In this episode of Leadership Exchange, host Rob Ocel speaks with Alfredo Lopez, VP of Engineering at Hearst, about what it really takes for leaders to guide their organizations through AI adoption. Alfredo shares insights from more than a decade at Hearst on how engineering leadership has evolved, from balancing startup urgency with long term stability to knowing when not to solve problems with code. Together they explore the cultural shifts needed for AI readiness: why context matters more than prompts, how process discipline separates hype from meaningful results, and why leaders must help teams break down work into smaller, repeatable tasks that AI can accelerate.

Key points from this episode:

- AI adoption is a cultural shift, not just a technical one, requiring leaders to focus on communication, context, and process discipline.

- The quality of AI outputs depends more on context and documentation than on prompts alone.

- AI is most effective when applied to small, structured tasks that build momentum rather than tackling complex features in one step.

- Leaders play a critical role in setting the tone for sustainable AI transformation by modeling clarity, investing in documentation, and raising expectations for process discipline.

Alfredo Lopez on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lfredo/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

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