My friend Julie Winkle Giulioni recently recommended an MIT Sloan Management Review article which made a striking observation:

AI has democratized knowledge so completely that “expertise” can no longer be defined by who has the answers.

Because now? Everyone has the answers.

The article argues that the true value of leadership is shifting — away from information, and toward the human abilities AI cannot replicate:

• asking the right questions
• interpreting context
• navigating ambiguity
• sensing what’s not being said
• bearing the weight of consequences
• making meaning for others

In short: knowledge is abundant; judgment is scarce.

And in many organizations, almost nonexistent.

My Take

Where MIT frames this as a skills shift, I see something even more foundational:

This is an alignment problem.

The real danger isn’t that AI will replace experts. The real danger is that leaders will outsource thinking entirely — confusing “having information” with “knowing what it means.”

And when that happens?

• decisions will speed up but quality is sure to drop
• teams will produce more but understand less
• learning will increase but behavior won’t change
• strategy will multiply but alignment will completely disappear

AI won’t collapse organizations. Misalignment will. AI will simply amplify whatever is already broken.

This is the pattern I see everywhere:

Leaders don’t struggle because they lack data. They struggle because they lack the capacity to interpret, to create shared clarity, and to translate insight into behavior.

That gap between knowing and doing is the real leadership crisis.
And only humans — aligned, grounded humans — can close it.

What I See Going Forward

Three leadership skills will define the next decade — precisely because AI cannot replicate them.

1. Sensemaking

Not information gathering — interpretation. Being able to pause the noise, ask better questions, and understand what’s really happening beneath the surface.

2. Alignment

Not consensus — coherence. Ensuring people, roles, expectations, motivations, rhythms, and systems can actually move together.

3. Judgment

Not certainty — discernment. The ability to hold complexity, make decisions with integrity, and carry the consequences with clarity.

These aren’t technical competencies. They are identity-led capabilities.

And ironically, as AI becomes stronger, these human capacities will become even more valuable — because they cannot be automated, templated, or generated.

The organizations that survive won’t be the most digital, the most automated, or the most “AI-ready.” They’ll be the ones who stay deeply, courageously human.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Where in your leadership are you relying on speed, tools, or information to compensate for a lack of clarity — and what would shift if you paused to interpret what’s really happening before making your next move?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — writer, possibility thinker, musician, Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, and MCODE Legacy Coach. I help leaders and soul-driven professionals decode the deeper patterns shaping their business, work, identities, and results especially when it look like a performance issue but it’s really misalignment in disguise.

If something in your life or business feels off and you can’t quite name it, message me. Sometimes one conversation is all it takes to see what’s really going on.