Transformational Leadership in the Age of AI

Executive Summary

Our Recent Leaders Advisory Board (LAB) event featured three sessions on business transformations in the new age of AI, with a human focus at the centre of the discussion. 

Here's what we leant:

1. Leading AI Transformation: Building Intelligence with Human Capability at Core 

Speaker - Sonia Aslam

Sonia’s session taught us about the three key considerations of AI transformation: Integrating human expertise, empowering employees with AI, and ethical and effective adoption. Without all three of these being fulfilled, AI transformation is being set up to fail. 

Also raised was the question, “Are we Transforming, or just Piloting?” which began discussions on whether egos and clarity were getting in the way and distracting from actual transformation. We also looked at what else stalls transformation, which we found typically falls at the first hurdle of enacting the change that was decided in C-suites. 

We rounded off this session with a breakout discussion, exploring a framework - developed by Sonia – which helps to break down each step of AI transformation so nothing is forgotten. 

Within the discussion, it was largely decided that this kind of framework was hugely beneficial to building:

• Expectations,
• clarity, and
• accountability

Sonia then left us with something to think about – to go revisit our own “zombie projects” and apply her framework to them, to either get the ball rolling on them again or to close them out. There’s not much better than being given a tool to clean up the workload. 

2. Your Best Problem-Solvers Are Holding Your Business Back

Speaker - Alex Patient

Next up, we had Alex Patient, who led us through the story of his career and how he got to be where he is today – a leadership coach running his own business. What was important to his story was the lack of training and coaching that he received on leadership as he climbed the ranks in his career. Alex felt he didn’t belong in leadership, despite his success, which he pinned down to a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence, which could’ve been resolved by some coaching on how to lead. After a meeting with a new boss, Alex found a new way of thinking, and his mindset shifted, which began his later shift into coaching. 

It all started in this meeting, where he was given the time and space to work through a simple question. Alex found this silence so helpful that it became the framework of his coaching, which we had a good go at in the session. 

Alex’s framework uses 8 questions which the ‘coach’ should ask the ‘coachee’, with the key being for the ‘coach’  not to try and fix the problem or provide solutions, but to give the ‘coachee’ the space to work forward on their problem. 

In the session, we gave the framework a go, and the response was so positive. Our own co-CEO, Jez, said that “it felt like a therapy session”, and others found it relieving to be given the space to work through their problems without feeling like they were being rushed into finding a solution. 

3. 3D Transformation – Discipline, Decisions & Delivery

Speaker - Darren Minshall

Our final speaker, Darren Minshall, took us on a thought-provoking journey through AI transformation, focusing on the 3 Ds: Discipline, Decisions, and Delivery. Which he claims is the key to successful transformation. 

Starting with where most organisations fail –spoiler alert -  it’s not in the strategy. Darren has found that transformation fails when there is a lack of clarity within leadership, decision velocity has slowed (or stopped), and when there is a lack of discipline in the execution. 

Darren had us think back to all the charts we’d seen of year-long plans of how AI transformation was going to fix or change the whole organisation, with big plans to lower costs and redesign operating models, but then 6 months ( or even less) down the line, the transformation had become stagnant. Why? Because the leaders at the top had passed the change over to the L2 group and left it to them – here’s that lack of execution discipline that Darren talked about earlier. 

To have a successful transformation, you must first identify which dimension is the weakest in your organisation:

• Discipline?
• Decisions?
• Or Delivery?

And then take three executive actions:

• Define what stops
• Align incentives to the future states, and
• Reset leadership rhythm

At the heart of all we discussed is that PEOPLE come first – even when were talking AI.

We’ve had such great feedback from this first session of the year, a great start and platform for us to launch from. 

We will be hosting a new LAB event every quarter this year, so if you’d like to join the next one, join our Leadership Advisory Board on LinkedIn, and if you’d be interested in being a future speaker, get in contact with us.