Four Ways AI is Redefining Leadership in Fast-Growth Tech Organizations

Four Ways AI is Redefining Leadership in Fast-Growth Tech Organizations

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As AI edges more into the core of business strategy, company culture, and day-to-day operations, it’s redefining what effective leadership looks like in fast-growth tech organizations. 

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Research from KPMG reflects this reality, ranking “Transformational Leadership” as the top priority for organizations seeking the true potential of AI and gaining competitive advantage.

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AI won’t transform a business on its own. Without clear strategy, governance, and cultural alignment, it quickly becomes an expensive distraction rather than a growth lever. Leaders ultimately determine which outcome they get. Here are the four leadership shifts we believe will define 2026, and what founders, CEOs, and executives need to do now to stay ahead.

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AI literacy will become a core leadership skill

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The time for “messy experimentation” is over. Leaders are now expected to understand AI well enough to make informed, strategic decisions and attach KPIs to AI initiatives. 

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As Stanford professor Erik Brynjolfsson puts it, “This is a time when you should be getting benefits [from AI] and hope that your competitors are just playing around and experimenting.”

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That urgency is backed by data. McKinsey reports that while 92 percent of companies plan to increase AI investment over the next three years, only one percent believe their AI initiatives have reached maturity. 

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Investment is racing ahead of capability and so without clear ROI frameworks, leaders struggle to distinguish value from trends. This is where AI literacy, not in technical fluency, but in strategic understanding, really matters. 

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However, Gartner research suggests that more organizations need to prioritise closing the existing skills gap, with only 23 percent of executives believing their leadership teams have the skills required to lead in an AI-enabled future.

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Leadership shift: AI training is no longer optional. Organizations that don’t deliberately upskill leaders risk pouring money into tools without seeing returns.

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Org charts will bend (and sometimes break)

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To adopt and scale AI successfully, decision-making and ownership will likely need to change. Boston Consulting Group found that organizations that successfully scale AI are three times more likely to rethink decision-making authority and operating models, not just hire AI specialists. And as Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, puts it: “The real opportunity of AI is not automation—it’s augmentation. The winners will be organizations that redesign leadership and work around that insight.”

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Teams could gradually move from functional silos to cross-functional collectives. Ownership shifts from “my function” to “our outcome.” Therefore, leaders will go from being sole decision-makers and to become enablers; creating the conditions for people to use AI well.

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Leadership shift: Leaders will need to design operating models that support collaboration, faster decision-making, and shared accountability, not just deploy new tools.

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Communication and collaboration will become performance multipliers 

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AI adoption won’t happen seamlessly, or at all, if people don’t trust it or understand what it means for them. Job anxiety and a lack of training can create resistance. 

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Clear, consistent communication is one of the strongest predictors of success. A Deloitte study found that AI initiatives are 1.7 times more likely to succeed when leaders articulate a clear vision and engage employees early.

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But communication alone isn’t enough. As AI reshapes career paths, we’ll see the need for leaders to step more deliberately into coaching and mentorship roles. When entry-level learning tasks disappear, leaders need to create new ways for people to build confidence and capability.

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Leadership shift: High-performing AI-enabled teams are built through trust, transparency, and active coaching.

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AI will be a key element of company culture 

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The final shift separates organizations experimenting with AI from those scaling it sustainably. AI adoption cannot get off the ground if it is treated like a side project. However, when it’s embedded into how decisions are made, how work is prioritized, and how success is measured, it becomes a competitive advantage.

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A strong example of this approach is Linktree. Rather than rushing to deploy tools, Linktree focused on aligning AI adoption with clear business outcomes, leadership education, and cultural readiness.

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As CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Zaccaria shared, success came from:

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• Teams are encouraged to test and break ideas, with KPIs attached to experiments
• Ongoing AI education through regular lunch-and-learns 
• “We don’t care if you’re an AI expert; we care that you’re curious and using it to make yourself and your team more productive.” - Alex Zaccaria

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Teams need to understand why AI is being introduced, how it supports their work, and what they can expect as AI is integrated into the organization.

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Leadership shift: AI becomes most powerful when leaders intentionally embed it into strategy, culture, and ways of working. 

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Let’s take stock of the leadership shifts for 2026

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Leaders in fast-growth organizations can look forward to:  

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1. Being advocates for AI training (for themselves and their teams) 
2. Redesigning operating models to support collaboration
3. Becoming more communicative and open with their teams  
4. Figuring out the best ways to embed AI into their culture 

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More tools doesn’t mean more proficiency; organizations that win in the AI era will have leaders who are trained, adaptive, communicative, and intentional about how technology and people work together.

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Think & Grow partners with ambitious businesses to implement AI in a way that delivers real value and proven results. If you want to move beyond experimentation and into impact, our team is ready to help. Get in touch with us. 

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