New Skills to Navigate Continuous Change
Summary
Nilofer Merchant, author and leadership expert, discusses new leadership skills required to navigate continuous change in a May 5, 2026 HBR IdeaCast episode. She argues that traditional "change management" is often control, not true change, and advocates for an "ownership model" where teams collaboratively decide the path forward. Merchant highlights the importance of normalizing discomfort, fostering curiosity, and prioritizing competence over confidence, especially as AI transforms work by handling data and speed. She cites an Adobe case study where a bottom-up, collaborative approach to solving a market problem led to significant success, emphasizing that strategy and execution are increasingly intertwined and dynamic. The discussion also touches on avoiding burnout by signaling the importance of self-sustenance and focusing on creative resourcefulness over constant online presence.
Key takeaway
For Directors of AI/ML navigating rapid technological shifts, recognize that traditional top-down change management is insufficient. You should foster an environment of collaborative ownership and continuous learning, where teams are empowered to co-create solutions and embrace discomfort. Prioritize building new competencies over outward confidence, and actively encourage curiosity and questioning to uncover novel insights, rather than relying solely on existing data or expert knowledge.
Key insights
True change requires collaborative ownership and embracing discomfort, shifting from control-based leadership to adaptive co-creation.
Principles
- Prioritize competence over mere confidence.
- Strategy and execution are increasingly one and the same.
- Leaders must be co-creators, fostering intelligence through listening.
Method
Invite diverse organizational members to collaboratively define problems and co-create solutions, fostering an "invitation to play" rather than top-down directives. This involves sitting in discomfort and asking "what don't I know?" to uncover new insights.
In practice
- Prime for meetings by listing questions you don't know.
- Reward new competencies, not just confidence.
- Signal that sustaining oneself is part of the job.
Topics
- Continuous Change
- Collaborative Leadership
- Organizational Innovation
- Adaptive Culture
- Competence vs. Confidence
Best for: Executive, Consultant, Director of AI/ML
Related on AIssential
Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Feeds - HBR.org.