How Can Leaders Communicate About AI When They Don’t Have Every Answer?

Leaders can communicate about AI without every answer by being clear about three things: what they know, what they don’t know yet, and how the organization will find out. People don’t expect their leaders to predict the future of AI. They expect honesty, direction, and a way to take part.

The “I Don’t” dragon

The first of Leif Becker’s Three AI Dragons is the “I Don’t” dragon: “I don’t understand AI, and I don’t know how to lead in this new world.”

Many capable executives feel this privately. They have led through market shifts, growth, and crises, yet AI feels different. The technology changes quickly, the vocabulary is unfamiliar, and confident opinions seem to be everywhere.

The common response is to wait: We’ll talk about AI once we have a clear strategy. The problem is that the waiting is visible. Teams notice the silence, and silence is rarely neutral. It fills with rumors, worst-case assumptions, and people experimenting on their own without guidance.

You don’t need to be an AI expert

Leading AI adoption is a leadership job, not a technical one. Leaders set direction, build trust, clarify responsibilities, and help people adapt. Those are the same skills that carried organizations through earlier changes. The difference is that leaders now have to use them while still learning.

That is not a weakness. A leader who learns in the open gives the team permission to learn too.

A simple structure for honest AI communication

When you talk about AI with your team, try this structure:

What we know. Share what has been decided, even if it is small. “We are going to explore AI in our proposal process this quarter.”

What we don’t know yet. Name the open questions directly. “We don’t yet know how this will change individual roles.”

How we will find out. Explain the process, the timeline, and how people will be involved. “A small group will test it for 30 days, and we will share what we learn with everyone.”

What we need from you. Invite participation. “Tell us where AI could save you time, and tell us what worries you.”

This structure works because it replaces uncertainty about everything with clarity about the next step.

Habits that build trust while the answers unfold

• Update regularly, even when there is little news. A short, consistent update builds more trust than a perfect announcement months later.
• Use plain language. Avoid jargon that makes people feel left behind.
• Show your own learning. Share what you tried, what surprised you, and what you are still figuring out.
• Close the loop. When people raise concerns or ideas, tell them what happened next.

From uncertainty to one clear next step

Leif Becker’s keynote, UNBREAKABLE Leadership in the Age of AI, is built around this challenge. It gives leaders a shared language for the reactions that can slow AI adoption, and helps every leader leave with one leadership conversation or next step to bring back to their organization.

The keynote focuses on leadership and the human side of AI adoption. It is not technical AI training.

Frequently asked questions

Should leaders wait for a full AI strategy before talking to employees? No. Waiting creates a vacuum. Communicate early about what is known, what is still open, and how decisions will be made.

What if employees know more about AI tools than their leaders do? That is common and useful. Invite those employees to share what they are learning, while leaders stay responsible for direction, priorities, and accountability.

How can an executive team build a shared plan? The AI Leadership Lab gives executive teams 90 minutes to agree on priorities, owners, and first actions, followed by a written 90-day plan.