As artificial intelligence (AI) flattens the advantages organizations have long competed on, judgment becomes the real differentiator. Judgment under pressure is a specific, learnable capacity, not a personality trait. The leaders who navigate change well stay open when pressure rises, hold their first conclusion loosely and let new and uncomfortable information in before they decide. That willingness to suspend certainty long enough to reconsider assumptions is rare, yet most AI readiness programs focus instead on tool adoption and technical skills.

Mike Vaughan, CEO of The Regis Company and editor in chief of The Thinking Effect, will reframe what AI readiness in leaders really means: not fluency with tools, but the capacity to make sound decisions under pressure. He will be joined by a senior learning leader and practitioner who will share a real challenge from inside their own organization, where the technology was in place but the judgment to use it well was the piece that mattered most.

Key Takeaways:

• Why course completions tell you nothing about whether a leader can make sound decisions under pressure
• How to build judgment through deliberate practice using realistic decision scenarios instead of more content
• What leadership readiness looks like in practice and how to recognize it in high-stakes decisions

Speaker

Mike Vaughan, CEO and Founder, The Regis Company Mike Vaughan is CEO and founder of The Regis Company and editor in chief of The Thinking Effect. Drawing on neuroscience principles that skills develop through deliberate practice, he built The Regis Company’s SimGate platform to enable practice-based learning and skills validation for Fortune 500 organizations. Since founding the company in 2003, Mike has pioneered AI-powered simulation approaches that have earned 50+ industry awards, including three 2025 Brandon Hall Gold Awards for best gaming/simulation platform, best skills intelligence platform and best leadership simulation. He is a thought leader in learning technology innovation, partnering with PwC, Accenture, IBM, Lilly and Deloitte to transform workforce capability development.