Building Principled & Pragmatic Leaders is Needed More than Ever in the Elusive Era of AI

Building Principled and Pragmatic Leadership is a Process of Self Awareness, Discipline, and Mastery

Our thoughts drive our intentions. Our intentions lead us to our behaviors, and the decision to act or not to act in any moment. Over time we observe and learn from our behaviors and decisions. This is important. But to grow as a leader, it is also essential to dig deeper. Our behaviors and decisions are always worthy of self-evaluation (consider the summer of ‘25 Coldplay concert kiss cam debacle). But we must remember that our behaviors and decisions are also remnants or byproducts that originated with our thoughts and intentions.

What you are subconsciously and consciously thinking about right now, that is to say the little voice in your mind that may be whispering “go to the gym” – or the loud voice that’s shouting, “your overweight and unhealthy” – will lead to your intentions and ultimately your actions. The process of getting there is not linear, nor is it always logical. Sometimes our thoughts lead to good behaviors and decisions (i.e., if I’m thinking I’m unhealthy, then it is logical to eat healthier and build movement into my day).

Yet too often, our thoughts reinforce or justify unproductive behavior and poor decisions (i.e., I feel unhealthy, but I have a big work project due in two weeks – once that is completed I’m definitely going to the gym!). But in reality, the work projects never seem to conclude and an unhealthy cyclical behavior of maintaining a poor diet and lack of movement persists. And worse, perhaps even a sense of dread for your work or anxiety, kick in. Breaking this cycle is essential to your personal growth, and as your development as a leader.  

Daily life is chock full of external stimuli, excessive noise and chatter, daily demands, personal and professional relationship dynamics. Additionally, our foundational elements, (i.e., spiritual, psychological/mind, and physiological/heart) are continuously adapting to our external environments and modulating our state of consciousness/awareness and that which aligns our chakras, our innate energy centers – enhancing our capacity to sense, feel and react with our true sense of self in any moment. If our chakras are out of synch, we are, in simplistic terms, unable to properly monitor our thoughts and subsequently, our emotions, reactions, behaviors, and decisions.     

So, to grow and evolve as a principled leader, one must develop the skill to be hyperaware of the continuously rising flood of thoughts that lead to the logjam of intentions in our daily lives. Building an awareness of and capacity for real-time filtering and redirection of one’s thoughts is a skill. Think of it as a muscle that in order to be healthy it needs to be exercised, conditioned, strengthened, stretched, nourished, and rested.

As shown below, principled and pragmatic leadership is necessary to complement the leadership development process. Leadership requires a foundation in strong values and mastery of chakra alignment (this is where Principled leadership comes in), and an innate ability to cut through noise and clutter to make sound decisions (this is where Pragmatic leadership comes in). Combined, the fusion of principled and pragmatic leadership provides the necessary conditions for continuous self-awareness, mind mastery, active learning, intentional growth, and more informed and empathetic decision making.  

The Principled and Pragmatic Leadership Process, by Mark Coleman

AI is Presenting Humanity with New Leadership Questions and Challenges

Humans are inherently emotional beings, driven and influenced by our feelings. Some people now argue, while others fear, that artificial intelligence (AI) will evolve to superseded humans in logic and rational decision making because it lacks emotional intelligence and our human bias of irrationality. That said, there has been concern that some agentic AI models have recently begun to display bias, emotion, and irrationality in its outputs – drawing concern among AI ethicists, risk management professionals and policy makers.

Uncertainty surrounding the advance of AI presents a clear-cut case for principled and pragmatic leadership in all facets and sectors of the economy. It also highlights the need for anyone that is engaging with AI tools to be well skilled and self-disciplined in objectively observing and managing one’s thoughts. To a certain degree our lives are already digitally fused, enabled by advanced technology. Ensuring we remain of the right mind and disciplined to ensure that we are in control of, and not subservient to, a non-sentient entity is essential. Make no mistake, this is not an emotional fear or outlandish warning shot across the bow based upon a science fiction movie. What makes us human is the fact that we can feel, and that we are consumed by, express, and evoke emotion in others. Yet, what makes us distinct in a wide labyrinth of life can also be construed as our Achilles heel.

Our individual and collective emotion can (and currently is) be weaponized and used against us. Thus, we must always be hyper aware, agile, adaptive, empathetic, engaged, and prepared to act at any moment. AI is exhibiting these behaviors and learning, adapting, and growing, very quickly. Although we may not keep pace with AI’s computational, analytical, or data-driven reasoning capacity – humans must always be “in the loop” to fill the void that AI will never be able to fill. That is the alignment of spirit and heart (i.e., the ethical, moral, just, equitable, and principled foundation of society) to ensure that data doesn’t skew decisions toward nefarious, illegal, illegitimate, or outright evil purpose.

Humans are characteristically emotional beings. This makes us innately unique, yet we must also be mindful of the role our thoughts have on shaping our emotions and subsequently, our behaviors.

For the moment, AI lacks sentience and self-awareness. However, AI can be used by humans, that do have sentience and self-awareness, to dramatically influence thoughts, intentions, behaviors, and decisions. It does not matter whether AI is sentient. The wrong tool (i.e., a handgun) in the wrong hands (i.e., the individual with ill intent), has a greater likelihood of an unintended and negative outcome (i.e., mass shooting).

AI may be neither dangerous or beneficial to society. It comes down to how it continues to be designed, deployed, and used to supplement human responsibility and accountability. Right now we remain in the loop and in control. But we cannot dismiss the fact that the rapid advance of AI and its infiltration into all aspects of our digital culture, economy, and society is concerning, particularly when weighted against the readiness of societal institutions and the underlying basic knowledge and understanding of everyday citizens and consumers.

To be prepared for anything that an AI future may entail, we have to intentionally build principled and pragmatic leaders through a process of self-awareness, discipline, and mastery (of mind, spirit and heart). How we choose to engage individually and collectively in a cyber-physical world should be defined by ethical, moral, cultural, spiritual, sustainable, legal, and other constructs defined by shared values. I like to think of this as, ‘common sense for the common good,’ were our pursuit of life, liberty, and prosperity is not diminished, marginalized, or hindered in any way by the existence of AI – and in particular, AI that was developed from the minds and at the hands of a minority of technology elite in the absence of an openly engaged and fully represented citizenry.  Unfortunately, the AI models learning from us today were created, largely in secrecy and without governance and oversight.

Principled and Pragmatic Leadership is Needed for an AI-Human Future

Right now, there is a deficiency in AI education and training. Specifically, the contextual and humanistic understanding of how we can and will ethically, morally, culturally, and spiritually live within a more sophisticated cyber-physical world.

The proliferation and convergence of AI without proper “safe handling instructions” and into a world already struggling with principled leadership is alarming. We cannot let our children down by rapidly advancing (i.e., optimizing AI for monetization before we understand its full power) AI without the necessary teaching and training on ethical, moral, and legal implications of human-machine intelligence and interaction.

We must also humbly acknowledge and actively pursue (human and humane) learning with an understanding and respect that AI may “get at certain answers quicker,” but that it is not the exclusive source of truth, wisdom or knowledge.

More than ever we should strive to teach deeper learning and applied critical thinking, human dignity, emotional intelligence and empathy, cultural and spiritual understanding, as well as the requirements for accessibility, equitable and inclusive engagement.

The [AI] machine has been built without any operating instructions and born into a world categorically unprepared for its power. Caution is insufficient. We need a rapid ascent of pragmatism (common sense for the common good), principled leaders, and a foundation of values-based education that proactively prepares our children for the realities shaping our society today.

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