CEOs are still betting on the leadership trait AI can’t replace

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Good morning. I did not expect to return from the Yale CEO Caucus in Washington yesterday feeling more hopeful than when I arrived. After all, this is day 200 of the Iran War, which has killed thousands, exposed security gaps, cost U.S. taxpayers at least $42 billion, and sparked global protests amid rising fuel costs. There’s concern about the economy, the markets, jobs, climate, compute, and the state of the union, not to mention OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei pondering whether their products will kill us.

Where’s the hope in that? While the semiannual gathering of CEOs, policymakers, journalists and scholars hosted by Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, is off the record, I can share some polling data and feedback from private conversations. Here’s what stuck with me:

A shared desire for common ground and rule of law. I didn’t meet anyone, left or right, who disagreed with the Supreme Court decision to reject President Trump’s plan to make it harder to vote by mail. There were standing ovations for former Vice President Mike Pence, who was honored with the Yale Patriot Public Service Award for Executive Leadership, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who received the first Yale Patriot Public Service Award for Legislative Leadership. What unites them isn’t their politics but their commitment to the Constitution, public service, integrity and something bigger than themselves. It was a good reminder of the stakes that the nation might face this January if the current administration refuses to recognize the results of the midterm election.

A shared celebration of the importance of human leadership. That’s not always clear from the rhetoric, especially among tech leaders who love to vilify managers as useless layers of bureaucracy in an era of always-on agents, somehow forgetting the value of a good boss. While AI might eliminate redundant roles, it doesn’t diminish the value of a great manager any more than it reduces the value of a great teacher. What drove that home for me was the praise for Corning CEO Wendell Weeks, who was honored with the Yale Legend in Leadership Award. It’s clear from those comments and my podcast conversation with Weeks that the most important factor in making him one of the most transformative leaders in Corning’s 175-year history isn’t his technical prowess but his ability to inspire excellence, loyalty, and respect.

A shift in the conversation around AI. There’s an interest in addressing fears about the technology: 88% of respondents in a flash poll said Trump should address AI safety with Chinese leader Xi Jinping when they meet next week; 74% think he’ll do it. And 93% of attendees disagreed with Trump’s Truth Social post that AI warnings are a hoax. The fears of rogue agents know no boundaries. If the U.S. and China can find some common ground around safety and regulation, we could all be better off.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com