We Said/They Said: Leadership Debt In The Age Of AI

We like to promote blog posts from others (as long as they agree with us -- JUST KIDDING!) that amplify themes we bring to your attention. One such post is by Phil Fersht and Dana Daher at Horses for Sources, entitled "AI will never save bad leadership: Pay your leadership debt to put Humans at the Helm." 

You may notice a theme, a trend, a pattern -- call it what you will -- that not only do we focus on leadership behavior, but other people do also...because it will either wreck or enable your program. Yes, it is binary. And it's going to become starkly even more so with the upcoming integration of artificial intelligence (AI) systems with human teams.

Let's review what Fersht & Daher say about AI integration into human teams:

Fear isn’t the problem. Leadership avoidance is

Executives keep saying their people are afraid of AI. They are not wrong, but they are not right either. Fear in the workforce is not resistance; it is feedback. It signals that leaders have moved faster than their people’s sense of purpose, security, or control.

OK so their focus is on AI, not cybersecurity. But read on (quoting at length):

Effective leaders in today’s ambitious AI-first organizations practice six behaviors relentlessly. These behaviours are much more than mere soft skills, they are the leadership operating system that determines whether your AI investments deliver returns or stall in resistance.

...

You can buy technology, restructure processes, and outsource data cleanup, but you cannot automate human maturity. Paying down leadership debt begins with six repeatable behaviors: hear deeply, uphold accountability, model calm optimism, amplify others, navigate styles and simplify, and seek feedback as fuel. These are not soft skills. They are the hard human system upgrades that determine whether AI investments create value.

The leaders who win the AI era will not be those who master neural networks. They will be the ones who master themselves. Leadership is not a byproduct of transformation. It is the precondition for it. The AI economy will be led by humans at the helm.

Let's put it another way. Transformation leads to operational success and value creation. Transformation requires better leadership. You cannot lead or even partner in value creation and transformation through cybersecurity if you cannot or will not improve your leadership.

It really is that simple.

To say it along with Fersht & Daher: AI will never save mediocre leadership, and mediocre leadership will never enable successful cybersecurity.

Ask us how we can help you navigate the leadership transformation needed to lead cybersecurity successfully.