Authentic Leadership 2026: Leading with Courage, Connection and Core Values in an AI World
AI is now part of everyday life for most of us. My daughter just bought an AI-powered washing machine that has sensors and algorithms to detect fabric types, load weight, soil levels, and softness, then automatically adjusts water usage, detergent amounts, cycle times, and temperatures for optimal cleaning. AI is an intriguing development and can be a versatile tool for automating repetitive tasks, accessing information quickly, and enhancing decision-making.
I tell my graduate social work students who are training to be psychotherapists that, yes, AI can help you write stronger papers, assist you in accessing research, and help you retrieve information. But AI won’t make you a better therapist. It won’t make you a better social worker. It won’t make you a better person. It will not support or deepen your personal reflection or awareness of yourself. It won’t make you a more caring human being.
AI, like all technology and digital tools, can increase our sense of isolation, even while we appear more connected than ever. AI poses a significant risk of skill atrophy for those who are not well trained, particularly younger generations who have been immersed in it from the beginning. It has enormous environmental impact. And it’s evolving faster than our moral compass can find its bearings.
That’s why, in response to AI and all technologies, we need to be very intentional about building real community and creating spaces where people can grow together in authentic ways – ways aligned with our values, deeply held dreams, and our hearts.
While AI can complement human skills and enhance productivity, does it really make our world better? Is it improving the quality of our lives? Does it address fundamental human needs? Despite the overhyped predictions about artificial intelligence’s limitless capabilities and fears of it displacing jobs, organizations are still human systems even if they are 98% automated. We will always need human beings who care about each other.
After observing the hype and backlash of technology development over many decades, I note that technology always changes faster than headlines. It ultimately is our courage, connection, and core values that determine whether those changes make our lives better or worse. Technologies like AI need to serve deeply held human values through intentional, optimized use, not clutter our attention or replace meaningful effort.
Three strategies to make that happen:
- Define a desired future. Have a clear goal of what a better world is for you. Sit with yourself or your family or your team and define what a better world means where you work and live. Take the time to define how AI (or any other technology tool) is helping your commitment to move you toward your desired future and where it may be hindering you. Stop and get your bearings, reevaluate your life, and set out to keep yourself on track as you move toward your desired future.
- Foster deep human connection. Make human connection a priority. Talk with your team about how you can integrate technologies such as AI as a tool to help foster relationships. Build genuine connections by leveraging AI to enhance, not replace, empathy by using it for initial data gathering, then dedicate time to create dialogue that uncovers team motivations and fears. Promote informal settings like casual check-ins to reinforce psychological safety, ensuring technology amplifies relational bonds.
- Turn off technology. Shifting the relationship with AI from a driver to a toolstarts with developing a new relationship with all technology. And that begins with making room for life without distractions. A good friend founded an initiative that has turned into a social movement around taking intentional breaks from social media (starting with just one day a month). It encourages people to disconnect from screens and engage in real-life activities like nature, sports, arts, hobbies, volunteering, and self-care to boost wellbeing and connection. It’s intended to interrupt the addiction to screens and give people a taste of the difference between being absorbed in social media and being engaged in real life.
