Recoding culture: leading transformation in the AI era
Earlier this month at the Digital Leadership Agenda 2026, hosted by the Center for Digital Transformation at the University of California, the question on everyone’s mind wasn’t just how fast AI is changing business, but how leaders can keep pace. The conference promised to explore “Recoding Business at the Speed of AI,” yet what stood out most was something less technical and far more human: culture.
Again and again, the conversation returned to one truth. The technology is extraordinary, but transformation fails or flourishes depending on how people lead — how they think, adapt, and create the conditions for others to do the same.
As Vijay Gurbaxani, Founding Director of UCI’s Center for Digital Transformation, put it, “Data and AI are first a mindset, not a tool.” It’s a simple statement that shifts the whole frame. The challenge for leaders today isn’t only to deploy new technologies, but to cultivate the curiosity and connection needed to make them work — in ways that serve their business, their teams, and society. He reminded us that ethics and accountability must sit at the centre of transformation. Technology on its own doesn’t create progress; responsible leadership does.
Later, a speaker offered one of the conference’s most grounded perspectives. She spoke about the need for psychological safety as the foundation for innovation, and about ambidextrous leadership — balancing exploration with execution. Transformation, she said, begins when leaders have the courage to admit they don’t have all the answers and the humility to learn alongside their teams. “At a time when many executives still lack AI literacy — including those at the top — the first step is awareness. Leaders can’t delegate understanding; they must model the curiosity and courage they hope to see in others.”
It was a reminder that while technology can automate or augment, it’s people who must lead.
Vijay described transformation as an interconnected system — a flywheel powered by five pathways: vision, knowledge, technology, talent, and education; and an operating model that is designed to keep the wheel spinning and in balance. Each pathway fuels the other; but my sense is that what really keeps it turning is culture. Culture connects vision with learning, links talent with purpose, and grounds technology in human values.
Research by KPMG shows that around 70–85% of digital transformations fail — not because of technology, but because of culture and leadership. Successful ones depend on leaders who guide people through uncertainty and enable experimentation, trust, and collaboration. When connection breaks down — between teams, functions, or layers of leadership — transformation stalls. A healthy culture acts as connective tissue, carrying ideas and energy across boundaries.
What emerged most clearly throughout the conference was that the gap isn’t in capability, but in mindset. Boards and senior teams are still catching up — many don’t yet speak the language of AI or see its strategic implications. For transformation to stick, leaders need not only technical literacy but emotional literacy. They need to be learners again.
At Leaders’ Quest, we often describe this as inner transformation before outer transformation — aligning values, behaviour, and culture so that strategy comes to life. Technology is moving at extraordinary speed. But as the gathering made clear, what will define the next chapter isn’t how quickly businesses can code, but how deeply leaders can build the trust and collaboration needed to innovate the way forward.
The invitation now is to recode our cultures with these qualities — to make them the new operating system for change. Because in the end, the real transformation begins not with AI, but with us.
These questions sit at the heart of a new collaboration between Leaders’ Quest and Vijay — a series of Insider Talks exploring how AI is reshaping leadership and culture, and how we can shape it in return. If these themes resonate, I’d love to connect and continue the conversation.
Watch Vijay’s talk here
