Speaking with a CEO earlier this week, I was surprised when I was asked a simple question: how has artificial intelligence, computer technology and all the technical advancements that have accelerated knowledge changed what leaders need to know?”

I was gobsmacked by the question.

I’ve covered leaders for a half century. In that time, critical communications have advanced from hand-carried documents transported via couriers to fax machines and on to today’s digital documents that can be read, reviewed, revised and digitally signed on a smartphone, tablet or notebook computer from anywhere in the world with a cellular signal. Instantaneously.

Things have changed. A lot.

But I’m not certain technology has changed what leaders need to know. After all, the boss’s job is to serve as the guardrails between theory and reality. The last person in the process. Unfortunately, this rapid acceleration seems to have dehumanized the business processes.

As businesses move faster, humanity seems to be the first layer to be marked unnecessary and shed.

Machine learning has displaced experience and interaction. Going faster means you lose sight of many of the things that might have attracted you to an idea in the first place.

Today, it’s tough for a new executive to encourage results-driven subordinates (or ownership) to “pump the brakes” on a new idea, product launch or line expansion.

That because the speed increase has also truncated the time between hire, honeymoon, and separation. Executives are expected to make an immediate impact.

Unfortunately, the easiest way to do that is to “shake things up.” You know, reduce head count (right-size), drop SKUs (streamline), and cut costs to the bone. All that brings short-term change, but seldom does instant anything bring positive long-term results.

For the employer, it means short-term satisfaction with the new leadership. But long-term disappointment quickly follows (usually in 3-5 quarters).

And the next “answer” steps up to bat.

What hasn’t changed is the answer to what leaders need to know.

Sure, leaders need to have knowledge, but they also have to have discernment—the ability to look at knowledge, whether it be institutional or “the next shiny thing” and discern what true value it brings in the long run.

Whether it be launching a new line or discontinuing a long-established one, change impacts people. It’s not as simple as moving cells in a spreadsheet. What the CFO sees as a cost-savings may save a couple of bucks, but at the expense of long-time employees and overall morale.

It’s always important to be able to discern whether the juice really is worth the squeeze.

That takes something many owners and directors are reluctant to grant: time.

Sure, it’s important to be fast and flexible in today’s business climate. But there’s a difference between seizing a market opportunity and avoiding a business misstep.

That’s where a leader’s experience comes into play.

Does that mean the top leader’s job is to say “no” to every idea? No, that’s the job of the corporate counsel. They, by definition, are supposed to be “risk averse.”

The leader’s job is to evaluate every idea as a part of the big picture; then have the abilities—and fortitude—to explain, both to subordinates and owners, why the idea is good…or bad. Distinguishing between the two means your leader has likely made both. That’s why they’re the leader.

To be a leader means to see things differently. Not solely through the lens of knowledge. Today, machines know more than the people who created them. They move faster than we can comprehend, and their speed has created a paradox, and it’s especially tough for leaders.

Being a leader in business today is tougher than any time in the immediate past. Today’s leaders must receive and process information from humans and machines. And they must do it rapidly, knowing that information today is infinite, immediate and always updating.

That’s where leadership has to temper the immediacy. It’s also the point where subordinates wilt under the pressure to do something right now.

It’s where leadership emerges. It’s no longer enough to have knowledge. That’s available in an endless supply. The real challenge for leadership today isn’t knowledge, it’s discernment. The ability to question the knowledge and determine what knowledge is real, relevant and worth trusting.

Discernment, the ability to sense the difference between noise and meaning is the intangible quality of today’s real leaders. They can see times when the “smart” choice is the wrong one. After all, machines optimize for efficiency and coherence. Humans organize for purpose.

That’s the gap where a leader’s value shines brightest. You must be able to sense the unintended consequences along with the opportunity—and decide if one outweighs the other.

Leaders have the ability to slow down and evaluate when all the noise around them screams for speed.

No one ever said it was easy. But no one who ever succeeded ever said it wasn’t worth the effort, either.

We’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd