Lumen CEO Says Boardrooms Must Trade Certainty for Partnership as AI Reshapes Decision-Making
Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson told the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit that executive success now depends on external partnerships and rapid course-correction rather than the command-and-control certainty of past boardrooms, a shift echoed by new IBM and BCG research on AI-driven collaboration.
Executive leadership is no longer a solo sport, and the boardroom playbook that rewarded certainty is failing in a market defined by geopolitical uncertainty and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. That was the message from Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson, who told the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, California, that the insular, know-it-all style of leadership she grew up with is no longer realistic.
«This notion of the boardroom and the conference room that I grew up in—we were rewarded for being right. We had to know our stuff. We had to be the best. We had to come in with a strong opinion. We had to have all the facts we had to master, and that is just not possible in today's market,» Johnson said during a conversation with Fortune's Diane Brady.
Instead of relying solely on internal leadership teams to make tough calls, Johnson argued that companies need to build what she described as a machine for decision-making. That machine starts with a hypothesis but then depends on signals, as well as experts both inside and outside the business, to inform constant course-correction. «I'm getting signals every day, and we're pivoting every day,» she said. «My job is to get a grant and to allocate the capital accordingly, and you have to have a bench of partners that you can go to to deliver those outcomes.»
The shift is already showing up in how chief executives interact. According to IBM's 2026 CEO Study, more than 80% of chief executives at AI-first companies are engaging partners from external or specialized networks to discuss risk and build off each other's strengths. IBM attributed much of that change to rapid advances in AI and how workplaces are adopting it, which is compressing decision-making cycles and forcing companies to break down previously established boundaries in search of cooperation.
A broader turn away from go-it-alone strategies is also visible in corporate growth planning. Boston Consulting Group observed that as mergers and acquisitions slow, companies are increasingly looking for alliances. In its survey, 60% of business leaders said that over the next three to five years, joint ventures and partnerships will be more important to growth than pursuing M&A.
Lumen itself has put that philosophy into practice. The company found a partner in consultancy EY. In June 2025, EY U.S. and Blue Planet formed a strategic alliance to improve autonomous networking with AI, and Lumen was the project's first client.
The relationship between Johnson and EY CEO and Global Chair Janet Truncale began spontaneously. Johnson approached Truncale at a Business Roundtable breakfast a few years ago and, hoping to improve her day, asked, «Will you be my best friend?» Truncale recalled the moment warmly. «And I was happy to oblige,» she told Brady.
That interaction changed how Truncale approaches new leaders. «In the last two years, I've frankly tried to pay that forward,» she said, «so when there are new CEOs, I try to reach out and say, 'Hey, I've just been through this.'»
For Johnson, the practical takeaway is that modern executive leadership requires a bench of trusted partners rather than a single leader armed with all the answers. In a market where signals arrive daily and pivots are constant, the ability to build and lean on external networks may matter more than being the smartest person in the room.
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