AI and the Leadership Test of Our Time

Sep 30, 2025

Technology & Change

By flyntrok

I heard a business leader say recently, “We have seen so many changes. We will see through this as well.” It sounded confident. It also sounded wrong. Because this time is different. Fundamentally different.

Think back.

The steam engine took decades to reshape industries. Electricity needed generations before it lit up homes and factories. Even the internet, at its wildest pace, gave us years to adapt.

For older waves of change, scale took time: the telephone took around 50 years to reach 50 million users; electricity, 46 years; radio, 38; television, 13. The internet climbed from 16 million people in 1995 to 5.5 billion by 2022. Smartphones went from luxury to near-ubiquity within a decade.

AI? It moves in months. Sometimes in weeks. ChatGPT reached a million users in just five days. In less than a year, AI was writing code, passing exams, and generating art at scale. Tools update so quickly that each version makes the last one feel outdated. This is not seasonal change. It is change by storm.

You can already see it in manufacturing. Not long ago, setting up a new production line was like waiting for a slow train. Engineers spent weeks writing code, testing, and fixing. Every error meant delay. Now, with Siemens and Microsoft’s Industrial Copilot, that code can be generated and debugged in minutes. Add metal 3D printing, where parts that once took months to machine and ship can now be printed on-site in a day. AI is rewriting the rhythm of factories, turning months into days.

So what must you not do?

When change feels overwhelming, the natural instinct is either to deny it or to exaggerate it. Both are traps.

  1. Don’t dismiss it with “AI can’t touch my job.” That’s the surest way to be surprised. Don’t overhype it either. AI is not magic; lazy in, lazy out.
  2. Don’t wait for clarity. By the time policies are written, the ground will already have shifted. Don’t outsource this to the IT department.
  3. It is not just a tech problem. It is a leadership, culture, and mindset shift. Don’t ban it blindly. People will use it anyway — better to guide than to forbid.

And what must you do?

If the don’ts are about avoiding fear or false comfort, the dos are about leaning into curiosity and courage.

  1. Stay curious. Experiment. Curiosity is the new job security.
  2. Learn faster than the tools evolve — write with it, analyse with it, generate with it. Build adaptability muscles: fail small, scale what works. Share stories of experiments openly, so learning spreads.
  3. And if you lead, create safe spaces for teams to try and stumble, while holding them steady to core values, you will find a new organisation.

That is not a choice anymore. It is an imperative.

AI is change in fast forward. The challenge is not whether it slows down. It is whether we speed up — and wise up — enough to keep pace.