AI and Acceleration: Leadership at the Edge of VUCA Max

This summary pulls takeaways from Setting the Table: A Modern View of the VUCA World, Polarities at Play: Leading Through Complexity, Mind the Gap: Building and Leading Teams in Ways that Resonate with a New Generation (Chatham House) and Impact of Resiliency out of Permacrisis.

The Big Picture
A recurring theme at the Annual Conference is the sheer pace of change, what speakers and participants called VUCA Max (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity at maximum intensity). Artificial intelligence sits at the center of this acceleration and CCOs face a dual risk: adopting AI too quickly without guardrails, or falling behind and losing credibility.

Impactful Quote

“The truth is just not that interesting compared with algorithm-driven hyperbole. That’s the world we have to live in—and we must make it make sense.” Scott Kronick, Day 2 Opening Interaction

Discussion Highlights

AI as a leadership project – Panelists urged CCOs to take ownership by using their skills to create coherence: explaining what’s changing, what it means for jobs and how organizations will adapt.
Trust and workforce impact – Employees fear obsolescence; communicators must pair adoption with visible career pathways and upskilling.
Acceleration everywhere – Business cycles that once spanned decades now flip in months. Stakeholders struggle to separate signal from noise, amplifying pressure on communicators to make sense of it all.

Why It Matters
AI is not just a technology story—it’s a test of leadership. The communicator’s role is to humanize transformation, bridge gaps in understanding and ensure that employees and stakeholders see both the risks and opportunities clearly.

To Take Back for Your Teams

Own the narrative. Don’t let AI adoption be a tech department story; frame it as part of corporate character and purpose.
Show the path. Build trust by linking AI to upskilling, succession planning and transparent career development.
Accelerate sense-making. Develop strategies that help leaders, boards and employees distinguish between hype and meaningful signals.

What members are saying

From Q&A Discussions

Q: “We also have concerns of our leaders hallucinating based on limited information. How do you respond to purposeful misinformation in order to cause disruption?”

A: It’s incredibly hard. These tools make it easy for people—including powerful ones—to spread things that have no basis in fact. The communicator’s job is to humanize truth, not to shout louder, but to make facts meaningful.

Q: Do we need more professionals trained in conflict resolution or nonviolent communication?”

A: “That’s exactly where we’re going. We’ve started training our top 75 leaders in conflict resolution through Admired Leadership, and paired it with accessible reporting and mental health support to ensure employees can flag tension early.”

Q: “I’ve worked with 60-year-olds who act like they’re 20 and vice versa—should we focus more on individual personality than generation?”

A: “That’s a tremendous point. Personality absolutely shapes leadership potential, but we can teach leaders to adapt their style—combining self-awareness with contextual understanding—to become their best selves.”