I find it quite frustrating that the conversation around upskilling, reskilling and adapting to the AI era seems to centre almost entirely around employees.
Similarly the debate around AI literacy tends to go two ways:
the education system and how we teach our kids about AI
coding skills and prompt hacks, often shared by tech-bros and LinkedIn influencers.
I see AI literacy as much more than these two areas. Those have their place—but are not sufficiently representative of what our AI literacy needs are.
I see AI literacy as equipping leaders and teams to understand how AI could change what their business does and how it does it. It means being able to spot where new competitors might come from, often outside your industry. And it means thinking ahead about how AI might open up new markets and products for your organization, or demand new and creative ways of working.
In other words it is about leadership. Yet our understanding of AI literacy for leaders remains under-explored and under-developed. Read on to discover why this gap matters and how you can build your own AI literacy as a leader.
The signals of change
Over the past few weeks I’ve come across three very different examples that reveal how AI is already disrupting how leadership works, how authority is structured, and how strategy is shaped.
To be clear, these aren’t examples of “good” or “bad” AI literacy. They're signals that the current definition and approach to AI literacy isn’t suitable for leaders.
WPP’s CEO resigns under pressure from AI-driven competitors
Mark Read recently stepped down as CEO of WPP. The company’s revenue and share price have come under pressure — not just from rival ad firms, but from entirely new competitors like Meta, which offer AI-generated campaign solutions at scale.What does this show? That the traditional playbook of competing with similar peers is crumbling. leaders now face disruption from platforms, models, and actors with entirely different capabilities.
Dubai gives AI a formal seat in government
Starting January 2026, the UAE will introduce a National Artificial Intelligence System as an advisory member of its Cabinet. It will analyse data, assess the impact of new laws, and propose updates.
What does this show? That decision-making is being reshaped. the idea of a single leader at the top is evolving into something more distributed — with AI as a co-pilot in governance and policy.Accenture reorganises into ‘reinvention services’
Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms, recently merged its five major business units, Strategy, Consulting, Song, Technology, and Operations, into one integrated division called “Reinvention Services”.What does this show? That leadership today isn’t about overseeing discrete parts of a business. it’s about orchestrating transformation in more complex environments and that requires different capabilities, mindsets, and literacies than traditionally valued.
Thinking about all of these together, they illustrate how the impact of AI goes beyond being just an operational or technology tool. It’s reshaping what it means to govern, lead, and compete.
So if you’re a CEO, business leader, strategist, or board member wondering what ‘AI-ready leadership’ really looks like, then read on - this post is for you!
Why does this change matter for you?
The working definition of AI literacy is far too narrow. It’s being treated as a technical or tactical skill.
But as these example show, the real shifts are strategic and structural. They’re about how leaders anticipate change, build trust, and rethink value creation.
If you’re a senior leader and you’re thinking of AI as someone else’s problem, something for IT to handle, or for new grads to adapt to, you’re introducing a massive blind spot.
What can you do to prepare and become an AI-literate leader?
The question that follows is how to future-proof yourself and act today to prepare for these changes. What does AI literacy really look like for a business leader? This is a question that is so crucial for the future of business, yet so woefully underexplored.
My current thinking, based on my research so far and conversations with nearly 100 leaders over the past year, is that there are two ways to frame what needs to change and how you can take practical steps to build your AI literacy.
The first is what I call MAP: “Mindset-Skills-Processes”
Mindset: stop assuming AI disruption is for other people in your organisation. If you’re only focused on junior roles, you’re missing where the real risks and opportunities are.
Abilities: yes, you need foundational knowledge of AI. but beyond that, can you lead under uncertainty? Can you read the signals of change early enough?
Processes: how do you make decisions? How do you test assumptions? How often do you revisit what your strategy is based on? Leadership in the AI era means constantly adjusting your processes to be future-fit.
I have yet to find a good acronym for the second one (!) but the three dynamics that AI-literate leaders confidently understand are:
Technology: understand the tools, their limits, and where they’re heading. You don’t need to code, but you do need to grasp the trajectory of what’s being made possible. Are you fluent enough to spot the real opportunities?
People: This is about trust, ethical leadership, and communicating change, as well as demonstrating your value as a leader and the ways you interact with other members of the leadership team. Are you building the culture and confidence to lead with, not just through, AI?
Direction: Being AI-literate means understanding how your organisation’s positioning, priorities, and possibilities are shifting. Are you asking the right strategic questions? Are you alert to signals beyond your usual field of vision?
I’ll be exploring both of these framings in future pieces because I strongly believe that we need better answers to a simple but urgent question:
What does it really mean to be an AI-literate leader?
So join me on the next newsletter of The Athenian Intelligence where I will be breaking down each of those two framings, along with practical steps for each one.