The Leadership Crisis No One Talks About

It's 2:47 AM and you're staring at the retention dashboard. Again. Your "AI-enhanced" feature launched to fanfare three months ago—great press, executive excitement, promising initial adoption. Now you're watching 73% of users abandon it after the first session.

Tomorrow's executive product meeting is focused on exactly this: the design problem causing the retention cliff. You need to present research findings and lead a strategy discussion that could reshape your entire approach to AI.

This isn't just about fixing a feature—it's about defining what AI design leadership looks like.

Why This Moment Matters

Your credibility was built on predictable delivery. For years, you shipped experiences that worked consistently. Now you're pioneering something entirely new—and that positions you to lead the industry standard.

The paradigm has fundamentally shifted:

Traditional UX Design:

- Deterministic systems with predictable, consistent experiences

- One-way interaction where users experience a fixed interface

- Success measured by users completing intended paths

AI Systems:

- Non-deterministic learning systems where every interaction changes future behaviour

- Bi-directional adaptation where both human and AI evolve through each encounter

- Success measured by the quality of the evolving relationship



54% of people don't trust AI systems despite 61% of respondents using them daily. (University of Melbourne and KPMG, 2025)

That retention cliff isn't a failure—it's feedback. Users sense the mismatch between predictable tools and learning entities. You're uniquely positioned to solve what no one else has figured out yet.

The Opportunity

The leaders who master relationship design first won't just solve their retention problems—they'll become the case study everyone else studies.

This is your chance to define what trustworthy AI design looks like, rather than follow standards someone else sets.

A Leadership Transformation in Three Movements

This intensive journey rebuilds your leadership approach for the relationship design era:

1. Leading Through Uncertainty

How to guide teams building systems that learn and adapt

Communicating AI value to executives without overpromising

Making decisions about technologies you're still mastering

2. Building Trust-First Teams

Establishing design processes for non-deterministic systems

Creating quality standards for evolving AI relationships

Developing team capabilities in trust signal design

3. Scaling Relationship Design

Implementing frameworks that work across your entire organisation

Measuring success in dynamic, learning systems

Building competitive advantage through trustworthy AI

For Design Leaders Under Pressure

Designed for leaders who must deliver AI transformation while maintaining team confidence and executive credibility—who recognise that relationship design isn't just a new methodology, it's the fundamental shift that determines whether your organisation leads or follows.

Whether you're currently:

A UX Design Leader orchestrating team transformation

A UX Research Leader scaling insights through AI

A Strategic Design Leader defining AI-enhanced experiences

What unites our participants is their recognition that leading AI adoption requires something more nuanced than traditional management approaches.

The Essential Leadership Outcomes

You emerge with:

Frameworks to guide teams building learning systems you can't fully predict

Language to communicate AI value without technical BS to executives

Processes that maintain quality while embracing non-deterministic outputs

Metrics that prove relationship design delivers measurable business impact

A network of leaders defining the standards everyone else will follow

Most importantly, you join a community of leaders pioneering this emerging discipline—professionals who understand that the most valuable AI systems won't be those with impressive technical specifications, but those designed with profound understanding of human trust dynamics.

A Limited Experience

Limited to fifteen participants per cohort

Focused on meaningful exchange and personal attention

A deliberate practice developed through engagement with fellow leaders

"The leaders who recognise this shift first won't just survive the transition—they'll define what relationship design looks like for everyone else."