When we talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is tempting to focus on platforms, prompts and productivity gains. Yet, during our recent “Unlocking Leadership in the Era of AI” Masterclass at Miltton, it quickly became clear that the real questions lie elsewhere: in organisational culture, ethics, human capability and societal responsibility. The discussions – from Alku Sirén’s live demonstration of vibe coding to insights from Professor Bernd Vogel and our panellist CEOs, Minna Lindholm and Jussi Tolvanen – revealed how AI is becoming a new actor in our value chains, challenging leaders to rethink how they create value, how they make decisions and how they care for the people they lead.
To help make sense of these shifts, we’ve gathered the key takeaways that emerged throughout the evening. You can also access the full recording of the Masterclass event below.
7 Key Takeaways: Unlocking Leadership in the Era of AI
1. AI broadens the pool of who can create, but clashes with the structures built for a different era
AI dramatically expands human capability, allowing more people to build software, analyse data and create digital services, regardless of their background or preferred way of working. It opens new avenues for creativity and participation, including for those who previously found traditional workflows or tools less accessible. However, these new freedoms may collide quickly with established organisational structures, from IT security and governance to risk frameworks and long-standing ways of working.
2. Leaders must balance freedom with responsibility — and guide people through the discomfort of change
AI-driven transformation demands leaders who can create safe spaces for experimentation while still safeguarding business continuity. This balance requires new leadership postures: the Grandparent who provides a protected “playground” for exploration, the Jammer who shifts fluidly between experimenting and executing, and the Midwife who supports people through the emotional discomfort that change inevitably brings.
3. AI is no longer just a tool, it’s a new actor in your value chain
AI models increasingly serve as the first point of contact for customers, journalists and partners — whether through a chatbot answering questions about your company or a model summarising your annual report for someone who never visits your website. These systems shape how your organisation is interpreted and understood. Leaders must treat them as stakeholders to inform, maintain and intentionally “feed” with accurate, up-to-date information.
4. AI arrives faster than organisations can adapt, requiring leaders to navigate uncertainty with honesty
Most organisations are already carrying the weight of multiple transformations — digital, cultural and structural — and AI is landing on top of this existing fatigue. Leaders must assess not only capability but also the energy of their people. At the same time, AI shifts the strategic landscape so quickly that leading it often feels like navigating a moving labyrinth: priorities, risks and ethical questions change faster than clear answers can be formed. In this context, pretending certainty erodes credibility, while openly acknowledging ambiguity builds trust and keeps teams aligned.
5. Senior leaders' attitudes polarise between “indifferent” and “elated”
Executives tend to fall into two extremes:
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seen it before, nothing new
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this changes everything
The truth lies in the middle: AI is both transformative and unpredictable, requiring reflection on personal bias and past experiences with change.
6. AI forces leaders to rethink both purpose and success, with societal impact at the centre
AI adoption raises deep questions about job loss, identity, fairness and the future of meaningful work. Leaders can no longer optimise for performance alone; they must consider the broader societal consequences of the technologies they introduce. At the same time, traditional KPIs are too narrow for an AI-powered world. Success becomes shaped by organisational purpose, human sustainability and the diverse needs of stakeholders, including the systems that interpret and represent the organisation. This shift requires leadership teams to continually develop themselves, recalibrate what “good” looks like and ensure that progress aligns with values, not just efficiency.
7. AI makes leadership everyone’s job and demands the human capacity to sustain change
As AI amplifies expertise across the organisation, relying solely on top-level decision-making becomes a bottleneck. Leadership must be widely distributed, with people at all levels able to make sense of change, take initiative and make informed decisions. But this only works if organisations invest in human sustainability: the emotional, cognitive and cultural capacity of their people to absorb yet another transformation. The key question is no longer just “Can we adopt AI?” but “Do our people have the energy, support and readiness to lead this change with us?”
What this conversation ultimately highlighted is that AI does not absolve leaders of responsibility; it amplifies it. As models become stakeholders, workflows become agentic and workforces become more fluid, leadership must become more grounded – in values, in empathy and in a long-term view of human sustainability. The leaders who will shape the next decade are those willing to question their assumptions, share their power and invite their people into the learning journey. AI may be rewriting the rules of business, but it is still up to us to decide what kind of future we want it to serve.
Access the full recording of the Masterclass below
