EP158: Beyond AI Tools: Building Capabilities That Actually Scale

While most enterprises are still celebrating their AI pilots, a quiet revolution is happening: Organizations that stopped collecting tools and started building capabilities. In this episode, Tessa Burg and Michael Ditter, Director of AI Strategy and Emerging Technology at Diageo, dismantle the playbook many thought they needed. Discover why empathy matters more than efficiency in capability building, how your organization’s hardest problem is the most fertile training ground and why it’s ok to completely fail. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. About Michael Ditter: Michael Ditter is an AI strategist and innovation leader who operates at the frontier of how organizations think, build and compete. With more than 15 years at the intersection of consumer goods, commercial strategy and emerging technologies, he specializes in translating complex shifts in AI, culture and behavior into scalable systems that deliver measurable business impact. Michael’s work blends strategy, organizational design and hands-on prototyping. He architected AI and machine-learning initiatives across sales operations, brand engagement, predictive analytics and product innovation, consistently reducing time-to-value and enabling teams to move from idea to working solution at unprecedented speed. He is known for building bridges between C-suite leaders, marketing and commercial teams and technical builders—creating alignment around bold ideas and the operating models required to bring them to life. In 2025, Michael won 1st place at the SCSP AI+ Expo Hackathon, one of the most competitive AI and national-security innovation challenges in the country. There, he built SentinelAI, a multi-agent crisis-response system that demonstrated how frontier models can augment human judgment in high-stakes environments. The experience reinforced his philosophy that the barrier between imagination and implementation is collapsing—and that responsible, human-centered deployment will define the next era of advantage. Michael has also been an early mover in spatial computing, AR/VR, computer vision and conversational AI, creating new modalities for brand storytelling and consumer interaction. He focuses on helping organizations build AI-enabled cultures where creativity, speed and thoughtful governance coexist. You can find Michael on X, LinkedIn or at [email protected]. About Tessa Burg: Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].