The world used to be run by the ‘haves’ at the expense of the ‘have nots’.
In this world the route to success was defined by effort.
The harder you worked the more of an expert you became and the better your product.
If you kept working hard, you produced more products. If you produced more products, you could sell more. If you sold more, you could afford to hire more people. More people then amplified your output to enable you to generate even more revenue. This enabled you to add technology which increased the efficiency of your system, which enabled you to grow more and repeat the entire cycle.
This effort-reward algorithm was how organisations were built, how leaders managed, and how careers progressed.
You could accumulate wealth, land and more possession to become one of the ‘haves’.
But such an equation no longer applies.
We moved from the industrial era to the information age things changed.
Knowledge became power.
The knowledge economy emerged with its knowledge workers, knowledge management systems, learning organisations and learning management systems.
The ‘haves’ were replaced by those ‘in the know’ who ruled over the ignorant or ill-informed.
But the future competitive advantage will not be knowledge
Why? Because AI is a greater expert than any of us. It knows about 1,000 times more and has an average IQ of 130. AI can also work harder and longer and make more connections than any human being could ever make. It doesn’t take lunch breaks and works for relatively minimal cost.
AI isn’t just another productivity tool. It is the democratisation of intelligence itself.
We’re no longer dependent on expensive subject matter experts.
This intelligence is now available to anyone, whether you’re the CEO of a massive multi-national corporation or a solopreneur.
When used properly anyone can leverage their own capability and move at incredible speed. The problem us we are not using AI properly.
In the history of tech adoptions, we always task the latest tech on removing operational challenges:
- Machines replaced manual labour
- Software accelerated administrative work
- Digital platforms streamlined operations
Yet despite all of this, most leaders, teams and organisations still feel overwhelmed.
- Workloads keep increasing
- Decision making cycles keep expanding
- Leaders feel they are pedalling faster than ever just to stay in the same place
Why? Because we are using AI to automate tasks when we should use AI to accelerate thinking and development.
We can get a lot more out of AI when we use it to perform cognitive tasks, writing, analysing, synthesising information and generating ideas. When we do this the entire architecture of work starts to shift.
Tasks that once required teams of analysts a few weeks to perform can now be done in minutes. Research that took weeks can be generated instantly. Operational processes once requiring hundreds of people can now run autonomously.
But here’s the rub.
If we don’t use AI to accelerate and develop our thinking it will replace our intelligence and effectively make us dumber.
This is already happening. Some people are asking AI everything. They have literally stopped thinking for themselves. They have outsourced their own mind.
AI - the real challenge is not job losses
Many leaders assume the primary risk of AI is job displacement. But the deeper shift is something else entirely. When machines become brilliant at processing information, generating knowledge and suggesting answers, we’ve effectively replaced some of the basics of human intelligence. How do we avoid being rendered irrelevant and redundant.
The answer is we must use AI to develop our mental capacity.
In other words, our task is to develop our ability to:
- interpret complexity
- integrate multiple perspectives
- regulate emotion under pressure
- make wise decisions in the middle of uncertainty
- hold long-term systemic thinking alongside short-term execution
These are not simple “skills.”
They are developmental capabilities. And they evolve through maturity, not training.
Human Intelligence (HI) not Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the key to the future
The leaders who will thrive in an AI-saturated world will not be those who know the most. They will be those who can think at a higher level of sophistication.
Leaders who can see patterns in AI outputs where others see noise. Leaders who can remain coherent when systems become unstable.
Leaders who can integrate technology, multiple LLM outputs, the diverse views of diverse people, a raft of cultural contexts and a multiplicity of strategic options into a coherent whole.
That kind of intelligence is developmental.
And development changes the speed and quality of thinking itself.
Most leadership development misses the point
Traditional leadership development focuses on knowledge and skills.
- Traditional training courses teach theoretical models
- Traditional programmes build competencies
- Traditional coaching often focuses on behavioural tweaks
But none of these necessarily make leaders smarter. They simply make them more informed or more skilful.
Development is different.
It expands a leader’s ability to hold complexity, integrate perspectives and process information more rapidly and coherently.
Think of the difference between a six-year-old and a twelve-year-old.
You could teach the six-year-old some impressive tricks, but they are still processing the world with the cognitive maturity of a child.
When that same child matures, however, everything changes.
- They think faster
- They see relationships between ideas
- They solve problems in a fraction of the time
They don’t just know more their intelligence has evolved.
The same is true for leaders.
The future will eventually go to the wise rather than the undeveloped
Why? Because AI will amplify the gap between developmental levels
As AI accelerates decision-making and compresses time horizons, leadership maturity will matter more than ever.
Leaders operating at lower developmental levels will find complexity overwhelming. They will default to reactive decisions, short-term thinking, and narrow perspectives.
Leaders with greater developmental maturity will experience the same complexity very differently. They will be able to:
- synthesise machine-generated insights rapidly
- balance conflicting stakeholder needs
- remain emotionally regulated in volatile environments
- recognise patterns emerging across systems
- design adaptive responses rather than reactive fixes
In an AI-driven economy, these differences compound quickly. The gap between leaders who can truly integrate complexity and those who can’t, will widen dramatically.
A wiser more intelligent world awaits
When people ask me how AI will change the workplace I usually answer with a slightly different question.
What happens if AI accelerates Human Intelligence?
Most people imagine an AI takeover, where humans become less relevant.
But I see something else.
A world where the quality of human intelligence becomes the defining advantage.
The organisations that thrive will not simply deploy the best AI tools.
They will develop the most intelligent leaders.
Leaders capable of integrating technology, people, systems and strategy into something coherent.
Leaders who can grow fast enough to match the pace of an accelerating world.
In my 12th book, “Smarter Than You”, out next month, I explore this in more depth, particularly the different dimensions of intelligence that leaders must develop if they are to thrive alongside increasingly powerful AI.
Because the future of work will not be determined by the have, or even those with the most knowledge and expertise or best technology.
It will be determined by how far human intelligence can evolve.
And that, ultimately, is a developmental journey.