Leading with EI in the AI Era

John Delate - SUNY Niagara Community College

Using Stephen Covey’s leadership principles of trust and inspiration, this presentation reveals how higher-education business leaders and academic administrators can build campus cultures that accelerate ethical AI-driven innovation. Leaders cultivate deep trust through transparency, consistent values, relational development, and psychological safety, then inspire by articulating a clear purpose, modeling continuous learning, acknowledging efforts, and empowering cross-functional experimentation. Practical strategies cover hiring for curiosity, redesigning incentives to reward smart risk-taking, and embedding human-centered AI governance. Attendees will learn how trust plus inspiration unlocks creativity, improves adoption of AI tools, and produces resilient teams capable of responsibly translating emerging technologies into educational value. Additionally, the message will contain components on how to utilize AI for more effective and impactful processes and communication. AI will be revealed to be an exceptional tool to enhance leadership and take organizations to the next level.

Learning Objectives

  1. Explain how trust and inspiration principles can be used by higher-education leaders to support ethical AI adoption and innovation.
  2. Identify leadership strategies that build psychological safety, encourage responsible risk-taking, and improve AI-driven collaboration.
  3. Apply AI tools to enhance leadership communication, decision-making, and organizational processes.

CPE Available

  • 1.5 Credits: Management Services