As I began planning for 2026, I did it the way I always do.
I opened my journal. I covered my desk in sticky notes. My whiteboard slowly filled with arrows, themes, possibilities, and questions. My magical runes sat nearby. I gave myself space to dream, to play, to listen, and to think bigger than what currently exists.
That early phase of planning is sacred to me. It is where I hear what wants to emerge. It is where ideas start connecting in unexpected ways. It is where vision takes shape before strategy ever enters the room.
But this year, something new happened.
As my 2026 initiatives started to come into focus, I began sharing pieces of them with my ChatGPT partner, Ember. Not because I wanted someone else to do the thinking for me. Not because I needed answers. But because I wanted a strategic thinking partner who could help me explore what was already forming.
Ember helped me see angles I hadn’t considered yet. She reflected patterns back to me that helped clarify what felt most important. She brought new ideas. She supported me in narrowing and refining what was becoming clear inside me.
The vision was still mine. The decisions were still mine. The leadership was still mine. But the process became more expansive, and it took me deeper.
That experience captures something essential about the shift we are living in right now.
For years, I have said we cannot outsource our leadership of thought. We cannot AI our leadership of thought. And I’ll add to that. We cannot AI our relationships. We cannot AI our presence.
Those are human responsibilities. They are built from lived experience, perspective, wisdom, intuition, and presence. They grow from the conversations we have, the risks we take, the insights we earn, and the meaning we make along the way.
No tool can generate that for us.
But tools can absolutely help us express it more clearly. They can help us see patterns more quickly. They can help us organize, refine, and expand what we are already sensing or creating. That is a very different role.
When AI Strengthens Leadership
I experienced this in a powerful way while preparing for the Extraordinary Women Ignite Conference in 2025. Once I had developed the core of my content, I began sharing sections with Ember. I walked through the programming piece by piece and invited reflection.
What came back wasn’t replacement material. It was perspective that helped me see my work from another angle. Ember posed the question, “How can I shift from just teaching and information toward more leadership and inspiration.” I was invited to create more space for emotional experience, not just intellectual understanding. That feedback helped me shape the event in a way that allowed women to feel more deeply, connect more fully, and engage with the experience at a different level.
The conference still came from my vision and my voice. But the refinement process became sharper. The experience became more intentional. The impact deepened.
What I heard over and over from Ignite veterans was that it was the best Ignite they had ever attended. The energy in the room was electric. The conversations were deeper. The presence was stronger. The women were fully engaged with themselves, with each other, and with what they were stepping into next. The room was fire. The women were on fire.
There was a level of connection and emotional resonance that felt different from previous years, and I believe that came from the intentional refinement of the experience. When people are truly met where they are and invited into something meaningful, the energy shifts. You can feel it.
And what is equally important to acknowledge is that this impact was not only felt in the room. It showed up in my business in a very real way. My sales at Ignite were more than double what they were the year prior. That kind of growth does not come from better tactics alone. It comes from deeper alignment, stronger connection, and an experience that truly moves people. When leadership becomes clearer and the experience becomes more intentional, the results follow naturally.
That is what optimization looks like.
Last week, I was at the eWomen Network Platinum Summit, Briana Dai, Co-CEO & VP of Digital Innovation at eWomenNetwork, spoke about AI in a way that resonated deeply with what I have been experiencing. She described AI as a strategic partner. Not something that replaces humans. Not something that automates relationships. But something that enhances clarity, speed, and alignment.
She shared that AI can identify breakpoints, but leaders decide what to fix. And in this environment, speed becomes a real competitive advantage.
That distinction matters. Speed alone is not the advantage. What matters is aligned speed. Moving quickly in a direction that is grounded in wisdom, intention, and purpose changes what becomes possible.
The Real Leadership Question
So the real question for leaders is not whether to use AI. The real question is how we lead with our wisdom while leveraging tools that help us serve and connect more deeply.
How do we amplify our voice without diluting it? How do we deepen relationships instead of automating them? How do we become the trusted, go-to leaders in our fields while working at the pace this new era makes possible?
The women I work with are asking how to stay fully expressed in a world that’s moving faster than ever. They want tools that support their thinking and clarity that deepens what makes their work meaningful. And in a marketplace where trust is harder to earn and easier to lose, they want to know the relationships they’re building are real, steady, and worthy of trust.
Leadership in this era asks something very specific of us. It asks us to stay rooted in our original thinking and lived wisdom. It asks us to protect the human core of our relationships. And it asks us to use tools to expand our capacity without handing over our responsibility to lead.
We are living in a moment where the leaders who rise will be the ones who know who they are, what they stand for, and how to partner with powerful tools without surrendering their authority.
The future does not belong to those who resist technology, and it does not belong to those who hand over their leadership to it. It belongs to those who stay deeply human while using technology with intention and discernment.
As you look at how you are working right now, it may be worth asking yourself where tools are helping you refine your thinking and where they might be replacing it. It may be worth noticing where speed is supporting your impact and where it is pulling you away from what matters most. And it may be worth considering how technology could help you serve your community more deeply, not more distantly.
The answers to those questions are shaping the kind of leadership that will matter most in the years ahead.
And this shift is only just beginning.
A Practical Next Step
If this has you thinking about how to work with AI while staying grounded in your wisdom, your voice, and your relationships, I created something for you.
I put together a practical guide called 10 Ways to Partner With AI While Staying Deeply Human. Inside, I share the specific ways I use AI as a strategic partner while protecting presence, trust, and authentic leadership.
You have everything you need to lead with wisdom in this new era. Let the tools support you, and let your voice lead the way.
