AI-LQ™
AI Leadership Quotient
Prepare your Company for the Age of AI
AI is transforming every sector, yet most leadership assessments still focus on legacy skills. Included in every search, the AI Leadership Quotient (AI-LQ™) is ExactSearch’s proprietary framework for evaluating an executive’s readiness to lead in a world where artificial intelligence is a core driver of competitive advantage….
What Is AI‑LQ™?
AI-LQ™ is a multi-dimensional executive assessment model that benchmarks a candidate’s ability to:
• Recognize where AI creates value across functions
• Deploy AI to enhance efficiency, decision-making, and growth
• Lead cross-functional AI initiatives without creating silos
• Inspire a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and continuous learning
• Govern responsibly, understanding risks and ethical boundaries
It’s used to surface differentiated leaders across roles — CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, CHROs, CPOs — in industries ranging from SaaS to life sciences.
Stay ahead in executive search.
Why AI-LQ™ Matters
And Why AI Leadership Drives Adoption
AI capabilities are evolving fast, but leadership mindsets often lag. Boards, investors, and PE/VC firms increasingly expect C-suite leaders to understand and articulate an AI strategy. But most leadership assessments focus on historical performance, not future adaptability.
Executives with high AI-LQ™:
- Drive faster AI adoption across business units
- Generate margin expansion through smart automation
- Anticipate and de-risk AI implementation challenges
- Attract talent who want to work on the frontier of innovation
In short, they future-proof your organization.
What AI-LQ™ Measures
The five dimensions of leadership in an
AI-powered world.
Strategic AI Fluency
Understanding of AI’s macro impact, category disruption potential, and ability to identify high-ROI use cases. Can link AI to corporate vision.
Operational AI Readiness
Knows how to embed AI in workflows across finance, sales, customer experience, and supply chain. Understands data dependencies and change management.
Cultural Leadership
Creates conditions for cross-functional innovation, experimentation, and ethical debate. Can navigate internal resistance and support workforce transformation.
Ethics & Governance
Understands risk frameworks for responsible AI. Familiar with emerging standards on data privacy, algorithmic bias, compliance, and transparency.
Learning Agility & Adaptability
Keeps pace with fast-moving tech. Willing to pivot, pilot, iterate, and lead without perfect certainty.
Why ExactSearch is the Expert in AI-LQ™
We Built It for a Real-World Need
ExactSearch was founded to serve all companies in this new modern era who are under immense pressure to hire leaders that won’t just survive but thrive in an AI-native world.
Our clients couldn’t afford to hire legacy-minded executives. They needed leaders who got it. But there was no standardized way to assess that – so we built AI-LQ to bridge that gap.
We Live at the Intersection of AI, Talent, and Strategy
- We actively recruit AI-native talent across product, engineering, go-to-market, and C-level roles.
- Our team includes operators and advisors who have helped scale AI-first companies.
- We integrate AI tools into our own workflow, allowing us to vet what works and what’s hype.
We’re Shaping the Market Standard
We believe AI-LQ will become a standard leadership benchmark, similar to how EQ or digital fluency became must-haves in the last two decades.
Just as companies now assess for resilience, collaboration, and adaptability, we predict that AI-readiness will become a baseline expectation across the C-suite. We’re not waiting for the market to catch up, we’re defining it.
