AI: From Uncertainty to Possibility

Daniel Goleman is author of the international best-seller Emotional Intelligence and Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day. He is a regular contributor to Korn Ferry. 

All roads lead to AI. At least, that’s what a quick glance at the headlines might suggest.

Leaders are justly fixated: Some estimates predict that 30% of current US jobs could be automated by 2030, with software developers and financial advisors among the most impacted, even though how still remains somewhat unclear.

It’s in these moments—when the pace of change outstrips our ability to fully comprehend it—that urgency arises. Under the banner of “AI readiness,” there is mounting pressure to respond quickly, decisively, and with perfect clarity—an impossible task given how much is evolving and unfolding each and every week.

Under this kind of pressure, there can be a temptation to pretend to have all the answers. But instead of feigning omniscience or claiming certainty, leaders are better off admitting what they don’t know, and at the same time putting their creativity towards some vision of the future. What’s needed now—by leaders and those who look to them in the midst of technological upheaval—isn’t a stone-cold certainty, but a wider sense of possibility.

The philosopher Ernst Bloch called this capacity the "Not-Yet-Conscious"—which he defined as "the psychic birthplace of the new.” He argued that human beings carry within them a latent ability to imagine futures not yet realized. This ability is fueled by hope—a disposition that shapes how we show up, what we anticipate, and what we choose to bring positivity and expectation to.

In Bloch’s view, the most dangerous thing a leader can lose isn’t market share or operational efficiency, but the ability to envision something better than the present.

When you think about the most innovative businesses, this is how they were built. Every breakthrough technology starts with someone, or a group of someones, who can see a future different from today. Even if that vision is more impressionistic than crystal clear, it’s focused enough to mobilize resources and inspire action. Bloch’s insight was that when people stop imagining, they stop organizing, innovating, and striving.

Of course, having vision and hope is easier said than done. Even the most resilient and well-functioning nervous systems are being tested by the velocity of change. When stress is too high, imagining a richer, more humane future can feel almost impossible. Many leaders are stretched thin, burdened by clamoring headlines warning of disruption and displacement. At the same time, global catastrophes, funding cuts, role changes, layoffs, and reorgs have made many employees desperate for reassurance and security. Anxiety isn’t always the best breeding ground for new and inspiring ideas. 

This is where emotional intelligence becomes indispensable. Leaders who develop EI competencies such as self-awareness, emotional balance, empathy, adaptability, conflict management, organizational awareness, and inspirational leadership are far better equipped to vision and proliferate hope among their teams. 

• Self-awareness enables leaders to recognize their own emotions, biases, and blind spots related to AI’s impact.
  
• Emotional balance allows them to stay steady under pressure, providing a calm, grounding presence when those around them feel unsettled.
  
• Empathy helps leaders attune themselves to employees’ concerns and aspirations, ensuring that fears are acknowledged and hopes are nurtured.
  
• Adaptability equips them to keep their sights on long-term goals while pivoting as technology and its implications evolve.
• Conflict management empowers leaders to turn towards the inevitable tensions and differing viewpoints on AI and facilitate productive dialogue.
• Organizational awareness gives them a systems-level view, helping them anticipate where AI will create genuine pressure points or opportunities within the business.
• Inspirational leadership enables leaders to craft and communicate a compelling vision for the future—one in which people’s unique skills, creativity, and humanity remain essential.

These are the core skills leaders need right now. They are what transformational leadership is made of: a style of leadership that inspires and motivates teams to achieve extraordinary results, no matter what is happening around them. Research shows that leaders who focus on shared interest in this way—moving from “me” to “we”—foster a climate of high energy and performance more than 90% of the time. The truly transformational leader keeps the utopian impulse alive—not in a naïve way, but as a moral and strategic imperative.

As Bloch warned, the erosion of hope is the erosion of the future itself. Leaders who make space for the Not-Yet-Conscious, inviting their teams into a collective vision of what could be, do more than react to change—they help shape it.

Co-written by Elizabeth Solomon

Click here to learn more about Daniel Goleman's Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence.