Five Things Senior Leaders Got Wrong About AI This Year
Takeaways from Integral's sold-out AI & Leadership panel.
Last week we hosted an exclusive event for L&D leaders on Leadership and AI. Full room. Sharp conversation. Our panel featured Lucy Harding Williamson, Dr Marcus Tan, Jeroen van Dalen, and Hannah Fitzhardinge MAICD as MC.
Here's what stood out.
Your people are already using AI. The question is whether they're using it well.
If your strategy is to "wait and see," you've already lost that battle. Your teams are using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot. The real risk isn't adoption. It's unguided adoption. For L&D leaders, the training gap isn't technical skills. It's helping people use AI in ways that improve their judgment, not just their speed.
AI isn't IT's job. It's a leadership problem.
Treating AI as IT's responsibility is like treating culture as HR's job. Everyone knows it doesn't work. AI changes how decisions get made, how teams collaborate, how work gets structured. That's leadership territory. The organisations getting this right have their CEO actively shaping AI integration, not delegating it three layers down.
We're building cognitive couch potatoes
This got the biggest reaction. When your first instinct is to ask AI before thinking for yourself, something important erodes. The leaders we're developing need to be sharper thinkers, not faster delegators. Are your programs teaching people to think with AI, or just to use it?
In-person leadership matters more now
In a world that's accelerating and increasingly mediated by tech, human connection becomes the differentiator. The leaders who'll thrive aren't the ones who master the tools fastest. They're the ones who can still read a room and build trust face-to-face.
Boards need AI on every agenda
"The boards that only discuss AI at their annual strategy day are already behind." AI moves faster than quarterly review cycles. It should be a standing board agenda item. For senior HR and OD leaders who advise boards, this is your opportunity to lead the conversation.
We'd love to hear where you disagree. The best thinking happens when smart people push back.
To learn more about Integral's work on leadership and AI, get in touch.
Copyright: Jeroen van Dalen / Integral
