The Future of extra-Ordinary Leadership: Digital Twins, AI and the Power of Decision-Making with Daniel Hulme
What happens when we remove hierarchy and let AI help our people thrive?
That’s the question at the heart of my latest conversation on The extra-Ordinary Leader, where I speak with AI expert, CEO and futurist Daniel Hulme. This episode is especially relevant for leaders navigating hybrid teams, scaling businesses, or rethinking how to make better decisions in a complex and fast-changing world.
Whether you're curious about digital twins, stuck in outdated structures, or looking to level up your culture, this episode is full of practical insight you can use straight away.
“extra-Ordinary leadership is about getting out of people’s way.” – Daniel Hulme
Daniel founded his business 17 years ago with a belief that everyone has leadership potential. The key, he said, is to create the right environment for that potential to thrive.
"The key is to remove blockers and provide the resources and fertile ground for people to do what they do best."
This really struck a chord with me. Many of the leaders I work with are unknowingly creating friction through structure, process or hierarchy. Daniel’s idea of gardener leadership — cultivating the environment rather than directing every move — is something more organisations need to embrace.
What We Covered
1. Why digital twins are transforming team performance
Imagine creating a digital model of a team member that understands their skills, feedback patterns, communication style and development needs.
Daniel explained:
“We train generative AI on people’s digital footprints — their email, calendar, Slack — to model how they work. Then we ask things like, 'Would this person thrive on this team?'"
This isn’t about control. It’s about insight and support. And it has the potential to transform how we manage performance and development.
2. Solving real business frictions with AI
We talked about how many organisations invest in new tech hoping for transformation but miss the mark because they start with the tool, not the problem.
"Don’t start with a data lake and expect it to fix everything. Start by listing your frictions — where decision-making or efficiency is poor — and then map the right technology to solve them."
This friction-first approach is practical, cost-effective and smart.
3. From Data to Wisdom
Daniel shared a five-tier framework for turning information into better decision-making:
Data – Raw input
Information – Data in Context
Knowledge – Insights from patterns
Understanding – Meaningful connections
Wisdom – Using understanding to meet a goal
It made me reflect on how often we stop at “data” and how powerful it would be to climb all the way to wisdom.
In the learning and development space, ROI is always a challenge. One of my favourite moments from this conversation was when we discussed how AI can close the intention-impact gap — the difference between how we think we’re showing up and how others actually experience us.
Whether through feedback loops, performance mapping or team fit diagnostics, AI can help create more human-centred, braver workplaces.
This isn’t just a conversation about AI. It’s about culture, courage and stepping into a new era of leadership.
If you're wondering how to build a future-fit, people-first team that performs brilliantly, I hope you’ll listen.
Want to talk?
If something in this episode sparked a thought, a challenge or an opportunity in your business, I’d love to hear from you.
I work with leaders and teams ready to shift mindsets, transform culture and build teams that thrive in today’s world of work.
