Erin Crane, PhD · Senior Principal, LDW

Building Fluency in an AI-Enabled Organization

A Practitioner's Framework to AI Orientation

Why it matters

Our clients are asking for help in identifying which leaders will succeed as AI shapes work and which leaders may struggle.

AI skills are easier to spot. What is meaningful to understand about leadership in an AI-enabled organization is how leaders learn, adapt, and lead as the tools keep changing.

AI Orientation: 5 Dimensions

The leadership signals that help determine which leaders thrive as AI reshapes how work gets done.

Curiosity to Learn

Interest and ambition to learn in an unfamiliar domain

Asks real questions about what AI can (and can’t) do, and pushes through the awkward early learning curve instead of stalling out.

Adaptive Thinking

Cognitive flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity

Tolerates ambiguity and shifts perspective when AI-generated insights challenge assumptions, rather than dismissing them.

AI Readiness & Advocacy

Champions and advocates for AI use

Treats AI as a capability worth building and champions its use with the team, not a threat to manage.

Bias for Action & Experimentation

Propensity to experiment and iterate

Runs pilots, treats early misses as information, and iterates, without waiting for a mandate.

Responsible Stewardship

Consideration and good judgement

Weighs the human, legal, and compliance stakes rather than deferring blindly to the tool, or rejecting it outright.

Where do we go from here?

Build AI Orientation into executive assessment and coaching

Shift client conversations from vague “AI skills gaps” to specific, observable behaviors

Apply it as a lens on tools practitioners already use, not a new competency to build from scratch

PDF coming soon