I recently had the privilege of joining the Groningen Declaration Network’s Conversation Series, Women in Leadership in the New AI World, across four sessions: Leading Across Borders in the Age of AI, From Vision to Implementation, Inclusive Leadership for Sustainable Mobility, and Breaking Barriers with Technology. Alongside leaders like Mary Strain, Siobhan O’Sullivan, Charmaine Hack, Teresa Tjia, Joanne Ligouris, Cindy Yi, Sasha Thackaberry-Voinovich, and Shawna Garrett, and thanks to Joanne Duklas for convening these conversations, I came away with more than I expected.

I joined these sessions wearing two hats. As Chief Learning Officer at Instructure, I think constantly about what AI means for how people learn, and for the systems that recognize that learning. And as a woman who has spent much of her career in rooms where I was the only one, or one of very few, I came to these conversations as a learning leader and as an executive who has had to find her own footing in male-dominated spaces.

AI & Learning Ahha’s

Across all four sessions, a theme kept surfacing: AI is not just a tool we apply to learning. It’s reshaping what counts as learning, who gets to design the systems that recognize it, and how quickly those systems can adapt to real people’s lives. It’s also a responsibility. The panelists who work in policy, implementation, and technology all described some version of the same challenge: building AI-enabled systems fast enough to matter, without losing sight of the people those systems are meant to serve.

That tension between speed and stewardship is, I think, where learning leaders need to focus right now. Finding a path that does not choose one over the other is critical. Instead we need to use the tension to ensure we develop optimal systems in which learners can thrive.

Advice with Real Meaning

What moved me most wasn’t the frameworks or the policy discussion, no matter how much I enjoyed both. It was the practical, hard-won leadership advice shared session after session. A few pieces stuck with me:

• Lead with empathy and care.
• Listen actively and stay curious.
• Know that you don’t always have to have the answers to speak up.
• Advocate for and support the other women in the room.

That last one, which came through strongly in the session on breaking barriers with technology, is the one I want to carry forward most deliberately. I’ve spent enough time as one of the few women in a room to know how much it matters when someone else speaks up for you, or simply makes space. It’s a small act, and it’s also leadership.

None of the panelists framed their leadership as something separate from who they are. Empathy, curiosity, and the willingness to speak up without having every answer weren’t described as soft skills bolted onto “real” leadership. They were the leadership. That reframing matters, especially in technology and AI, where confidence is often mistaken for competence, and where women can feel pressure to prove they belong before they’re allowed to lead.

Final Thoughts

These four conversations reminded me that the future of learning and the future of leadership are tied together more tightly than we often admit. The people designing AI-enabled learning and credentialing systems are making decisions, often invisible ones, about whose learning gets seen and trusted. I want more of those decisions made by leaders who lead with empathy, who stay curious instead of defensive, and who use whatever seat they have to bring other women into the room with them.

That’s the version of leadership I’m taking with me: less about having all the answers, and more about creating the conditions for the right people, and the right questions, to show up.