Best Leadership Qualities for Strategic Success with AI

Remember the early days of the Internet? Most people initially dismissed it.

Now, the same happens again: People debate whether AI is dangerous.  

And sure, it can be — but it all comes down to how we choose to use it.

That's where the ethical dilemma kicks in. Do we use AI to create meaningful progress? Or do we push it to serve our interests, no matter the cost?

The answer lies in the hands of those leading the charge.

History has shown that bad intentions never stay hidden for long. They might dominate for a while, but sooner or later, they face resistance.  

Resistance fuels rebellion. And rebellion leads to radical change.

Leaders need a clear framework to ensure AI remains powerful and ethical. We've outlined 3 best leadership qualities that will shape AI's role in business:

• Stay curious enough to take bold, strategic risks.
• Adapt your strategies to keep evolving.
• Lead with empathy to stay relevant and build real trust.

Let's see how they fit into the context of AI and 2025. 

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." – Albert Einstein.

Curiosity isn't limited to science and education. The best leaders are inherently curious and constantly question what they see, hear, or perceive.

For example, Markus Persson released an early, unfinished version of Minecraft to gather feedback and improve it. Instead of following the conventional approach of perfecting a product before launch, he did the opposite — he stayed open-minded in the early stages of development and iterated along the way. The result was 93 million monthly active users in 2021 and $380 million in revenue. Impressive, right?

Here's a hint: What fuels curiosity and open-mindedness is the ability to put ego aside. Without that, the ego becomes a barrier to success, growth, and, most importantly, continuous learning.

83% of C-suite executives and more than half of employees believe curiosity sparks positive organizational change. (HBR)

Open-mindedness and AI

In the context of AI, leaders must be open to experimenting and collaborating with AI tools.

You'll ask: Why? Why now?  

Because AI thrives on iterative learning — models are trained, tested, refined, and retrained continuously. Leaders who embrace this process will gain a significant competitive advantage over those who don't use AI or wait for the perfect AI tool to appear on the market.

A great example of this mindset is Elon Musk. Despite recognizing AI's risks, he remained open to its potential, investing in OpenAI and later founding xAI to explore AI's capabilities further.

But openness alone isn't enough. Leaders must also remain cautious, balancing innovation with a clear understanding of AI's risks. AI's role is to challenge traditional decision-making, pushing leaders out of their comfort zones.

Instead of relying solely on intuition, past experiences, or personal judgment, they must embrace uncertainty, question their assumptions, and let data-driven insights guide their decisions.  

Those who master this balance will be the ones shaping the future of strategy. 

76% of organizations employing situational leadership strategies felt better equipped to handle unforeseen challenges. (LinkedIn Learning Study)

These desirable qualities in a leader tie back to the first group — curiosity and open-mindedness. The more curious you are, the more you seek knowledge and find new ways to adapt and thrive. 

Continuous learning broadens your perspective and allows you to see opportunities where others see threats and uncertainty. The more you learn, the more you understand that life and business are about taking calculated risks and experimenting.

As Mark Zuckerberg once said:

"In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

History has repeatedly proven that some of the most groundbreaking deals were made by leaders who took bold risks while others hesitated.

Mark Zuckerberg acquired Instagram when it was just a 13-person startup — a move that transformed social media forever.

Elon Musk invested $35 million in SpaceX when the company was on the brink of collapse—now, it's redefining space travel.

Arianna Huffington launched one of the first and most successful digital news platforms when online media was still in its infancy. She later reflected:

"Failure is not the opposite of success — it is the stepping stone to success."

Adaptability and AI

This mindset is even more critical in the AI era. AI helps leaders identify patterns, risks, and emerging trends that might go unnoticed.

Unlike humans, AI isn't wired for comfort or fear. It doesn't hesitate. It provides objective truth, helping leaders further analyze and evaluate options. In this way, AI forces leaders to rethink traditional decision-making and adapt much faster.

Speaking of adaptability — have you ever wondered how hackers are always one step ahead of everyone? They live by one simple principle:

"Believe that something can always be better and that nothing is complete."

When you adopt a hacker mindset, your business evolves, constantly learning, adapting, and improving. Because in a world driven by AI, the only real risk is standing still.

And remember – only a hacker can outsmart another hacker. So, be the strategy hacker that's always ahead of time! 

"CEOs are hired for their intellect and business expertise — and fired for a lack of emotional intelligence." – Daniel Goleman.

Without emotional intelligence, even the most brilliant CEOs struggle to connect with their teams, navigate crises, and inspire loyalty.

Take Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron, for example. He earned the position through his intelligence and ability to navigate business challenges. However, his lack of emotional intelligence created a toxic culture, encouraged fraudulent practices, and ultimately led to his imprisonment for financial speculation.

One of his most radical management decisions was implementing a "rank and yank" performance review system. In this system, managers rated employees on a scale of 1 to 5 and fired the bottom 10-15% without attempting to improve their performance. That policy fueled fear, competition, and instability.

Running a business is inherently stressful. On the one hand, leaders must drive financial success, while on the other, they need to keep their teams happy as they dedicate their time and skills to grow the company.

The balance is tricky.

Future leaders will prioritize self-awareness, empathy, and communication, using these skills to empower employees and motivate teams. They will understand this is the only way to achieve sustainable business success.

Anything else is just short-term gain.

Emotionally intelligent leaders have 20% lower turnover rates and 27% higher employee satisfaction. (University of Pennsylvania Study)

Emotional intelligence in the context of AI

AI is a powerful tool for analyzing massive datasets, generating insights, and providing recommendations. But it doesn't understand context, nuance, or emotions well — and that's where leadership comes in.

Leaders must evaluate AI-generated insights and ensure their decisions align with ethical standards.

Have you ever seen an ad that asks, "Who on Earth approved this?"

The same applies to AI-powered decisions. AI may recommend a course of action, but it's up to leaders to critically assess its quality and consequences.

A notable example is Amazon's AI recruitment tool. In 2014, Amazon built an AI-driven hiring system to streamline recruitment. However, it later revealed that the system discriminated against female candidates, reinforcing gender bias in tech hiring.

This is why leaders must be especially cautious when implementing AI, always considering the unintended consequences on people and society.

As Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, puts it:

"AI is one of the most profound things we're working on as humanity. It's not just about building technology but ensuring it works for everyone."

In the age of AI, leaders must be not just data-driven but also people-driven. 

2025 will be a pivotal year for businesses as AI moves beyond the experimentation phase and into large-scale implementation.

At Quantive, we've built a system that helps you centralize all your strategic work and maintain a single source of truth for business performance.

With Quantive StrategyAI, you can:

• Analyze emerging performance trends early
• Identify hidden risks in your strategic direction
• Generate data-backed hypotheses to explore further and implement
• Formulate a winning strategy — saving weeks (even months) of work
• Align teams around priorities with advanced goal-setting capabilities
• Track progress in real-time and eliminate roadblocks early
• Get AI-powered insights and recommendations while keeping full control over decisions

Quantive StrategyAI is built for flexibility. Our AI model helps you analyze vast datasets, uncover strategic insights, and refine direction — without interfering with your judgment, collaboration, or final decision-making. You stay in control of your strategy with full visibility into execution.

At the same time, your teams always have clarity on where the company is headed and what strategic outcomes are expected. The result is transparency, alignment, and radical focus.

Ready to experiment with AI for strategy management? Try Quantive StrategyAI for free, or contact us for tailored solutions.