LILA Theme 2025-2026: Resilience in the Age of AI

We are living through a period of rapid and relentless transformation—geopolitically, socially, and technologically. Among the forces reshaping our world, generative AI stands out for its profound impact on how we work, learn, and lead. AI is rapidly evolving from a set of tools to a powerful set of systems that shape strategy, augment learning, and inform decision-making. These technologies offer new capacities for learning, collaboration, and prediction, while simultaneously redefining roles, relationships, and what it means to be human at work.

In this context of mounting complexity, uncertainty, and fatigue, resilience is no longer just a personal trait—it is an essential strategy and practice, evolving alongside the intelligent systems that are rewiring our environments in real time. The challenge before us is not simply to withstand disruption, but to harness and adapt to it. Resilience is about the ability to prepare for (readiness), withstand and manage (response), and recover/grow from (resurgence) disruptions. All three are interconnected stages that together define and strengthen resilience in various contexts.

This year, we will explore what fosters resilience at every level—individual, team, and organization—in a world where learning, adaptation, and decision-making are increasingly augmented by AI.

This theme will explore questions such as What does it take to thrive when intelligent machines are part of our workflow? How can we design cultures and learning ecosystems that foster agility and intentionality? What new demands does this place on leadership as AI transforms our assumptions about expertise, efficiency, and collaboration? Together, we will draw from two powerful lenses—the transformative potential of AI and the enduring need for resilience—to examine how organizations can bend without breaking, adapt without losing their core, and continue to grow while the ground shifts beneath them.

Fall Gathering: From Organisms to Organizations in the Age of AI

In nature, resilience is the result of millions of years of adaptation—organisms learn, pivot, and evolve to survive disruption. Today’s organizations face a similarly complex and fast-changing landscape, especially as artificial intelligence transforms how we work, learn, and lead. Mission, leadership, creativity, and individual mindsets all shape an organization’s ability to be resilient—yet these same factors can also undermine it. For example, strong specialization may meet immediate needs, but can lead to brittleness without the capacity to anticipate and adapt.

In our first gathering, we’ll explore the core characteristics of resilience in living systems and what it means to foster resilience in the age of AI. The rapid adoption of AI in HR and learning and development presents both exciting opportunities and significant dilemmas. Tools like chatbots, automated content creation, and simulators are reshaping workplace learning—but there are growing concerns that overreliance on AI could erode critical human capacities for growth, reflection, and adaptation.

We aim to surface promising pathways while also identifying potential risks—so that resilience, not brittleness defines our approach to today’s challenges. Together, we’ll examine how organizations are forming productive partnerships between people and AI, the mindsets and practices that help these collaborations thrive or falter, and the unintended consequences that may arise. Questions we’ll explore include: Where is AI enhancing resilience—and where might it be undermining it? What new forms of brittleness could emerge? And how can organizations preserve creativity, reflection, and judgment when AI is doing more of the “thinking”?

Winter Gathering: Shaping Organizations for Resilience in the Age of AI

Organizational structures are a critical—and often invisible—determinant of resilience, especially in the age of AI. Routines once prized for their efficiency may now be obsolete or even counterproductive, while new AI-driven tools are rapidly emerging to support forecasting, performance tracking, continuous learning, and individualized development. From intelligent tutoring systems that adapt content in real time to AI bots that enhance team collaboration, these tools promise greater flexibility and tailored growth. But do these innovations enable true agility—or do they risk reinforcing outdated assumptions and rigid processes?

We’ll explore how structural shifts intersect with culture, leadership, and systems thinking. Are leaders reshaping decision-making and team dynamics to better balance human and AI

contributions? How are organizations embedding adaptive capacity into their daily practices and longterm strategies? What does meaningful collaboration with AI look like at different levels of an organization? How do structures need to evolve so that AI tools support—not stifle—experimentation, creativity, and learning? Drawing on research insights and practical lessons from the field, this gathering will explore how organizations are using AI to foster resilience, support learning, navigate change, and reimagine the design of work. We’ll also look ahead: What new capabilities will be required—and what enduring human qualities must be protected—to ensure that structural transformation enhances resilience rather than erodes it.

Spring Gathering: Fostering Resilient Organizational Cultures for the Age of AI

In today’s AI-augmented world, organizational resurgence depends on the interplay between systems, culture, and technology. How roles are structured, teams interact, and leaders steer adaptive exploration all shape an organization’s capacity to learn from disruption and move forward. Beyond structure, it’s the broader culture—including psychological safety and growth mindsets—that enables organizations to see mistakes as opportunities and continually reorient in the face of change. At a systems level, advances in AI—especially GenAI and LLMs—are empowering leaders to see the bigger picture: identifying patterns, surfacing hidden risks, and predicting workforce needs before challenges arise. As AI transforms daily work and guides proactive talent development, organizations are challenged to find the right balance between human judgment and machine intelligence.

In this gathering, we’ll explore how organizations can integrate people, culture, and AI to identify skill gaps, anticipate future needs, and strengthen resilience at every level. We will take on questions such as: How can organizations align systems, culture, and technology to foster resilience, not just recovery, in the face of ongoing disruption? What practices support productive interplay between human judgment and AI capabilities—especially when making decisions about talent, learning, and adaptation? Where do current systems or structures unintentionally block learning, adaptation, or cross-functional insight, and how might AI help address that? We’ll leave space to address new developments and questions that emerge as the year unfolds.

June Summit: Resilience in the Age of AI

We will round out our exploration of resilience in the age of AI by drawing on experts’ and leaders’ evolving perspectives on AI’s role—highlighting not only the opportunities it presents but also the inevitable uncertainties it brings. A keynote speaker and faculty led breakout sessions will offer new visions of organizational resilience in today’s world, complemented by a synthesis of the most revealing themes from our fall, winter, and spring gatherings. Central to this final session will be the importance of cultivating resilience at multiple levels within organizations—moving beyond the illusion that current strength is sufficient to meet future challenges.