Leading through uncertainty in the AI era: why critical thinking matters most
Eleanor Meecham | September 4, 2026
An early experiment with AI: our dream office. Generated by Bing Chat Enterprise (remember that?).
Does leading a team mean you need all the answers to everything? I don’t think so. I see my job as rallying the knowledge, skill, and talent of the rest of my team. They’re all super-smart people, with different areas of speciality and interest. Collectively, they have a huge range of experience. Together, they’re capable of amazing things.
So when AI burst onto the scene a few years ago, I knew it would take all of us to figure out how we might use it and what it could mean for our jobs.
We started with critical thinking, not AI tools
Critical thinking means asking questions, looking at evidence, and considering multiple perspectives before forming conclusions. It means recognising when you’re making decisions using bias, emotion, or speed rather than using logic.
Before we even had access to an AI platform at work, I asked my team what they thought and felt about AI. As people who work with words for a living, we all understandably felt threatened by tools that write screeds in seconds. We had varying levels of nervousness, scepticism, and resistance, alongside curiosity and a little excitement.
Sharing our feelings was healthy and necessary. But we couldn’t let our initial reactions dictate what we did next.
We talked about AI a lot, over many months. We kept up with AI news, tried to filter hard data from hype, and looked at what was unfolding from different angles. I made it clear that all perspectives were welcome, and that honesty was useful. We needed to acknowledge and examine any concerns or objections so we could work out how to move forward.
We also started talking about possibilities. What could AI do for us? How could it make our work better? How might we use it with our clients? What would they think if we did? The tone and content of our conversations steadily changed.
We shared, discussed, and kept interrogating
As soon as we could, we started sharing how we were experimenting with AI. We talked about what worked and what didn’t. We read about what others were doing. We lightened the mood with daft exercises — discovering that AI was terrible at both poetry and humour, but not bad at visually reimagining our office space (see above).
Most importantly, we kept asking what AI meant for our work. Understanding what it could and couldn’t do helped us better assess the threats and opportunities.
By the time we started working with clients on AI-related projects — like creating peer-review agents and building AI–human writing workflows — the caution of our earliest discussions was long gone. My team was ready to dive in, keen to flex new skills, and creative in how they approached each new challenge.
Thinking critically is crucial for navigating change
We’re now several years into global AI adoption, but we’re all still figuring out what that means for our work, our personal lives, our economies, and our futures. Things keep changing, and change is hard. Humans don’t always adapt as rapidly as technology updates.
Leaders can’t just throw tools at people and expect transformative change. They need to question their own assumptions, understand people’s reactions, and analyse the best ways to integrate the tools into workflows. All of this takes time. And conversation. And empathy.
When everything is constantly shifting, leaders need to gather different perspectives, think from many angles, and use good human judgement. All the answers you need are right there, hiding inside your very smart people. You just have to ask the right questions.
Solve hard problems with structured techniques
Learn practical problem-solving techniques — from identifying the right question to presenting answers in ways that get people on board. Our Critical Thinking workshop teaches you how to:
- uncover your own mental shortcuts and biases
- analyse a problem or opportunity you’re thinking about
- experiment with structured and creative ways to think about your topic
- check that your logic, reasoning, and evidence support your conclusions.