AI can draft a strategy, rewrite a message, or produce a polished narrative in seconds.
Convenient, yes. But for many leaders at my ELC Annual 2025 roundtable, the deeper question was this:
"How do we trust ourselves when the machine always has an answer?"
In that room, leaders shared honest stories about intuition, cultural conditioning, decision fatigue, and what it means to stay human while everything around us accelerates.
Here’s what rose to the surface.
Curiosity: Staying Awake to Our Own Thinking
Curiosity emerged as the leadership skill that keeps us honest.
Many admitted that AI often reinforces whatever mindset they bring—validation, overwhelm, fear, or clarity. One participant laughed, “If I ask whether eating glue is a good idea, AI somehow makes it reasonable.”
The shift came when leaders used AI to question, not conclude:
Curiosity keeps the leader - not the model - in the driver’s seat.
Clarity: The Foundation of Sound Judgment in a Noisy World
We landed on a simple truth:
AI amplifies whatever state we bring to it.
When leaders were clear and grounded, AI sharpened their thinking.
When they were overwhelmed or unsure, it magnified the noise.
Clarity, we realized, isn’t perfection—it’s alignment.
It shows up in small but important ways:
- knowing the why behind the decision
- pausing long enough to sense what resonates
- noticing when the body tightens or softens
- stepping back when the mind feels messy
Many leaders shared rituals that helped them return to clarity before prompting:
- writing one honest line about their intention
- checking whether the output reflects their values
- asking for human feedback instead of relying on polish
- trusting intuition when something feels “off”
Clarity isn’t about certainty.
It’s about coming back to yourself before generating the next step.
Connection: Where Leadership Still Belongs to Humans
AI can optimize logic, but it can’t hold human context.
One leader shared a conflict where AI advised against reaching out.
Their intuition said yes. They followed it, and the relationship healed.
This is where connection becomes non-negotiable:
- choosing relationship over convenience
AI can analyze patterns.
Only humans can create trust.
What Teams Are Navigating Today
The leaders in the room named real, everyday challenges:
- juniors submitting AI-generated code they don’t fully understand
- seniors frustrated with lack of depth
- managers overwhelmed by decision-noise
- cultures rewarding speed instead of sense-making
One manager summed it up: “AI helped new hires ramp faster, but speed is not comprehension.”
Leadership is becoming less about sounding smart and more about staying connected - to yourself, your people, and the truth of the moment.
Reclaiming Self-Trust
As the session closed, the conversation returned to self-trust: not as bravado, but as a quiet, steady presence.
Leaders described it as:
- “Hearing my own voice before hearing the model’s.”
- “Choosing connection over convenience.”
- “Letting AI sharpen—not replace—my intuition.”
AI will keep getting better.
Our job is to keep getting more human.
Curiosity keeps us open.
Clarity keeps us grounded.
Connection keeps us real.
Self-trust is the thread that holds all three.
