. That creates both risk and missed opportunity.

03

Scepticism or enthusiasm, not judgement

Without direct experience, leaders tend toward either over-enthusiasm or dismissal. Neither is useful. Grounded judgement — knowing what AI can and cannot do — only comes from use.

The answer isn't another presentation about AI trends.
It's direct, guided, personal experience.
This programme puts AI into the hands of each participant for six structured weeks — building genuine fluency through real tasks, real reflection, and real work.
The Programme

Six weeks. Six themes.
One lasting change.

Each week has a clear focus, a practical task, and a reflection prompt. Participants work at their own pace — no fixed sessions, no assessment.

1
💬
Your First Conversation

Log in, explore, and have a real conversation with your AI about your own role and industry. Break the mystique. Establish comfort.

Orientation
2
🧠
AI as a Thought Partner

Work through a real (non-sensitive) challenge using your AI across several sessions. Experience it as a strategic thinking tool.

Strategic thinking
3
✍️
Content Creation

Commission a piece of written content. Edit it. Push back. Understand where AI adds value and where human judgement remains essential.

Practical capability
4
🔬
Stress Testing

Deliberately find where your AI breaks, gets things wrong, or refuses to engage. Build the critical awareness that good AI governance requires.

Critical awareness
5
💼
The Commercial Lens

Identify three areas in your function where AI could create meaningful value in the next 18–24 months. Prepare for a focused conversation with your programme guide.

Commercial opportunity
6
📝
Reflection & Articulation

Write your personal AI statement: what you found, what surprised you, and one concrete recommendation for your organisation. A lasting artefact of the programme.

Synthesis
How It Works

Structured, guided,
and genuinely flexible

Six weekly calls with your programme guide, self-directed tasks in between, no group cohort to keep pace with. This programme works around executive schedules.

1

Private AI environment set up for you

Each participant receives their own private AI instance — not a shared platform, not a corporate tool. It's yours for the six weeks. Access from any device, at any time.

2

One-hour setup call to get you started

Week one begins with a guided session where you walk through your AI environment together and have your first real conversation with it. You leave the call having actually used it.

3

Weekly task brief and 30-minute check-in

Each Monday you receive a focused task. Work through it at your own pace during the week, then join a 30-minute call to debrief what you found and set up the next theme.

4

Self-directed work between calls

The real learning happens when you use AI on your own terms. Tasks are designed to take 30 to 45 minutes across the week — no fixed schedule, no pressure.

5

One-hour closing debrief

Week six ends with a longer conversation to review your journey, discuss your personal AI statement, explore commercial opportunities, and agree what comes next.

What's included
Private AI environment Configured and tested before week one. No IT involvement required from your organisation.
Personalised participant guide A bespoke written guide tailored to your role and sector, delivered before the programme begins.
Six weekly task briefs Clear, focused tasks with context, suggested approaches, and reflection prompts.
Six guided calls 1-hour setup, four 30-minute weekly check-ins, and a 1-hour closing debrief — 4 hours total.
Closing debrief End-of-programme conversation to review findings, discuss your AI statement, and agree what comes next.

"The goal isn't to make you technical. It's to give you a personal reference point — so when your organisation makes decisions about AI, you've seen it work, you've seen it fail, and you can form a genuine opinion."

Ewan MacLeod  ·  Founder, New Era Digital Partners

Who It's For

Designed for C-suite and
senior executives

No technical background required. The only prerequisite is curiosity and a willingness to try things.

C-suite or senior executive level
Aware of AI but hasn't used it systematically
Commercial, strategic or operational role
Influential in decisions about AI investment
Open to learning in a low-pressure environment
No technical background required

Example Roles

C-SuiteChief Commercial Officer
C-SuiteChief Financial Officer
C-SuiteChief Risk Officer
C-SuiteChief HR Officer
ExecutiveChief Operating Officer
BoardManaging Director
What You Leave With

Four tangible outcomes
from six weeks

Not a certificate. Not a score. Four things that are genuinely useful for an executive making decisions about AI.

🧠

Genuine AI fluency

Not theoretical knowledge — real, hands-on experience across multiple use cases over six weeks. You'll have had more meaningful AI interactions than the vast majority of senior executives.

⚖️

Grounded judgement

A personal, tested view of where AI is genuinely capable and where it needs human oversight. The kind of judgement that only comes from having found the limits yourself.

💼

Commercial perspective

Three identified AI opportunities in your own function, mapped against effort and impact — ready to discuss with your team and act on.

📄

A personal AI statement

A written reflection capturing what you found, what changed your thinking, and a concrete recommendation for your organisation. A lasting artefact that can inform your next move.

Your Coach

Practitioner-led. Sector-specific.
No vendor agenda.

EM
Ewan MacLeod
Founder · New Era Digital Partners
Interim CIO, Bank of London & The Middle East
20+ years in banking technology leadership
AI strategy adviser across UK & Gulf markets
Hands-on AI deployment experience

Built by someone who has deployed AI in financial services — not just advised on it

Every element of this programme has been designed from direct, operational experience working with AI in banking environments. Not from research papers or conference panels — from the actual work of building, testing, and scaling AI tools inside financial services organisations.

New Era Digital Partners works with banks and financial institutions across the UK and Gulf region on digital transformation and AI strategy. The AI Fluency for Senior Leaders programme emerged from a consistent finding: the executives making the most important decisions about AI were the ones with the least direct experience of it.

This programme is designed to close that gap — for one leader at a time, or for an entire senior team.

Get in touch →

Ready to bring AI Fluency to your leadership team?

The programme can be run for individual executives or scaled across a senior leadership cohort. It works equally well as a standalone engagement or as a precursor to a broader organisational AI strategy.

How to get started

A brief conversation is all it takes to set up the programme. We'll agree a participant, a start date, and a personalised guide tailored to their role.

1
Initial conversation — 20 minutes
2
Personalised guide prepared
3
Private AI environment configured
4
Programme begins
Contact Ewan MacLeod →