Nearly Half of Senior Leaders Feel Only Partly Prepared to Lead AI Transformation, as Ambition Outpaces Readiness

• Almost half of senior leaders (46%) say they are prepared only to a small extent to lead organisation-wide transformation driven by AI, while 2% report being not prepared at all.
• Keeping pace with rapidly evolving AI technology is cited as the most significant challenge (40%) faced by senior leaders, followed by regulatory and compliance uncertainty (37%) and insufficient budget or resources for AI adoption (36%).
• Only about a third of senior leaders (34%) have attended formal training or upskilling related to leadership in the AI era within the past two years. Over half (53%) are planning to do so in the coming months and years, with 13% reporting no plans to undertake such training.
• The most common shift in leadership approach is an increased focus on people management during AI-driven change, cited by 37% of leaders, particularly in supporting morale and employee well-being. This is followed by greater time spent on upskilling themselves and their teams (31%), and on strategic decision-making (30%). 

SINGAPORE, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping how organisations operate and compete. However, the leaders responsible for steering this transformation report a gap between what is expected of them and their preparedness to deliver. Almost half of senior leaders (46%) say they are prepared only to a small extent to lead organisation-wide transformation driven by AI, while a further 2% report being not prepared at all. In comparison, 37% are prepared to a moderate extent, and only 15% consider themselves prepared to a large extent.

Senior leaders identify several factors contributing to this readiness gap. Keeping pace with rapidly evolving AI technology is cited as the top challenge (40%), followed by regulatory and compliance uncertainty (37%). Resource constraints are also a key pressure point, with 36% pointing to insufficient budget or resources for AI adoption. In addition, 34% highlight challenges related to data quality and governance, while another 34% cite the need to upskill or reskill employees to work effectively alongside AI.

These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub's Special Report on Leadership in an AI-Driven World. The report surveyed 131 senior leaders from organisations of different sizes and across industries, including Infocomm Technology, Finance, Advanced Manufacturing, Healthcare and others. All respondents reported some level of experience with AI and are involved, to varying degrees, in AI adoption decisions within their organisation.

This readiness gap extends into decision-making. Senior leaders generally express moderate levels of confidence in making high-stakes AI-related decisions. Over two in five (43%) report being quite confident, while 13% say they are very confident. However, 40% indicate they are not very confident and 4% not confident at all.

Despite that, only about a third of senior leaders (34%) have attended formal training or upskilling on leading in an AI-driven workplace within the past two years. Among those who have not yet done so, many indicate plans to pursue training, including 22% within the next six months, 20% within the next year, and 11% within the next two years. Only 13% report having no plans to undertake such training. Among the training areas leaders prioritise, AI literacy and strategic understanding (57%) emerge as the key priority, followed by data-driven decision-making (46%), and ethical AI governance and responsible deployment (40%).

Alongside this, the most common shift in leadership approach is an increased focus on people management during AI-driven change, cited by 37% of leaders, particularly in supporting morale and employee well-being. This is followed by greater time spent on upskilling themselves and their teams (31%) and on strategic decision-making (30%). Ethical and governance considerations also feature strongly at 27%, alongside a similar share who report dedicating more effort to change management (27%), including communicating how AI may affect roles and ways of working.

These shifts reflect a broader recognition among leaders that navigating AI transformation requires more than technical fluency alone. Two in five (40%) senior leaders regard human-centric skills as very important in leading an organisation in the AI era, while nearly half (48%) consider them to be quite important. Among the capabilities leaders consider most critical, creative thinking and critical thinking each emerge at 47%, closely followed by sense-making (46%), problem-solving (44%) and effective communication (43%).

Commenting on the report's findings, Mr Sean Lim, Chief Human Resource Officer, NTUC LearningHub, says, "The gap between expectation and readiness reflects a fundamental shift in what is required of leadership in today's AI era. Leaders were once expected to hold all the answers and direct from the top. However, they must now act as strategic navigators, making sense of complexity and providing guidance through this period of rapid change and uncertainty. This means a shift towards coaching and empowering people, while also aligning competing priorities across technology, business and operational needs. It is a demanding shift, but it is encouraging to know that many senior leaders are already planning to further their own development to lead their teams through this period of AI transformation."

To download the Special Report on Leadership in an AI-Driven World, please visit https://www.ntuclearninghub.com/media/research-reports/2026/Leadership-AI-World. To find out more about the courses, training, and grants, please contact NTUC LearningHub at www.ntuclearninghub.com.

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About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since our corporatisation in 2004, we have been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Infocomm Technology, Generative AI & Cloud, Healthcare, Retail & Food Services, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources & Coaching and Foreign Workers Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 34,000 organisations and achieved more than 3.2 million training places across more than 1,000 courses with a pool of about 1,000 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships to offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training. Besides in-person training, we also offer instructor-led virtual live classes (VLCs) and asynchronous online learning. The NTUC LearningHub Learning eXperience Platform (LXP)—a one-stop online learning platform—offers timely, bite-sized and quality content for learners to upskill anytime and anywhere. Beyond learning, LXP also serves as a platform for jobs and skills development for both workers and companies.

For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.

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