What Smart Leaders Need To Know About Harnessing AI Innovation

Forbes

08-07-2025

Valentina Drofa, Founder and CEO at the PR firm for eminent finance and fintech brands Drofa Comms.
Ever since its emergence as a concept, artificial intelligence (AI) has been the subject of countless discussions and fears. Some see it as a threat, some as an opportunity, and others as a way to replace employees. In any case, a modern company cannot stay away from new technologies if it wishes to stay relevant. The most important thing is to implement those technologies correctly.
In recent years, as AI development picked up pace and grew into a hot topic in business circles, I admit, my initial reaction was closer to scepticism than excitement. Not because I felt threatened by it, but because I couldn't see how it would fit meaningfully into different types of businesses.
My own agency, for example, specializes in communications—a nuanced field that demands a lot of creativity, and where humans are very much front and centre of all efforts and activities. Could a machine really replace that? At the time, it felt like AI would be more along the lines of a personal assistant, helping with bookings, record keeping, and general advice.
Today, I can say confidently that AI has found a helpful role in our operations. It's all about using it wisely.
From Intrusion To Integration
The conversation around AI tends to swing between extremes. It's either seen as revolutionary or as a threat to jobs and creativity. In my experience, perceptions can shift quickly. Just a year ago, some clients were adamant that we avoid using AI for content creation, even though we weren't relying on it. Now, many of those same clients are asking for AI-generated content or actively using AI to draft their own ideas.
It felt like a drastic transition, and it left me thinking that the truth about AI is somewhere in the middle. That it's neither an all-in-one solution nor an existential threat. It's a tool. And like any tool, its value lies in how we use it.
At our agency, we experimented quite a lot and gradually learned to use AI for things like competitor analysis or research tasks. It's a useful way to cut down on hours of manual work—not to replace jobs, but to free up our team's time for deeper thinking and more strategic tasks.
It's not about cutting down on staff; it's about boosting their efficiency. One person, equipped with the right tools and knowledge, can now achieve the work of multiple days, or multiple people, in just a few hours. That's a major advantage right there.
The Leader's Role In AI Integration
But for all of AI's benefits, there are still many teams out there that resist the integration of these tools. Not because they're lazy or old-fashioned, but because they haven't been shown the value of AI in a way that aligns with their company's culture and mission.
This is where I feel leadership becomes key. How you introduce AI into your company determines how your workers will feel about it. A smart leader doesn't just roll out AI and say 'go use it.' They guide their teams, give context, and make sure the tech fits the company's values.
If you're serious about integrating AI into your operations, then you can't just give everyone access to ChatGPT and hope for the best. You need to make it a part of your corporate culture so that it amplifies human thinking rather than replaces it. This is how you inspire your employees to learn and grow instead of feeling like they've become unneeded.
We make sure everyone on the team knows not just how to use AI, but when to pause and rely on their own judgment. AI can generate a hundred options, but it can't tell you which one truly fits your brand's message or tone. That part still needs a human touch, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
AI Doesn't Kill Jobs, Obsolete Skill Sets Do
I want to address the well-known worry of AI robbing people of jobs. To be blunt, yes, some professions are at risk. But that's not something new.
Look at history: switchboard operators, lamplighters, the so-called 'human computers'—all these roles disappeared because, across the centuries, innovation kept moving forward. AI is just another turn of the wheel within the same fundamental cycle.
If your role is built purely on repetition, you should be thinking about how to evolve. But the solution isn't to fear AI, it's to embrace it and build on top of it. Technology should speed up our work, not shut off our curiosity.
Combining Human Insight With Automation
One major downside of AI, the one that worries me, is the more we rely on machine thinking, the more we're at risk of unlearning how to think for ourselves. It's tempting to just take the first ChatGPT output and move on instead of using our brains, but not all tasks should be delegated to algorithms. We need to remember what sets us apart from machines: critical thinking, empathy, and judgment.
I believe that the way forward is for people to learn to combine AI literacy with critical thinking. AI is not at a point where it can replace human thinking—what it produces needs to be double-checked. Combining human insight with automation is how we learn to perform jobs better, not just faster.
That's why one of my team's internal values is constant learning. Not just in the traditional sense, but in terms of evolving our mindset alongside technology. We instruct our employees how to use AI, while training them to stay sharp and thoughtful while doing so. Being modern and competitive is certainly good, but it shouldn't come at the cost of authenticity.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?