Why Ambition is Critical in the Era of AI

Jason Leavy, founder of Prime Performance Labs and architect of the Prime Performance System, is a speaker at The Changemakers Conference, Dubai. In this article he explores why the conference theme - ambition - matters more than ever in the age of AI.

Marketing Leadership Powered by Ambition

The leadership qualities that will matter most in the era of AI are those that marketers already own. But marketing will only reclaim its place at the top table if these qualities are powered by ambition. The belief that in the era of the algorithm, human ingenuity matters more than ever.

SpaceX listed in June, at a valuation north of a trillion dollars. Yet if you'd put Elon Musk's original plan for commercial space travel into any LLM, the response would have been an emphatic no. A detailed response with no room left for any ambiguity. No room for possibility. SpaceX defied the odds because of one man's vision and ambition. And that one example should tell you why ambition should matter more than ever.

The era of AI is upon us. How we live and work faces unprecedented transformation, as we increasingly collaborate with intelligent machines. Our brains are prediction machines, tuned to anticipate threats, so we naturally construct a version of this story in which AI takes over the marketing function and the human becomes increasingly irrelevant. There's another story I want to tell you. One where SpaceX's journey is evidence that the human qualities that will matter most in this era are those marketers have spent years mastering. But for this version of the story to become a reality, marketers need the fuel of ambition.

The Leadership Qualities That Will Matter Most

Recent research from McKinsey and the World Economic Forum points to the human qualities that AI cannot replicate. The fact is that marketers have spent years honing every one of them.

Empathy

It’s worth restating the definition as it’s frequently misunderstood: empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another person. This is a foundational capability because customers are human i.e. they are complex, nonlinear, emotional creatures. As Rishad Tobaccowala stated recently: “Brands exist because humans are not computational, rational or decisive.”

No one in the C-suite understands this better than you. Crucially, it also applies to the leadership of organisations. McKinsey's January 2026 article on ‘Building Leaders in the Age of AI’ makes the case that only an empathetic leader can “read the room” and interpret how people are reacting to change.

Taste

Taste in this context isn't about having an eye for pretty things, it's the discipline of curation. In a world where there is going to be a never-ending tsunami of content, the ability to sift through the noise becomes more important than ever. It’s also about intuition and anticipation - the ability to spot what’s coming before the supporting data has fully emerged. The willingness to be informed by insight, but powered by ambition. That’s how you ride the wave, rather than get submerged by it.

AI could have identified the insight behind Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. It would also have said a campaign around it was too risky. No one in the C-suite can sense the possibilities of what's next the way you can.

Creativity

We can get so focused on what AI can now do, that we forget the brilliance of our own brains. Creativity is a perfect example of that. The brain has an area that neuroscientists call the default mode network. Think of this as where it subliminally makes connections and generates original thinking. Look at the Cadbury’s gorilla as the perfect example of how human thinking can generate an impactful idea that on a surface level makes no sense. A chocolate advert where the product doesn't feature and instead a gorilla plays a Phil Collins solo.

Yet after it aired, sales rose 10%, and it's still ranked among the best adverts ever made. Crucially, in the AI era, the value of creativity has the potential to extend well beyond the marketing silo. At board level this is about our ability to find connections where none seem to exist. Our ability to solve problems that defy conventional thinking.

To quote Sir John Hegarty: “Creativity is an expression of the self.” No one in the C-suite understands how to harness the power of creativity like you.

Judgement

AI can be a great thought partner when used correctly. It can weigh arguments and model scenarios faster than any human can. But what you can't do is outsource your critical thinking and let it make your decisions for you. Judgement is about using your intuition, developed over years of expertise. That ability to avoid the trap of being data rich but insight poor. Look no further than Guinness's ‘Surfer’. It tested badly and viewers found it confusing. One of the world’s greatest ever advertisements only went ahead because a human made the call despite the data.

No one else in the C-suite has your relentless focus on the customer and the market. Those insights are crucial in making the right calls at the right time, even if the data is telling a different story.

Aspiration

To steal a line from that same McKinsey report: “Aspirations are uniquely human; a robot cannot set an ambitious goal for an entire organization.” Andy Fennell, the brand director behind ‘Surfer’, put it more simply when he explained why he backed an ad the research said would fail: “Sometimes you have such a profound belief in what you can produce.” The power of belief is that critical element that can bridge the gap between aspiration and achievement.

Aspiration isn't unique to marketing, but you have spent years understanding what it means to customers. Knowing how to tap into aspiration, internally and externally, is needed now more than ever.