Can AI help change the habits of leaders and organisations?

One of the most difficult challenges facing leaders today is managing constant change.

Ultimately, change often requires people — and organisations — to change the way they think and behave. That means changing habits and belief systems.

What makes this difficult is that habits and routines can be incredibly useful. They help us operate efficiently and navigate complexity without having to rethink every decision.

But the downside is that they can also keep us stuck.

It is usually simpler to follow a tried and tested approach. Doing things differently takes more effort. Exploring a new path involves uncertainty and potentially the unknown.

And, of course, there is always the risk that the change you introduced does not work out as planned.

Let's be honest.

We like our routines.

We like predictability.

We like knowing what comes next.

It therefore takes a bit of effort to disrupt these. Our natural instinct is often to find our way back to what feels familiar when change confronts us.

This got me thinking about where AI fits in with helping us navigate change.

Depending on how we use it, AI can reinforce our existing thinking. We ask questions based on our current assumptions, experiences and mental models — and AI responds by helping us build on them. This makes us feel good, and we keeping using AI.

My own experience with AI has been overwhelmingly positive.

It has opened my mind, helped me see different perspectives and provided pathways through complex problems.

But has it actually made me more amenable to change?

I'm not entirely sure.

AI often starts with my question. My assumptions. My current way of seeing the problem. I'm driving it that way.

So what happens if we change things around - use AI to question, challenge and even criticise our thinking, rather than simply supporting it?

Imagine running a strategic plan through AI and asking it to robustly challenge the assumptions, the logic, the direction, the timing and the strategies. What might we learn from this?

Instead of asking:

"Review this strategic direction and the best way to solve the challenges in the plan?"

We could ask:

• What assumptions are we making that could be wrong?

• Make the strongest argument against this strategic plan.

• What are we not seeing in this plan?

• Give me five fundamentally different ways of approaching the problems we face.

• What would someone from a completely different industry see that I might be missing?

These questions change the role of AI from being less of an answer machine and more of a thinking challenger.

And perhaps that is where AI could genuinely help leaders and organisations become more adaptable and forward-thinking.

Not by AI adapting for us. But by helping us challenge the habits, assumptions and mental models that can make adaptation so difficult.

Because adaptability isn't simply our ability to respond when the world changes. It is our willingness to continually challenge the way we see the world before we're forced to change.

So perhaps the real leadership question is:

Are we using AI to challenge the way we think — or simply to reinforce it?

What's been your experience with AI? Has it made you more adaptable?