Lessons on AI and Leadership from BNY CEO Robin Vince
At the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, one of the most interesting AI stories didn’t come from a startup or a tech giant.
It came from America’s oldest bank.
BNY (formerly Bank of New York Mellon), founded in 1784, is quietly building one of the most advanced AI-enabled workforces in financial services.
In a conversation with Alan Murray of the WSJ Leadership Institute, CEO Robin Vince described how the bank is integrating AI into the organisation—not as a technology experiment, but as a workforce transformation strategy.
For leaders navigating the AI transition, the lessons are surprisingly practical.
- The Rise of the “Digital Workforce”
BNY isn’t just deploying AI tools.
They are hiring digital employees.
The bank built an internal AI platform called Eliza, designed to connect securely to multiple large language models while protecting sensitive client data.
On top of this platform, BNY has deployed more than 130 specialised AI agents.
Each agent handles a narrow operational task:
- processing payments
- reviewing documents
- resolving operational queries
- assisting internal teams
One example is “Payment Pete”, a digital employee responsible for specific payment ecosystem tasks.
Pete has:
- a defined role
- daily responsibilities
- performance metrics
- and even a human manager.
Instead of thinking about AI as software, BNY treats it as part of the workforce.
That subtle shift changes everything.
- The Psychology of AI Adoption
Technology adoption rarely fails because of technology.
It fails because of people.
Vince understood that employees would fear automation if it felt like a threat. So BNY deliberately made AI feel more like a collaborative teammate.
Teams were allowed to:
- name their AI agents
- define their responsibilities
- integrate them into workflows.
The result?
Employees began referring to agents as helpers rather than replacements.
The message Vince reinforced internally was simple:
Humans bring the magic. Technology brings the efficiency.
AI takes over the repetitive work so people can focus on judgement, relationships and creativity.
To reinforce this culture shift, BNY rolled out company-wide AI boot camps.
Nearly the entire organisation completed the baseline training, with some employees earning “merit badges” for completing up to 40 hours of advanced AI learning.
🧭 Understanding how organisations adopt AI often matters more than the tools themselves. The Imbila AI Assessment explores the stages companies move through as they integrate AI into real workflows.
- Redefining the ROI of AI
Most executives evaluate AI through two lenses:
- cost reduction
- revenue growth.
Vince uses a different metric.
Capacity.
AI creates time.
When repetitive tasks are automated, the organisation gains additional capacity.
Leadership then has a strategic choice:
- Reduce headcount
- Or redeploy that capacity to improve the business.
BNY chose the second option.
Instead of shrinking teams, the bank is using AI-generated capacity to:
- improve customer experience
- accelerate processes
- support growth without dramatically expanding the workforce.
In other words, AI becomes a force multiplier, not simply a cost-cutting tool.
- Leadership Requires Learning First
One of the most striking parts of Vince’s story is how he personally approached AI.
His “aha moment” came not from a board presentation but from a YouTube video of Elon Musk explaining Tesla’s shift from rules-based autonomy to AI-driven learning systems.
Recognising the significance of this shift, Vince decided to go back to school.
In the summer of 2023, he dedicated time to deeply understanding AI before leading organisational change.
His view is clear:
Leaders cannot confidently guide their organisations through AI transformation unless they understand the technology themselves.
Vince even uses AI systems for personal leadership feedback, asking them to generate performance reviews based on his communication and decision patterns.
It’s a practice he recommends to other executives.
- First-Principles Thinking Still Matters
Despite the focus on advanced technology, Vince’s leadership philosophy is grounded in something much older.
First-principles thinking.
Influenced by his mathematician father, Vince approaches complex challenges by breaking them down into their fundamental truths.
This approach helped BNY transition from what he describes as a “confederation of businesses” into a more integrated organisation.
But integration requires trust.
To support this shift, Vince required every member of the bank’s 20-person executive committee to work with a professional coach.
Just like elite athletes, executives benefit from coaching that helps them:
- challenge assumptions
- build trust across teams
- improve leadership performance.
Technology may be evolving quickly, but human leadership development remains essential.
The Bigger Lesson
BNY’s story highlights something important.
AI transformation is not primarily a technology challenge.
It is a leadership and culture challenge.
The organisations that succeed will not simply deploy AI tools.
They will:
- educate their leadership teams
- design new human-AI workflows
- rethink how productivity is measured
- and deliberately build trust around AI adoption.
BNY’s approach shows that even a 240-year-old institution can reinvent how work happens.
The future workforce may include humans and machines working side by side.
But leadership will still determine how well that system performs.