Leading the rest of the workforce through AI matters more than managing the handful of stars, because the 99 per cent who will never be the chosen few are the cornerstone of the company. They are the people who drive in the screws, fix what breaks, stay up all night, and deliver. While a leader is being broken open and rebuilt, and while a small number of hidden leaders rise, the question that decides whether the whole thing holds is what the leader owes everyone else. The answer starts with three words: I see you.
The celebrities are not the cornerstone
In any AI transformation, a small number of people rise and become the visible drivers of change. They get the attention. But visibility is not the same as foundation. The 99 per cent are the heart and soul of the company, and if a leader treats them as a backdrop to the stars, the culture quietly turns against the change. These are often the same people whose quiet competence the organisation already fails to notice until they leave.
The speech a leader has to give
So the leader has to stand up and say it directly. We are going to go through a process. I see you. I respect what you deliver every day. You do not have to become an AI expert, and you do not have to be the most talented person with these tools. But you do have to keep delivering, and you cannot become a hindrance to the change, because the culture of this company is going to change. That honesty is the same currency that makes a board willing to follow a leader through AI: respect first, then the ask.
The leader is the bridge
Here is the real tension. The 99 per cent are comfortable; they know they can deliver what they already know. The small group of risers will create new tasks that make everyone else deeply uncomfortable, because it is work they have never done. The leader has to stand in that gap as the bridge between the future and the past, between the known and the unknown. Not just keeping people happy, but making them progressive and action-oriented, and holding as much of the team together as possible through the discomfort. That is the work. Not choosing the stars over the soldiers, but carrying both across at once.
If you want help leading a whole organisation through that change, not just its top five per cent, that is the work I do with leadership teams.
Frequently asked questions
Why does leading the 99 per cent matter more than managing the star performers? Because the 99 per cent are the cornerstone of the company, the people who fix what breaks, stay up all night and deliver. The visible few who rise during an AI transformation get the attention, but visibility is not foundation. If a leader treats the majority as a backdrop, the culture quietly turns against the change.
What are the three words a leader owes the workforce? I see you. The leader has to stand up and say it directly: I respect what you deliver every day. You do not have to become an AI expert or the most talented person with the tools, but you do have to keep delivering and not become a hindrance, because the culture of the company is going to change.
Do employees have to become AI experts to survive the transformation? No. They do not have to be the most talented person with the tools. What is asked of them is to keep delivering what they are good at and not to obstruct the change. The expectation is continued contribution, not reinvention as a specialist.
What is the leader’s actual job during this change? To be the bridge. The comfortable majority and the uncomfortable risers have to be carried across at once, between the known and the unknown. The work is not choosing the stars over the soldiers, but holding as much of the team together as possible through the discomfort while keeping everyone action-oriented.
Why is respect the starting point rather than the ask? Because respect first, then the ask, is the same currency that makes a board or a workforce willing to follow a leader through AI. People accept the hard requirement to keep delivering and to change the culture only once they have been genuinely seen and respected for what they already do.
Thomas Anglero is a Strategic AI Advisor, keynote speaker and author of Intro to Artificial Intelligence. He has delivered over 450 keynotes across 30 countries for organisations including IBM, the WHO, the World Government Summit and the European Commission. He founded the IBM Watson AI Lab for Cancer at the Oslo Cancer Cluster and closed over $500 million in enterprise transformation deals as CTO and Chief Innovation Officer at Cognizant.