The AI That Works With You (and Sometimes Without You): Why Agentic AI Demands Your Bold Leadership Now

Picture this: You walk into a room where decisions have already been made — by your systems. Not because someone forgot to invite you, but because they didn’t need to.

Welcome to the world of Agentic AI.

While many leaders are still figuring out how to spell "generative," a new frontier is reshaping leadership and execution. Agentic AI isn’t just answering prompts or summarizing reports. It’s planning, initiating, adapting — on its own. Think of it as AI with ambition. It doesn’t wait to be told what to do. It just…does.

And if that makes you uncomfortable? Good. That discomfort is the call to lead.

Agentic AI: Not Just Smarter, But More Independent

Let’s get one thing clear: Agentic AI is a game-changer because it’s not just automating tasks — it’s taking initiative.

This isn’t your chatbot cousin. It’s more like a tireless chief-of-staff with access to your organization’s deepest data, sharp pattern recognition, and zero need for sleep. It can draft strategies, run simulations, even initiate multi-step operations.

Sergey Brin recently shared that he uses AI to manage team dynamics — summarizing conversations, spotlighting talent, and making tough trade-offs more digestible. Across sectors, leaders are deploying agentic systems to cut costs, accelerate innovation, and stay frighteningly ahead of the curve.

The kicker? Most execs don’t realize how far behind they already are.

The Real Bottleneck? You.

Let’s speak about the often unspoken critical factors: fear, ego, and uncertainty.

The biggest hurdle to realizing the benefits of Agentic AI isn’t the tech — it’s the psychology of leadership. Studies on “algorithm aversion” show that even when machines outperform us, we still trust ourselves more. It’s emotional, not logical. Understandable, yes — but if you’re leading a business, also irresponsible. - Jonscott Turco

The real question isn’t if AI will make decisions. It’s whether your culture, ethics, and strategy will shape those decisions — or whether you’ll be scrambling to retrofit governance after the fact.

As Deloitte puts it: scaling Agentic AI isn’t a tech project. It’s a business transformation.

What You Should Be Doing Yesterday

If staying relevant — and keeping your seat at the table — matters, here are three moves to make:

1. Admit What You Don’t Know The most dangerous leaders today are the ones who nod like they understand “multi-agent orchestration.” Most don’t. Acknowledge the gaps, then close them — fast.

2. Put Real Money (and Curiosity) on the Table Assign a tiger team. Fund experiments. Upskill your senior teams and whole enterprise. Treat Agentic AI like the strategic moonshot it is — not a side hustle for IT.

3. Name the Fear, Lead the Culture If delegating decisions to machines makes your palms sweat, that’s a sign you’re in leadership territory. Talk about it. Normalize it. Model the mindset shift.

Leadership, Redefined

The age of Agentic AI will reward boldness, not caution. Waiting for the perfect roadmap means someone else will write it — and you’ll be stuck following it.

Freshworks is already using agentic systems to fuel enterprise growth. Financial firms are automating not just to save time, but to make smarter bets. Meanwhile, too many boardrooms are still debating whether AI is even relevant.

Let’s not mistake being early for being prepared.

This moment calls for leaders who can stare into the unknown and act anyway. Leaders who are as curious as they are courageous. Leaders willing to build, not just observe.

So, one last question:

Are you one of them?