AI tools are reshaping how people work and communicate, often producing polished but impersonal outputs that obscure individual voice and competence. The instinct to regulate AI through policies and restrictions mirrors a predictable human tendency to control rather than lead. True leadership in this moment demands something harder: authenticity about our own uncertainties, radical adaptation of outdated systems and hiring practices, and accountability cultures built on integrity rather than surveillance. The question is not whether AI has changed how we work. It is clear we work differently. The question is whether leaders will change how they lead.

Many of us show up to work with clear ideas about what success looks like. For most of us, unfortunately, we do not articulate our definitions of “quality” and “success” explicitly to our teams, and most importantly, to ourselves. And our teams do not have a secret decoder ring that they can use to decode what we are thinking. This secret decoder ring is really a metaphor to describe the ways knowledge, meaning, and we would argue, power, is hidden in the workplace. Having a secret decoder ring means you have the “tool” to decode the information and power that is being transmitted throughout a variety of professional interactions. So why do we share with some colleagues/direct reports and not others? What should leaders do instead?