A lot is being said about how artificial intelligence will impact us all. This is true. To survive in this wave of rapid change requires a fundamental shift in the way we think as leaders.

We need to become comfortable with the feeling of ‘not knowing’. Leadership requires us to acknowledge our feelings of uncertainty, confusion or even fear in the same way that we have when learning a new language. Not knowing the words or understanding the sentence and the fear of sounding stupid if we get it wrong.

This is a time when even the AI experts are continually learning and no one has all the answers. It’s a time where the successful leader is one with the courage to be wrong, but who steps forward anyway – to adjust and pivot as business conditions change, as consumers flip the way they shop and citizens the world over move through a state of uncertainty.

This age of agility requires us to become comfortable with not knowing, to continually seek to learn and to imagine the future into which we are walking. Now more than ever, we need futurist thinking and the courage to make changes happen.

If you want to prepare yourself for leadership in this age of agility, these thinking points will help

1. Acknowledge your fears around uncertainty and ‘not knowing’
2. Take time out with your team to envision the future in the next 2-3 years. ‘Play the future game’ by describing how all the different scenarios will affect you, your business and your community
3. Identify new pathways to take advantage of these changes, for example, embracing AI to assist your business today, and retraining yourself and your staff for the new roles that will come as a result.
4. Put step one of your action plan in motion today, with a quarterly team check-in to sense check your emotional and tangible progress.

If you would like to know more about navigating these changes, do sign up for our newsletter and keep an eye on our upcoming accelerator calls.