Effective leadership. Developing leadership skills through new AI research

Have you ever wondered why some people are able to solve complex problems while others, with similar abilities, remain stagnant? Scientists studying artificial intelligence are shedding new light on this question. Another conclusion from their research is that effective leadership and leadership development do not require innate genius. Their insights can help you not only develop your own potential, but also show you how to effectively improve AI systems.

The latest research on AI and effective leadership

Researchers from Stanford University and SynthLabs published an intriguing study in March 2025 titled. “Cognitive Behaviors that Enable Self-Improving Reasoners, or, Four Habits of Highly Effective STaRs“. In this work, they highlighted findings about human cognition that are worth using in developing the potential of leaders. They wondered why some language models (Qwen-2.5-3B and Llama-3.2-3B) of similar size and architecture can improve much better than others.

It turns out that computing power or model size alone is not enough. Researchers have distinguished four important thinking behaviors for effective problem solving, both in the AI world and among humans:

1. Verification – systematically check the next steps and results. This helps ensure that everything is consistent and makes sense.
2. Backtracking – Recognize when your current strategy is not working and go back to earlier stages to try a different approach.
3. Goal decomposition – break down complex challenges into smaller tasks that are easier to plan and execute.
4. Think backwards – start with a picture of the end result and work backwards from there.

The researchers found that even incorrect answers give models (and humans) a chance to improve if they are accompanied by just these four mindsets. It is better to make mistakes initially with good processes than to have correct solutions without knowing how they came about.

These findings show that the difference between mediocrity and excellence lies not so much in innate ability, but in the way we think and approach problem solving. This has important implications for effective leadership and leadership development.

People who instinctively or consciously use these strategies perform much better in the long-term development of their skills. They are able not only to solve current problems, but also to learn from their mistakes, laying a solid foundation for future challenges.

What’s more, the research challenges the popular myth that some people are “just born geniuses,” suggesting instead that mastery is the result of specific habits of mind that anyone can learn and consciously develop, regardless of their starting point.

Develop leadership skills with the latest AI research

Neuroscience researchers say that these four behaviors – verification, backtracking, goal decomposition and backward inference – are associated with specific areas in the brain:

• Recognize and correct mistakes – prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex.
• Thinking flexibly and abandoning ineffective strategies – the dopaminergic system and the nucleus accumbens.
• Stage planning and task management – lateral prefrontal cortex.
• Remembering the goal and thinking from the end – the hippocampus in cooperation with the prefrontal cortex.

This gives leaders surrounded by AI an interesting perspective: the same mechanisms that help artificial intelligence solve complex tasks are the innate potential of the human mind.

When you begin to consciously use verification, backtracking, goal decomposition, and backward inference, you will significantly increase the quality of your decisions and the effectiveness and the efficiency of their implementation. Your brain will tell you when it’s a good idea to verify your direction, and if something doesn’t feel right – change your strategy and try something else. Also, set specific milestones that will lead you to a clear vision of your ultimate success.

What’s particularly interesting is that AI research often shows how much we resemble these systems in our thought processes. From Alan Turing to today’s deep learning networks, machine designers have drawn patterns from the human brain. Today, this can be seen, for example, in the observed similarities between high-level representations in neural networks and the functioning of brain areas responsible for language or navigation.

Skoro wiesz już, na czym polegają te cztery istotne zachowania, czas przejść do sposobów ich wzmacniania. Jednymi z najskuteczniejszych metod okazują się być werbalizacja i wychodzenie ze strefy komfortu.

Verbalization

Verbalization means expressing one’s thoughts aloud or writing them down in such a way as to improve thinking. L. Vygotsky emphasized the close relationship between external and internal speech, and modern scholars add that speaking aloud requires greater precision and orderliness of thought.

How does this work in practice? When you explain your way of solving a problem aloud, you automatically revise the next steps, notice more quickly where you need to step back, break the task into smaller parts, and move more smoothly from envisioning the end result to the individual steps. You also catch gaps that are easy to ignore when you think in silence.

Verbalization also promotes self-explanation. This method involves explaining steps and assumptions to oneself, which leads to stronger connections in memory and better recall of material. In the IT industry, “rubber duck debugging” is where a programmer explains code aloud by talking to a yellow rubber duck. This technique helps uncover bugs that would otherwise remain invisible to the silent mind.

Verbalization also plays a huge role in critical thinking (especially important when using AI), as it forces us to formulate and evaluate our ideas clearly.

,Research shows that group discussion itself, i.e. speaking out their opinions, arguments and doubts, promotes deeper understanding and critical analysis of the content under discussion. During the discussion, teams must confront their understanding with the knowledge of others, clarify concepts, and defend their position, which stimulates them intellectually.

Typically, during such exchanges, participants review information, integrate new facts with existing knowledge, and test their ideas-often expanding their thinking beyond what they already know. In this way, verbalized ideas are subjected to cognitive “processing,” and possible errors in reasoning or gaps in knowledge are revealed and can be corrected. It has also been observed that voicing even tentative hypotheses out loud in a safe, debatable atmosphere is a kind of intellectual risk that paradoxically brings benefits – it forces one to revise and deepen one’s understanding of the topic. In other words, talking about a problem engages metacognition. We begin to think about our own thinking, which is the essence of critical thinking.

Leaders can encourage verbalization in the team by asking them to discuss plans aloud together, encouraging narrative memos instead of point presentations, or recording voice memos of their own thoughts. In this way, you can catch mistakes faster and act more deliberately.

Get out of your comfort zone

The comfort zone provides a sense of security, but it is not conducive to development and, in the long run, to our cognitive abilities.

Yerkes-Dodson’s law indicates that moderate levels of stress increase efficiency until they become too overwhelming. It is in the so-called “learning zone” – out of comfort, but not yet in panic – that humans develop the fastest.

Moderate discomfort builds your confidence and mental toughness. As you overcome challenges, you begin to believe more strongly in your own abilities. A study of more than 2,300 people found that small but significant adversities in life are associated with greater satisfaction and mental stability. Other experiments show that stepping outside the usual patterns increases self-confidence and reduces fear of failure. You also gain greater flexibility of thought and creativity.

An example is a study by W. Maddux and A. Galinsky, which shows that people living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. performed significantly better in tests requiring an out-of-the-box approach, such as the Duncker candle problem. The essence lay in the need to adapt to a new environment.

A study by Woolley & Fishbach published in Psychological Science came to similar conclusions. The researchers found that deliberately seeking out discomfort accelerates skill learning and increases persistence. People often misinterpret uncertainty as a signal to retreat, when it is usually a signal to learn.

The concept of getting out of one’s comfort zone is particularly useful in leadership. Leaders and managers can use “stretch assignments“-tasks that go beyond their current competence and strength development. It works similarly in your personal life. Taking on a new challenge (such as learning to speak in public) can expand your horizons. By gradually increasing the difficulty, you can avoid undue stress and build up more and more courage.

Is a leader doomed to cognitive decline as he or she ages?

Getting the four key behaviors right (verification, backtracking, goal decomposition, and backward inference) and getting out of your comfort zone on a regular basis will not only help you in your daily work, but also keep your mental fitness high for years to come.

The researchers, who published a wide-ranging study in the March 2025 issue of Science, note that people can continue to develop their cognitive abilities well into their 40s, as long as they keep stimulating their intellect.

The most serious declines tend to occur in people who stop caring about their mental development. So by practicing revision, backtracking, goal decomposition, and backward inference, and by making sure to step out of your comfort zone from time to time, you are effectively protecting yourself against a “decline in form” later in life. Such a strategy preserves your flexibility of thought, facilitates adaptation to new challenges, and supports better decision making. This is especially important because AI is constantly developing and evolving, and we don’t know what it will look like in a few years. The more time you spend on your own development, the more likely you are to retain your critical thinking skills as you get older. Thinking in this way will put you ahead of the game.

According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, out of 14,000 respondents from 95 countries, as many as 73% believe it is important to ensure that human imagination keeps pace with new technologies. Unfortunately, only 9% are making real progress in this direction.

Additionally, a study by Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research, published in 2025, found that users with high confidence in AI systems showed less critical analysis when using these tools, while those with high confidence in their own thinking skills engaged in more critical thinking.

From a leadership perspective, it pays to invest in developing cognitive processes in yourself and your teams. Regular practice of these skills increases innovation, helps employees maintain a high level of intellectual capacity regardless of age, and increases the chances of using AI systems or automated processes correctly and safely.

To put this into practice, you can incorporate four key habits into your organization’s processes that not only support the team’s daily work, but also support effective leadership:

• Verification: Every time you make an important decision, ask follow-up questions and test hypotheses. You can also use the practice of “red teaming. This is a technique borrowed from the military and intelligence community that involves appointing a dedicated team to constructively challenge proposed solutions. I also recommend keeping a systematic record of key decisions and the assumptions on which they were based. This will allow you to verify your previous assumptions in long-term projects.
• Step back: Don’t be afraid to abandon a bad idea and return to earlier assumptions. Create a safe space where the team can openly discuss bad decisions without fear of repercussions, and regularly document the moments when the team decided to change direction.
• Goal decomposition: Break large projects into smaller milestones. You can use a visual representation of complex goals in the form of a hierarchy of milestones and express them through the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) system. And if you don’t know where to start, you can use a simple exercise in which the team translates an abstract strategic goal into concrete, measurable operational activities.
• Backward reasoning: Begin planning by envisioning an outcome and outlining the next steps that will lead to it. You can also describe the desired outcome from the perspective of different stakeholders, and then work backwards to identify the necessary steps.

Final reflection

The study of artificial intelligence cited in this article makes us realize that intelligence is not a finite resource, but a process of continuous improvement. Modern AI models prove this by constantly “learning” new things. We have a similar opportunity if we pay attention to the quality of our thinking.

Recent findings in cognitive science suggest that we don’t have to face an inevitable decline in leadership skills in our thirties. If we act like the AI systems described here-regularly revising our ideas, being able to step back, breaking big goals into stages, and starting with a vision of the end result-we can maintain a high level of intellectual capacity over the long term.

Although artificial intelligence is still developing, remember that the most valuable lesson it can teach you is how it works. Look at how AI learns from mistakes and how much it values the process of arriving at solutions. In your case, it is the careful examination of your own reasoning and the willingness to change your approach that will give you the greatest benefit.

It’s also worth asking yourself: how can you start practicing these four behaviors today? Perhaps you can start by explaining out loud your next challenge, or setting yourself a small task beyond your current competence. Perhaps this small step into the unknown will be a turning point in your development.

PS If you are interested in effective leadership and leadership development, I highly recommend my book, Leadership in the Age of AI, which you can download for free or purchase in paperback.

Additional bibliography

Gathercole SE. (2004). Working memory and learning: A practical guide for teachers.

Park DC, Smith AD, Lautenschlager G, Earles JL, Frieske D, Zwahr M, et al. (2002). Mediators of long-term memory performance across the life span.

Chein JM & Schneider W. (2012). The Brain’s Learning and Control Architecture. Current Directions in Psychological Science.