Leadership involves interpreting ambiguous information in complex and unpredictable environments. AI lacks the emotional intelligence, human intution, empathy and ethical reasoning needed to navigate change and decision-making in a VUCA environment.

However, AI can excel at managing repetitive tasks, automating processes, combining data and suggesting options. But making moral judgements, strategic decisions and political choices still requires human sensemaking. A more complex intelligence is emerging that combines individual, collective and artificial forms of intelligence to respond to VUCA situations.

“No matter how much we know about our organisation, our people, and our own capabilities and leadership, the uncertainties of tomorrow and the complexities of our contexts and relationships today all invite us beyond a tips-and-techniques approach to leading. We need to practice holding the tension between influencing from a place of authenticity and accepting that we cannot fully control any situation or outcome.”
Patrick Boland. ‘The Contemplative Leader’ 2014

We are entering a world of exponential change, where life is becoming more Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. In this website I share diverse perspectives and experience of preparing leaders and coaches to thrive in VUCA situations. Leadership is evolving toward a more distributed, collaborative, and technologically augmented approach to respond to an unpredictable environment..

We are already facing greater insecurity and overwhelm in both life and work.  Leadership in this era of unreliability and random events requires new attitudes and skills, ones that require human wisdom combined with artificial and collective intelligence.  

INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE

Working with AI tools requires reasoning and sense-making skills. We must learn the tools needed and use them to prompt new thoughts, questions and become more productive. For example, using smart assistants to eliminate boring admin tasks and poor service. We need to develop your conversation and problem-solving skills to find common ground. ChatGBT can teach us how to question ourselves to create new prompts and new possibilities. 

Observing human behaviour and patterns of social interaction can help adapt to a more volatile, uncertain and ambiguous environmen. We can learn to enhance our performance, share accountability and value each other’s innate wisdom. Leaders must be open to look at relationships in new ways to be more present and open to find shared values and cares..

Choosing different types of conversation to support coordinated action and better decision-making. Finding agreement around what is cared about to develop practical insights and relationships to use in Agentive AI tools and simulations. The leader relies more on the wisdom of the team and the data to make important choices.

Embrace unconventional and counter-intuitive ideas, challenge assumptions and understand that what feels right or creates a desired emotional response can be more effective in a VUCA environment than simple logic.

When we plan for results, we often get the opposite of what we expected? What appears real can be fake and what we hear is not always what was meant. Strong opinions and declared intentions can be perceived as threats to our own identity and integrity. 

It is the randomness and unquestioned assertions that generate fear and blame in relationships, and a lack of trust in the offers and requests we receive. Complexity brings infinite possibilities, but the choices it offers become ambiguous where opposite perspectives can be true at the same time.

In the VUCA World, expert knowledge and personal experience are not reliable enough in situations of rapid change. We need to be “alchemists”, where insight, integrity and authenticity produce results that turn out to be effective, when they are random or surprising.

The “magic” happens when we connect with people who commit to a shared goal, without knowing how things will turn out. In a VUCA world, we have to take calculated risks, relying less on logic and analysis, more on intuition and observation. See Action Logics.