Most L&D leaders will tell you their top priority this year is developing better leaders.
And they’re right to focus there.
According to research from iVentiv, 61% of organisations say leadership development is their number one priority for 2026.
In the same breath, only 11% of employers have offered formal training on AI. The same AI reshaping how work gets done, how decisions get made, and how quickly competitors move (Gov.uk).
Pause for a moment.
We say people are our greatest asset.
Then we hand them the most significant shift in working practice for a generation… and wish them luck.
The Leadership–AI Disconnect
The gap between what organisations claim to prioritise and what they actually invest in isn’t new.
But this one is hard to ignore.
Artificial intelligence is no longer experimental. Tools like OpenAI’s models, Microsoft Copilot, and enterprise AI platforms from Google are embedded in daily workflows.
They are influencing:
- Decision-making speed
- Quality of analysis
- Customer responsiveness
- Productivity benchmarks
- Strategic advantage
Yet in many organisations, AI capability remains optional. Informal. Self-taught.
That’s not a technology issue.
It’s a leadership development blind spot.
The Compounding Skills Gap
Here’s where this becomes urgent.
The AI skills gap compounds.
Employees who use AI daily are already reporting:
- Higher productivity
- Faster output
- Greater confidence
- Stronger job security
Those who aren’t? They’re not falling behind gradually.
They’re falling behind quickly.
The longer organisations delay structured AI capability-building, the wider the performance gap becomes — between teams, between leaders, and between competitors.
Leadership Development in 2026: What It Must Include
Leadership development absolutely matters.
But what does leadership actually mean in an AI-enabled organisation?
It now includes the ability to:
- Work effectively alongside AI tools
- Coach teams on responsible and productive AI use
- Redesign workflows to integrate automation
- Make informed decisions about when to trust — and when to question — AI outputs
- Lead through uncertainty created by rapid technological change
AI literacy is no longer a “technical skill.”
It’s a core leadership competency.
If your leadership frameworks don’t reflect that reality, they’re already out of date.
A Strategic Question for L&D Managers
Ask yourself:
- Are we developing leaders for the organisation we have — or the one we’re becoming?
- Do our programmes include hands-on AI application?
- Are managers confident guiding teams through AI-enabled transformation?
- Or are we hoping capability will emerge organically?
Hope is not a strategy.
Structured capability-building is.
What This Means for Innovation Managers
Innovation has always been about leveraging new tools to create value.
AI is the most significant enabling technology of the past decade. Leaders who don’t understand it will struggle to:
- Spot opportunity
- Allocate resources wisely
- Challenge assumptions
- Move at competitive speed
Innovation without AI literacy risks becoming theoretical.
Innovation with AI literacy becomes exponential.
If We’re Serious About Developing Our People…
The conversation cannot wait for next year’s training plan.
Leadership development and AI capability are not competing priorities.
They are now inseparable.
For L&D and Innovation leaders, the opportunity is clear:
Integrate AI literacy into leadership pathways.
Embed practical experimentation into development programmes.
Equip managers not just to cope with AI — but to lead with it.
Because in 2026, the most valuable leaders won’t just inspire people.
They’ll know how to amplify them.
Turning Priority into Practice
If you’re rethinking your leadership portfolio to reflect AI-enabled work, now is the time to act.
Our leadership and intrapreneurship programmes are designed to integrate emerging technologies into real business challenges — ensuring capability translates into performance, not just awareness.
Developing leaders still matters.
But developing leaders who can work intelligently with AI?
That’s the competitive edge.
