By Fay Niewiadomski

Today's leaders are faced with a multitude of disruptions, whether it's technological shifts from the acceleration of AI or global economic volatility brought on by events like the COVID-19 pandemic. In such a context, command-and-control styles of leadership reliant on predictable outcomes have become ineffective. Now is the time to reimagine leadership - redefining what intelligence looks like and how this distinguishes from simply 'knowledge'.

How AI is redefining the future of leadership decisions

How can leaders predict the unpredictable and lead effectively when they cannot see what's coming next? The answer lies in a powerful duality: establishing an unwavering strategic direction while empowering tactical discretion within clearly defined boundaries. This replaces predictability with transformative thinking, symbiosis with AI and new decision-making configurations.

Transformation requires operational understanding:

Human intelligence is the ability to understand context, use emotional intelligence and judgment of consequences to determine the best approach in specific situations. Intelligence is not to be confused with knowledge, the gathering and classification of facts, principles, theories and practices from various disciplines. Psychology Today describes "successful leaders as having high social intelligence, the ability to embrace change, inner resources such as self-awareness and self-mastery, and above all, the capacity to focus on the things that truly merit their attention."

AI is not a substitute for human intelligence. AI is a tool to be used by humans for streamlining execution, accelerating decision making, empowering creativity and innovation and elevating team collaboration and impact. The examples below demonstrate human wisdom and good judgment. AI may or may not have been used as an accelerator or an enabler.

Strategic Direction and "Red Lines"

Strategic perspective is the destination. It is the "why" that exists beyond the immediate chaos. A specific quarterly goal like "increase sales by 10%," can be rendered meaningless by a sudden market crash. Strategic direction provides a filter for all decisions.

"We need to remain both profitable and ethical within our industry", is an example of a non-negotiable pillar. In a crisis, a company guided by this might forgo a highly profitable but ethically dubious opportunity (e.g., price gouging during a shortage) because it violates a core "red line." Conversely, it might pursue an ethically sound but initially costly initiative (e.g., protecting employee health) because it aligns with being a sustainable and respected enterprise.

Microsoft's Cloud-First Transformation

When Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, the tech landscape was uncertain. Microsoft's legacy Windows-centric model was under threat. Nadella didn't predict every new gadget or app; he established a new strategic direction: "to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more." More concretely, he bet the company on being a "cloud-first, mobile-first" provider. This strategic clarity meant divesting from businesses like Nokia that no longer fit this destination and making massive, unwavering investments in Azure cloud infrastructure. The destination was clear, even if the exact path to get there wasn't.

Agile Tactical-Discretion

If strategy is the destination, tactics are the daily choices of speed, direction, and route. In uncertainty, these must be agile, contextual, and often decentralized. Leaders cannot possibly have all the answers at the top. Instead, they must create boundaries within which their teams can make smart, rapid decisions.

This means clearly communicating the "red lines" (what we never do) and the "guardrails" (the principles that guide what we should do). For a company like Patagonia, a red line might be "we will never source materials from suppliers that use forced labor." A guardrail might be "always prioritize product du...