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Leadership and AI: Ambition Is High. Readiness Is Uneven.

  • Writer: Charu Asthana
    Charu Asthana
  • 4 days ago
  • 3 min read

AI has quietly moved from experimentation to expectation. It’s already embedded in tools, workflows, and daily decisions. Today, leaders are no longer being asked whether they believe in AI. They are being asked what they are doing with it and what results it is delivering. Yet a growing gap is emerging between the amount organisations are investing in AI and the confidence leaders have in guiding its adoption.


Research from McKinsey & Company points to a clear pattern: the biggest challenges with AI are not technical. They are deeply human.


  1. The Pressure to Show Results — Before There’s Clarity

AI adoption is moving fast, but real business impact remains uneven.

Many leaders feel pressure to act decisively on AI while the rules are still forming. Budgets are approved, tools are introduced, and expectations are set — often before leaders fully know what “success” should look like.

The tension is real: Move fast — but don’t get it wrong.

For many leaders, this creates quiet stress. Not because AI might fail, but because they might look unprepared.

  • 92% of companies plan to increase AI investment over the next three years

  • Yet only 1% of leaders say their organisations have reached true AI maturity — where AI is fully integrated and driving meaningful outcomes


  1. Strategy Is Harder Than Technology

Most organisations already have access to AI tools. What they lack is clarity:

  • Where should AI actually be used?

  • What decisions should it support?

  • Who owns the outcomes?

The research highlights a recurring issue: AI often becomes an activity instead of an advantage. Tools get deployed, but they aren’t clearly tied to business priorities. This isn’t a technology gap. It’s a leadership one.


  1. AI Is Triggering Anxiety — Even at Senior Levels

AI conversations often focus on employee fear. But leaders feel it too. Many are learning new tools in public, leading teams through uncertainty, and trying to sound confident while still figuring things out themselves.

An unspoken question lingers in many leadership rooms: “If AI is changing how work is done, where does my value now sit?” - This is where leadership shifts from expertise to judgment, from having answers to asking better questions.


  1. Trust and Judgment Still Matter More Than Automation

One signal from the research is clear: AI works best when paired with human judgment.

Leaders are now deciding:

  • What should be automated

  • What must remain human

  • Where accountability truly sits

Over-automation risks trust. Under-use risks relevance.

Finding the balance isn’t a technical decision. It’s a leadership call.


  1. The Real Challenge: Speed vs. Safety

Leaders are navigating a delicate balance.

On one side:

  • Pressure to move fast

  • Fear of falling behind competitors

  • Growing expectations of ROI

On the other:

  • Data privacy and security concerns

  • Ethical use

  • Regulatory uncertainty

About 47% of C-suite leaders believe their organisations are moving too slowly on AI — even though most began investing over a year ago.

What holds them back isn’t a lack of tools. It’s the responsibility of getting it right.


  1. AI Is Revealing How Leaders Handle Change

AI doesn’t create cultural problems. It reveals them. Where leaders communicate clearly, involve people, and explain the why, AI adoption feels empowering. Where they don’t, it creates fear, resistance, and confusion. Silence increases anxiety. Over-promising erodes trust. Leadership credibility is built or lost here.


What the Best Leaders Are Doing Differently

Leaders who are seeing value from AI aren’t trying to replace people. They’re trying to augment thinking.

They focus on:

  • Better decisions, not just faster ones

  • Clear priorities, not more tools

  • Human judgment, not blind automation

They understand a simple truth: AI scales intelligence. Leadership still scales judgment. This means shifting the question from: “How do we deploy AI?” to: “How do we help people do better work with AI?” — not technology that replaces humans, but technology that amplifies human capability.


Closing Thought

AI is not changing the essence of leadership; it's highlighting key aspects such as clarity, decision quality, comfort with uncertainty, and the ability to guide people through change. The future of leadership is about intentionality, something no algorithm can replace.



"Good leadership hiring predicts behavior - not brilliance"

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