Strengthening Culture in the AI Storm [podcast video]
Strengthening culture in the AI storm: What leaders need now
The People Who Help People podcast, featuring ADVISA CEO Heather Haas
AI isn’t a future-state problem. It’s already in the building – and it’s changing the pace, expectations, and day-to-day realities of leadership.
In a recent episode of the People Who Help People podcast, ADVISA CEO Heather Haas joined host Craig Ackerman to unpack what it means to strengthen culture in what she calls the “AI storm” – and why the organizations that thrive won’t be the ones that adopt the most tools first, but the ones that prepare leaders to use those tools wisely.
If you’re navigating AI adoption inside your organization – or trying to figure out what “leading well” looks like as expectations shift – this conversation will give you a clearer lens.
Key takeaways:
- AI amplifies leadership – and that should get your attention
- Develop your leaders to be effective before becoming reliant on AI
- Use cohorts to create shared reality and reduce fear
- Lead with the “blue sky” question, not just the risk checklist
- Treat culture like the operating system for AI
Strengthening culture in the AI storm: What leaders need now
AI amplifies leadership – and that should get your attention
One of the most direct ideas from the conversation was also one of the most sobering:
AI doesn’t just increase output. It increases whatever is already present in a leader.
Strong leaders use AI as a thinking partner – accelerating clarity, analysis, and communication without losing judgment or empathy. Average leaders may speed up mediocrity. Poor leaders can scale confusion, misalignment, and mistrust.
If that lands with a little “yikes,” that’s the point.
The real leadership challenge isn’t access to AI. It’s readiness – because many leaders are already using AI daily without clear guardrails, shared expectations, or cultural clarity.
The risk is when individual zeal for AI outpaces organizational readiness.
Develop your leaders to be effective before becoming reliant on AI
AI disruption can be viewed through the metaphor of a storm.
Storms are unexpected, wet, cold, and disruptive. And just like any storm, the best response isn’t panic – it’s preparation.
In the episode, preparation wasn’t framed as “teach everyone the tools.” It was framed as helping leaders develop the mindset and skills to lead well while the environment changes around them.
That includes:
- learning what’s happening in the AI landscape
- experimenting responsibly
- building confidence and discernment
- understanding what to do – and what not to do – as AI becomes part of everyday work
Because if leaders aren’t prepared, AI will still shape behaviors. It will just do it by default.
The challenge isn’t learning AI itself. It’s adapting how leadership works when AI becomes part of everyday decisions … If you don’t prepare leaders, the habits will form anyway.
Use cohorts to create shared reality and reduce fear
One of the most practical insights from the conversation was about how leaders learn best in times of disruption.
Heather emphasizes the power of shared experience – bringing leaders together to compare notes, trade perspectives, and realize they’re not the only one feeling behind, uncertain, or cautious.
That “shared reality” does more than normalize fears. It creates momentum.
When leaders have space to talk openly, they build trust, gain clarity, and start replacing reactive decision-making with intentional leadership.
This is one of the reasons ADVISA is leaning into cohort-based learning experiences – not just to transfer knowledge, but to create a support structure leaders can rely on as expectations shift.
Leaders are parched for guidance – and they don’t want to figure this out alone. Cohorts give leaders the space to trade perspectives, share fears, and build confidence.
Lead with the “blue sky” question, not just the risk checklist
If the dominant emotion around AI is fear, it narrows thinking.
Heather calls that out directly: when leaders are stuck in “I’m behind” or “I have too much to learn,” they often shut off the creative part of the brain that asks:
What if? How might we?
A key part of strengthening culture in the AI storm is helping leaders lift their eyes beyond governance and risk management long enough to imagine the upside – the “blue sky” opportunity once the storm passes.
That doesn’t mean ignoring risk. It means refusing to lead from fear.
In the episode, Heather describes ADVISA’s goal as giving leaders the time and space to engage their best thinking – so they can lead through the storm while also designing what comes after it.
Fear shuts off the part of the brain that asks, ‘What if? How might we?’
Treat culture like the operating system for AI
One of the most compelling frameworks from the conversation was the idea that culture becomes the operating system for AI.
When culture is clear, AI can reinforce it:
- Support consistent leadership behaviors
- Accelerate alignment and execution
- Scale desired norms
But when culture is unclear, AI can just as easily scale the wrong behaviors – faster.
Heather shares a vivid analogy: AI as an “Iron Man suit.” It’s powerful, but it only amplifies the person inside it.
That’s why culture work and leadership development aren’t separate from AI adoption. They are the foundation that determines whether AI becomes a force multiplier or a force for chaos.
Culture has to be clear enough that we can tune up AI to create behavior at scale.
Leading with AI: The Human Advantage
AI is changing how work gets done. It is also changing what leadership requires. This hands-on one-day experience from ADVISA helps leaders adapt how they think, decide, and lead in an AI-enabled workplace.
In one day, you will:
- Make better decisions and clarify communication using AI as a thinking partner
- Learn how to use AI to strengthen judgment — not replace it
- Apply AI to real leadership decisions and communication
Designed for people at any level who make decisions that affect others.
RELATED RESOURCES
The People Who Help People, hosted by Craig Ackerman
Sage Against the Machine by Heather Haas
The Human in the Data by Lisa Pettitt
Connect with Heather on LinkedIn
Connect with Craig on LinkedIn
“AI doesn’t replace leadership – it reshapes it.”