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Career & Leadership

Should leaders actually use AI—or just understand it?

A conversation with talent executive Nick Creswell on why hands-on AI use, not just delegated strategy, builds leadership credibility and sharper instincts.

By Mollie Amkraut Mueller · · 4 min read

Do leaders actually need to use AI, or just understand it? This week, I sat down with Talent executive Nick Creswell (ex-Google, Orsted, Thomson Reuters) to unpack a question I keep hearing from executives: Can you credibly lead in the age of AI if you're not hands-on with it yourself?

The leadership AI divide

Most senior leaders I talk to today fall into one of two camps:

  1. Those who delegate AI adoption, setting strategy, assigning projects, and checking in on progress.
  2. Those who use AI themselves, testing tools, experimenting, and integrating it into their daily rhythm.

In a new series we're launching called Watch Me AI for Leaders, Nick and I explored why that second group is quietly pulling ahead, and how hands-on leaders build sharper instincts, make faster decisions, and earn more credibility.

Key insights from our conversation

Here's what stood out most from our 15-minute chat:

Credibility comes from experience. Nick shared a story from his time leading culture and talent at Ørsted. His team was using AI for interview design, but he realized later that without hands-on experience, he couldn't challenge or connect the work to broader strategy. Now that he uses AI daily, he feels more curious, confident, and capable of leading transformation.

AI isn't a task to delegate, it's a tool to practice. Leaders who get involved directly discover where AI truly accelerates work: decision-making, communication, and reflection.

The biggest blockers are time and mindset. Leaders often assume AI is too technical or time-consuming to learn. In reality, it's fast, intuitive, and immediately useful. Even five minutes before a meeting.

How to start using AI as a leader (from our conversation)

These are just a few of the practical ways we cover in the episode for integrating AI into your day-to-day as a leader.

  1. Before meetings: Ask ChatGPT, "Help me clarify the goal of this meeting and where we might get stuck."
  2. After meetings: Use AI note takers like Granola or Fathom to summarize key points and action items, draft follow-up emails, and even create presentations.
  3. When facing a decision: Prompt, "Help me structure my thinking, what's the core decision and what scenarios should I weigh?"

These small, repeatable habits build your confidence and speed over time.

Watch or listen

Watch the full episode (15 min): "Should Leaders Actually Use AI?" → YouTube

You'll hear us talk about:

AI Bits & Bobs

Content Series: Portraits of AI Across America

A collection of stories about how people in all 50 states are using AI at work, authored by a fellow IDEO alumnus, Jessica Herman, and published by Google. While a bit heavy on the Google mentions, it's a great collection of diverse AI use cases. In this exploratory era, we're all learning how to use AI by seeing others use it in novel ways, so content like this helps broaden usage.

I particularly liked this story about a Montana digital learning academy using AI to scale education to the state's most rural areas.

Create a jingle with one prompt

I used Sora 2 to create a 10-second intro jingle for YouTube videos (the music at the start of this video). Here's the prompt I used (written by ChatGPT):

Create a 10-second jingle for a podcast called "Watch Me AI." The sound should feel modern, confident, and intelligent, with an upbeat tech vibe that evokes creativity and innovation.

Include: Bright synth tones, light percussion, and a subtle digital texture; A clean ending (no fade-out); Tempo: around 120 BPM; Genre reference: somewhere between electronic pop and startup-intro music; Mood: inspiring, future-focused, slightly playful but professional.

It gave me a video when I only needed an audio file, but I just hid the video behind an image in Canva (where I edit videos), so you can't even tell. I could have used a fit-for-purpose AI music generator, but I already pay for Sora.

Financial forecasting prompt

I updated my financial plan this morning. Here's how:

  1. Did some really basic outlining of how Watch Me AI makes money. Basically just wrote down my revenue streams, current pricing, and a guess at volume for 2026.
  2. Pasted a screenshot of that spreadsheet into ChatGPT and said: "Here's some quick math on my revenue streams. Can you review this for reality?"

Here's what it gave me back:

In about 30 minutes, I had a clear picture of which parts of my business are the highest leverage and which ones don't scale as well. It helped me refocus my energy toward the work that's both more lucrative and more energizing for next year.