In the age of AI, we must all become leaders: why efficiency is no longer enough.

Oct 13

Last week, I was talking to a founder in London who told me he was having a hard time getting his employees to deal with AI.

I asked in what way.

He said: “They don’t want to review the data, and they never question it. I’m having to teach them how to check things, how to have judgment, how to…”

And I finished the sentence: “How to lead AI.”

He agreed.

In the age of AI, we must all become leaders.

I first said this in 2023 when offering an executive workshop to legal leaders. At the time, AI was definitely not at the forefront of people’s minds, and the concept of a law firm operating exclusively via AI was seen as science fiction. Yet the leadership concept made sense to the legal minds I was speaking to. And nowadays, it should make sense to everyone.

Leadership is a quality that rather than being taught, has traditionally been developed through years of career progression, demanding both extensive time and experience. In the age of AI, however, where entry-level positions are increasingly under pressure, and where machines can execute tasks alongside humans, this concept of gradual progression is being challenged. The good news, though, is that leadership can be practiced right from the get-go.

But for that, people must overcome resistance: resistance to responsibility.

Leadership as Stewardship

Let me explain what I mean. I once made a comment on someone’s post on LinkedIn. My comment went viral because several people disagreed with me. But it was not that they couldn’t see my point. It’s that they were resistant to doing it.

Most of the responses had a frustrated tone toward having to deal with more responsibility. A responsibility, some said, that they had neither trained for nor asked for. Some people even explicitly said, “I don't want to be a leader.”

Now, to be fair, there are those who resist becoming a leader, but there are also those who have never been given the authority, training, or opportunity to develop independent judgment. An employee who has spent ten years in an organization that rewards compliance and punishes independent decision-making, for instance, cannot suddenly be expected to exercise leadership because AI has arrived.

This presents an interesting contradiction: organizations want employees to take ownership of AI-generated decisions, but many have spent decades building cultures that discourage precisely that behavior.

Which brings us to a deeper question: can an organization demand accountability without granting corresponding authority?

AI is challenging the traditional model of seniority, experience, and career progression.

But this does not necessarily mean everyone must become a manager. It means leadership must be separated from hierarchy.

More and more companies are demanding stewardship over decisions made by or informed by AI. This is one of the aspects of governance. Who is responsible for the final decision? And who is left to pay the bill?

In legal terms, there are liability risks that come with relying on AI. And companies cannot simply assume that because a decision was generated or informed by an AI system, responsibility for its consequences will fall on the technology provider.

Why efficiency is no longer enough.

This new model also challenges the idea of efficiency as the main measure of productivity and success. When execution becomes easier to automate, and machines can perform certain tasks faster and with greater precision, the source of human value begins to shift.

Qualities that we have not always prioritized in the workplace begin to take center stage: good judgment, wisdom, intuition, ethical reasoning, trust, and… yes, the willingness to take responsibility for our decisions.

These skills are not necessarily exclusive to people in leadership positions. They are human capabilities that allow us to understand context, question information, consider consequences, and determine not only what can be done, but what should be done.

And this is where I believe companies need to rethink their approach to AI adoption. The question is not simply how much work can be automated, but what happens to human capabilities as automation increases. Are employees developing better judgment and learning to make better decisions, or are they simply accepting the answers they're given?

The Human Premium™

This also means changing how we develop people. If employees are expected to oversee increasingly autonomous systems, they need opportunities to exercise independent judgment, question decisions, and understand the consequences of delegating work to machines.

Companies must create environments where questioning an AI-generated answer is encouraged rather than seen as an obstacle to efficiency. Where people are rewarded not simply for producing more, but for knowing when to intervene, when to challenge information, and when not to delegate a decision at all.

This is why I believe leadership can no longer be treated as a quality reserved for executives or developed only after years of career progression. These qualities must come to the forefront of every company culture.

We're no longer living in an age where efficiency alone is enough. We're entering an age where good judgment may be our greatest competitive advantage.

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