AI Can Outthink You – But It Can't Do One Thing 5-Year-Olds Do Every Day

Ron says a major shift now facing people and organizations: artificial intelligence has changed the value of thinking.

AI can analyze information, generate options, summarize documents, and process enormous amounts of history and data. In many ways, it can “think” faster and more broadly than humans.

But Deb points out something essential: AI still needs an impetus.

It needs a human to ask the question. It needs intention. It needs curiosity.

That is where leadership development must evolve. Leaders can no longer focus only on helping people execute better, think faster, or find the right answer. Those skills still matter, but they are no longer enough.

The future belongs to leaders who can help teams imagine better questions, create new connections, and explore possibilities that do not yet exist.

Company Culture Must Make Room for Imagination

Ron and Deb return to one of the key ideas from part one of this conversation: many organizations were built for thinkers, not imaginers.

Most company cultures reward people for completing tasks, following instructions, meeting specifications, and producing predictable outcomes. That model worked when companies needed large numbers of people to coordinate around repeatable work.

But AI is changing that equation.

If AI can take over more thinking-based tasks, then company culture must shift toward creativity, imagination, and human connection.

Ron describes imagination as the act of connecting two things that have never been connected before. That may be a new product, a new process, a new business model, or a new way of solving a problem.

A company culture that only rewards execution may miss the very human advantage AI cannot replace.

Communication Problems Start When People Stop Asking “Why?”

A major theme in this episode is the importance of asking “why.”

Ron and Deb point out that young children naturally ask why over and over again. They are not just looking for information. They are trying to understand meaning.

But over time, people are often trained out of asking why. They learn to search for the right answer instead of exploring the deeper question.

That pattern creates communication problems inside organizations.

When employees stop asking why, they may follow instructions without understanding purpose. When leaders stop inviting why, they may create teams that execute tasks but do not innovate.

In an AI-driven workplace, this becomes a major leadership challenge.

AI can help produce answers. But humans still need to ask what matters, why it matters, and what future they are trying to create.

Executive Coaching and the Return of Curiosity

Especially relevant for executive coaching sessions – this line of thinking challenges leaders to rethink how they define value.

Many executives were successful because they learned how to think clearly, solve problems, make decisions, and execute. But as AI becomes more capable, the next level of leadership may require something different.

Curiosity.

Wonder.

Imagination.

The willingness to be unsure.

Ron and Deb discuss examples like Dungeons & Dragons and improv, where people create responses in the moment without knowing what will happen next. Those environments strengthen imagination because they reward responsiveness, creativity, and the ability to build on what others contribute.

Leadership Training Must Shift from Right Answers to Better Questions

Traditional leadership training often focuses on decision-making, communication, conflict resolution, and execution. Those skills remain important, but this episode suggests leadership training must also teach people how to create space for imagination.

Deb asks whether we can train people to be curious.

Ron suggests the first step is simply naming that imagination is essential.

That may sound small, but it matters. Many people do not see themselves as creative. They may believe creativity belongs to artists, inventors, entrepreneurs, or a small group of “innovation people” inside the company.

Ron and Deb challenge that story. The imaginative seven-year-old is still inside us. It may just be dormant. Leadership training courses must help people reconnect with that capacity.

Why AI Makes Imagination More Valuable, Not Less

AI is making imagination more relevant and influential in the workforce.

Ron and Deb discuss how AI can act as a thinking partner. It can process information, run scenarios, analyze options, and help accelerate work. But humans still decide what problem to solve, what question to ask, and what outcome matters.

Deb connects this to breakthroughs like AlphaFold, where humans used AI to explore protein folding. The power was not just in the computation. It was in the human intention to understand something important and use AI to help explore it.

That is the human advantage. Although AI can think, humans can imagine why the thinking matters.

The Future of Work Belongs to Creative Thinkers

Ron and Deb speculate that many roles built primarily around thinking may be changed, reduced, or eliminated by AI. Legal research, engineering tools, spreadsheets, analysis, reports, and other knowledge-work tasks may be increasingly augmented by artificial intelligence.

But they are careful not to say every human will be replaced. Instead, they point to a different future: One person may be able to do the work that once required many people.

That means the people who can use AI creatively, connect ideas in novel ways, and imagine what comes next will become increasingly valuable.

For leaders, this is a wake-up call. The future of work will not reward only those who know how to complete tasks. It will reward those who can create new possibilities.

Leadership Programs Need to Build Creative Capacity

If imagination is becoming essential, then organizations need to rethink how they develop people. Leadership programs cannot simply teach managers how to supervise work. They must help leaders create environments where people can think, imagine, experiment, and collaborate.

Deb notes that groups of people can become highly creative when ideas are allowed to fly without immediate limits. That kind of collaboration requires trust, openness, and time.

It also requires leaders who do not shut ideas down too early. A strong leadership program should help managers learn how to:

Create space for curiosity.

Invite questions before answers.

Encourage experimentation.

Make it safe to be wrong.

Connect people with different perspectives.

Protect time for imagination.

These are not “soft” skills. In an AI-driven world, they will become core business skills.

The Role of Boredom, Space, and Time in Creativity

Deb shares an important idea from her son: “You have to be bored to be creative.”

That insight leads Ron and Deb into a conversation about how modern life leaves very little space for imagination. People are constantly scrolling, working, consuming, responding, and moving from one task to the next.

The same is true inside many organizations.

If every moment is filled with meetings, tasks, deadlines, and performance metrics, people may never have the open space required to imagine something new.

Creativity requires room.

Leaders who want innovation must ask whether their teams actually have time to think, wonder, experiment, and connect ideas. A company that fills every minute may be unintentionally preventing its own future.

Imagination is no longer optional.

As AI becomes more capable of handling thinking-based work, the human advantage shifts toward curiosity, creativity, intention, and meaning-making.

Ron and Deb challenge leaders to reconsider how they build teams, design company culture, and develop people. If organizations continue rewarding only right answers, they may produce good task performers – but not the imaginative leaders and teams needed for the future.

The future will require people who can ask why, connect unexpected ideas, and imagine what does not yet exist. And the leaders who understand that will be the ones who build cultures ready for what comes next.

‍

If you’re navigating AI adoption, leadership challenges, or cultural shifts inside your organization, we’d love to hear your story. Reach out to Ron at ron@macklinconnection.com or Deb at deb@macklinconnection.com to learn more about joining a community designed to support your personal and professional growth.

‍