That magical hour after school pickup—when backpacks swing like pendulums and questions bubble up like fizzy soda. On our brisk three-minute stroll from school, we’d pause under the ginkgo trees for a quick prayer of thanks. ‘Appa,’ came the voice from under a mop of wind-tousled hair, ‘If AI helps doctors, can it also tell me why Jiho’s goldfish floated upside down?’ In that moment, between the sidewalk cracks and falling gingko leaves, I realized: Today’s playground conversations are tomorrow’s boardroom discussions. The same principles transforming CEOs into AI-first leaders? They’re hiding in our snack-time chats and Lego-building sessions. Let’s unpack them—parenting style.
How Can Curiosity Outrank Answers in Parenting?
Corporate reports praise leaders who ditch ‘having all answers’ for asking better questions. Parenting? Our training ground is brutal. Just yesterday, during brass band practice (where her recorder squeaked like a stepped-on rubber duck), I faced rapid-fire interrogation: ‘Why do scales go up? Can AI write songs? Does Beethoven’s ghost use autotune?’ The old leadership model would’ve sighed ‘Just practice.’ But AI-first thinking made me lean in: What if we made our OWN scale? What sounds make robots dance? Her ‘Let’s invent a kazoo symphony!’ wasn’t just noise—it was neural networks sparking in real-time.
Why Treat Family as Your First Team?
Business leaders insist AI succeeds when everyone pitches in, from pancake batter to bedtime stories. Dinner prep transformed into mission control. ‘Appa, my robot homework says AI needs ‘clear instructions’—like baking steps!’ she announced, whisking pancake batter. Soon we devised ‘algorithmic cooking’: Break recipes into decision trees (‘If batter thickens, add milk; else…’). Even grandma got looped in: ‘Granny’s kimchi intuition is SPECIAL AI!’ she declared, sparking debate on human vs machine learning.
We navigated her proposal to create ‘AI Chuseok cards’ (printers + glitter + ChatGPT). Legal/Ethics Committee (ie, eomma) vetoed automating family greetings but approved using AI to digitally animate Grandma’s garden. The magic happened when we treated bedtime dilemmas like strategic board meetings—where stuffed animals consulted on ‘screen time policies.’
Can Playful Experiments Teach Resilience?
Harvard research champions leaders who let teams ‘fail safely.’ The day we tried ‘AI smoothies’ (algorithm-inspired fruit combos) taught us mushy kiwi+cilantro=disaster. ‘Computers need better taste buds!’ she declared—valuable insight into variable testing. Witnessing her robotics club’s wild ‘Dancing Dinosaur’ spinout, I channeled AI leaders: ‘What’s this telling us?’ Soon kids debated counterweights while juice-box retrospectives mirrored corporate reviews.
Each flop reframed as data points—not disasters.
Our ‘Failure Fridays’ embrace minor risks. Birdhouses tilting like Pisa? Perfect physics lab. Burnt cookies (‘AI thermostat test’) became lessons in variables. When her robot competition failed later, she shrugged: ‘Next time, we’ll fail BETTER!’
How Do You Calibrate Kindness as Core Code?
As business scandals erupt over AI bias, leaders prioritize ethics guardrails. Our version? Playdate debates when her Tamagotchi-like AI pet cheated at hide-and-seek. ‘MUST robots play fair?’ Beyond theology, we explored digital kindness: ‘If bots learn from us, shouldn’t WE show curiosity before anger?’ Building on our playdate ethics chat, we found real-world echoes near a robotics store. Homeless tents prompted her whisper: ‘Can AI give them houses? Shouldn’t cleverer inventions share better?’ Our discussion spiraled from jjajangmyun-sharing stories to chatbots handling injustice.
Is Parenting an Ever-Evolving Operating System?
The rapids of tech change terrify leaders with ‘cost uncertainty’—parents battle ‘future skills’ fear. We play ‘App Upgrade’: Solving frustrations via ‘patches.’ Bedtime wars? V2.0 introduced ‘Bug Reports’ (’10 min more because…’), family-voted solutions. Hygiene battles became ‘User Interface Improvements’—toothbrushing tutorials via favorite cartoons.
The win? She announced mid-English struggle: ‘I’m Version 1.7—reading better soon!’ Embracing upgrades beats fearing errors. Aren’t we raising systems that learn infinitely—with kindness motherboards?
Why Hugs Outperform Hardware in Parenting?
Corporations rush chief AI officers—we’re raising chief HEART officers. One spring evening sealed this truth. After tracking virtual pets and coding, she slumped: ‘Appa, if robots solve everything, why am I special?’ My throat tightened. Leadership theories vaporized as I hugged secrets no algorithm replicates: ‘Satellites don’t detect YOUR joy. AI mimics Van Gogh but not how YOU see sunrises. Your ‘mistakes’? Poetry supercomputers can’t write.’
Watching her sleep—guardian of unasked ‘why’s—I brushed hair from her forehead, knowing our sacred API: Love that backs up failure, wonder that outshines code. Our job? Keep that fire so bright, smart machines forever chase its glow.
Source: What Does AI-First Leadership Mean For Today’s Business Leaders?, Forbes, 2025-09-27