While traveling in Atlanta recently, Dr. Kelly Drummond stepped into a vehicle with no one in the driver’s seat.
It’s not a metaphor. She was heading to dinner after a long workday in a real autonomous ride — a car driving itself.
Kelly, who is head of talent management for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and a friend of mine, wrote about the experience in a LinkedIn post entitled “I Met the Future in the Backseat of a Car in Atlanta.”
What struck her most wasn’t the technology itself. It was her own instinct to reach for a steering wheel that simply wasn’t there. As she reflected afterward, she realized she had a choice: cling to what had always felt familiar or learn how to lead in a world already shifting beneath her feet.
Fear has always accompanied technological change, from the industrial revolution to the rise of the internet, and artificial intelligence (AI) is generating similar reactions today. People are worried about job displacement, loss of control, and whether technology is advancing faster than society can adapt. Those concerns are understandable. But as someone who works in and around change management, I see fear hold people back in all kinds of ways. Too often, it prevents us from recognizing opportunity.
For high-achieving leaders, the choice Kelly faced in that backseat might be the most important question of our time. It’s not simply about maintaining excellence in the environment we know. It’s about remaining open to what’s emerging — AI, automation, and entirely new ways of working — and deciding who we want to become within that change.
Here’s the thing worth saying plainly: if you think AI is primarily about writing emails, creating presentations, or conducting research, you’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. (That said, if you’ve never used AI before, those everyday tasks are a great place to begin. Let it organize your thoughts or proofread a document. Learning a little often creates the confidence to learn a lot.)
The organizations creating real competitive advantages are using AI in ways that go much deeper, especially in manufacturing. The contract manufacturers and co-packers who are pulling ahead aren’t simply using AI to improve office productivity. They’re integrating it directly into operations and decision-making.
The question isn’t whether AI will influence the future of manufacturing, leadership, and business. It already is. The more important question is how leaders choose to respond.
Kelly’s experience in that autonomous vehicle serves as a useful reminder. The challenge wasn’t learning how the technology worked. The challenge was becoming comfortable with a new reality where familiar assumptions no longer applied. Many organizations are facing that same moment right now.
Success will not belong exclusively to the companies with the most advanced technology. It will belong to the leaders who can balance innovation with sound judgment, embrace change without abandoning their values, and remain curious enough to learn before circumstances force them to adapt.
After her ride, Kelly posed three questions that seem increasingly relevant for all of us. She has given me permission to shamelessly steal them for our use here.
• Are you preparing your career and your team for the future that’s arriving, or the past that feels familiar?
• Where are you still insisting on “driving” when you should be learning how to guide and adapt?
• And if the future pulled up to the curb tonight, would you recognize it — or cancel the ride?
The road ahead may not allow us to remain in the driver’s seat. The opportunity is to become the kind of leader who can navigate the journey anyway.
Be sure to follow Dr. Kelly Drummond on LinkedIn.
