Why AI leaders need to stop following the herd

Experts often get excited about flashy tech trends, but the real mistake happens when bosses follow the crowd instead of thinking for themselves. Many CEOs bet big on 3D TVs, virtual reality worlds, and other hyped ideas just because everyone else was doing it. When COVID locked people inside, those same leaders suddenly wanted in-person events again—not because online tools failed, but because digital contact couldn’t replace real human connections. Smart leaders don’t always get it right either. Some once dismissed online movie rentals and streaming as silly while others wasted fortunes on dead-end tech like recordable CDs. The lesson isn’t that leaders must always be correct—it’s that they must stay skeptical of the loudest opinions. AI is the latest frontier where this mistake keeps happening. Will it destroy jobs or create new ones? Will it boost productivity or collapse under its own weight? No one really knows for sure.History shows that big shifts often start with bad assumptions. In the late 1990s, regulators focused on the move to digital TV while ignoring a far bigger problem: banks handing out risky loans. That oversight cost trillions in bailouts. Today, AI faces a similar blind spot. The difference between success and failure in this tech wave won’t come from buying the latest AI tool—it will come from asking the right questions early. The best companies won’t copy competitors blindly. They’ll figure out how AI actually fits their goals, train their people properly, and move before the answer is obvious. The problem isn’t choosing the wrong AI tool—it’s assuming the most talked-about solution must be the best one. Real leadership means testing what people say against real-world results, not just following the loudest voices.