Let’s meet L., 34, recently promoted to Head of Strategy at a mid-size European logistics company, known internally for being “digitally ambitious” and externally for losing half your orders during a strike.
L. is well-spoken, well-dressed, and armed with all the right phrases: “AI-driven,” “data-led,” “customer-centric.”
He has five dashboards, three frameworks, and zero questions.
Why?
Because L. believes data does not lie.
And because he was promoted too fast to admit when he does not understand something.
L. did not build the dashboard himself—of course not. He asked AI to generate the framework, then had a team in Bucharest plug in the rest.
The outcome? A stunning, color-coded interface called Project Helios.
The board was impressed.
The CEO praised him for “owning the future.”
L. posted on LinkedIn with the caption:
“Proud to lead this transformation. AI isn’t coming. It’s already here.”
#Leadership #Innovation #Helios
But nobody noticed the fine print:
• The model had not been validated against real-world changes.
• It used last year’s peak-season assumptions during a global downturn.
• It marked Portugal as a “non-operational market” because a national holiday got applied to the entire quarter.
And worst of all?
L. never asked a single regional manager to confirm the outputs.
He just trusted the screen.
Let’s pause.
The real issue here is not L.
He is not malicious.
He is not stupid.
He is just untested.
A first-time manager who skipped the hard part of leadership—critical thinking, doubt, and learning from others.
We are now in an era where people like L. are being fast-tracked—not because they are ready, but because they are comfortable with tools.
But comfort is not competence.
Familiarity with AI does not make someone a leader.
It makes them someone with access to very powerful—and very risky—decisions.
And here is the kicker:
When things went wrong, L. did not hide.
He blamed the tech.
“The model needs updating.”
“We didn’t have clean data.”
“It’s a system issue.”
Maybe. But systems do not present to boards.
Leaders do.
Here is the real leadership dilemma in the AI age:
Do you want to look smart?
Or do you want to be smart?
L. looked smart.
The numbers told a good story.
Until the story collapsed—and nobody remembered the aesthetics of the dashboard.
They remembered the mistakes.
The blind spots.
The fallout.
What do we learn from this?
AI tools are just that—tools.
They do not replace reflection.
They do not replace feedback.
They do not replace good, old-fashioned responsibility.
And yet, we keep confusing interface fluency with executive readiness.
As I outline in Labyrinth of Management, real leadership is built on awareness, curiosity, and the willingness to challenge even your own assumptions. Tools like AI can support that—but they can never replace it.
L. did not lead.
He performed.
And in doing so, he missed the one thing the dashboard could not tell him:
What people really needed.
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