There’s a lot of grappling with AI right now. Just about every day with every client I’m in conversations about the potential to reshape roles and organisations.
Every week, there’s a new tool, a new model, a new promise that it will revolutionise how we work. And truthfully, it is changing everything - how we communicate, how we analyse data, how we create. But while the world races to integrate AI into every corner of the business, I think we’re missing something critical.Innovation isn’t a tool.
It’s a mindset.
And it starts with leadership.
Too often, leaders think their job is to find the right tech - or worse, delegate innovation entirely to a team, a department, or a future strategy. But innovation isn’t out there. It’s in how you show up. What you question. The kinds of conversations you’re willing to have.
The leaders who are thriving right now aren’t just adopting new systems. They’re creating cultures that are safe enough to try new things and human enough to challenge the status quo.
That means:
▶ Making space for curiosity, not just efficiency
▶ Celebrating questions, not just answers
▶ Leading with clarity, not control
You can’t outsource that.
The truth is, AI is going to keep advancing whether your team is ready or not. The real differentiator? Whether you’ve built the conditions where your people feel safe enough to experiment, speak up, and explore what’s possible.
And that starts with you!
Bringing more of who you are to how you lead is not a soft skill - it’s a strategic one. When you lead with vulnerability and clarity, you send a powerful message: It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to evolve. It’s okay to try something that might not work the first time.
That mindset is contagious.
One executive I work with completely shifted their team’s culture by simply changing the questions they asked in meetings.
Instead of:
“What’s the update?”
They started asking:
“What are we learning?”
“What did we try that didn’t go as expected?”
“What’s one insight that surprised you this week?”
That subtle shift unlocked a level of openness and creativity that no innovation framework ever could.
The future of work is being shaped right now, in real-time. And while AI might be the catalyst, it’s human leadership that will determine whether we use it to accelerate creativity or just reinforce the same tired systems.
If you want to lead a future-fit team, you have to start with the inner work. Know what drives you. Question your default settings. Unlearn the belief that leadership is about having all the answers.
Because real leadership is not about control. It’s about creating the space where new possibilities can emerge.
And that, more than any technology, is what will shape the future.
#Unleashed #RealLeadership #InnovationMindset #FutureOfWork #MichelleSalesLeadership
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