If you’re leading AI adoption while still making sense of it yourself, you’re not behind — you’re where most of the profession is right now. Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving quickly from experimentation into the way organizations work, decide, serve customers, manage risk, and create value.
But putting AI into the organization is only the beginning.
The harder questions are emerging now:
How does AI become part of real work? What creates trust without creating overreliance? What happens when roles, expertise and decision rights begin to shift? How does governance become everyday behavior? What do leaders need to do differently? And what does all of this require from the professionals responsible for leading change?
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated brings together experts, practitioners, evidence, real-world experience, and the collective intelligence of the change and transformation community to explore those questions together.
This is not another AI trends event.
It is a one-day Summit about what AI adoption is requiring from organizations — and from the people leading change inside them.
The Work Is Already Changing
Organizations are investing heavily in AI, but value does not appear simply because technology has been deployed.
AI has to become integrated into workflows, decisions, leadership, governance, capability, and everyday behavior.
And unlike many previous technology changes, the thing people are adopting may continue to change after it arrives.
People are learning when to use AI, what to delegate, what to question, what to verify, and where human judgment must remain.
Roles and expertise are shifting. New governance questions are entering the workflow. Leaders are being asked to provide direction while the future state is still emerging.
At the same time, change and transformation professionals are being asked to navigate issues that sit well beyond traditional communications and training.
The work of AI Adoption is changing the work of change.
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated is designed to help you get ahead of that shift — so you can lead it with confidence instead of scrambling to keep up.
Five Questions Shaping AI Adoption Now
From
AI Deployment
to Real Adoption
AI Deployment
to Real Adoption
What actually has to change in the work before AI deployment becomes real adoption?
Technology availability and usage are not the same as meaningful adoption. Explore what organizations are learning about workflow integration, roles, decisions, behavior, leadership consistency, capability, trust, and the conditions that allow AI-enabled ways of working to take hold.
Human
+
AI Work
+
AI Work
What happens to your role — and your people’s — when AI starts making the calls, and where must human judgment stay?
As copilots, intelligent workflows, and AI agents become part of work, people are being asked to make new decisions about delegation, verification, intervention, accountability, and trust. Roles, expertise, identity, agency, and judgment are shifting as humans and AI increasingly perform work together.
Leadership
and Governance
in Practice
and Governance
in Practice
How do leaders provide direction and govern AI when the technology, the work, and the risks are all changing at the same time?
AI governance becomes real when policies meet workflows. Organizations are deciding what should remain human, what AI can recommend or do, who reviews and overrides, how issues escalate, and who remains accountable — while leaders create enough direction and control for responsible experimentation.
Trust, Identity, and the Human Conditions of Adoption
What makes people trust AI enough to change how they work — and what happens when that trust is missing?
AI adoption is operational — but it is also psychological, social, and cultural. Trust, fear, professional identity, perceived value, capability, agency, change fatigue, manager behavior, and sensemaking all shape whether people adopt AI-enabled ways of working — and whether adoption holds.
The Future of Change and Transformation Work
Does AI shrink the change profession — or is this the biggest opening it has ever had?
AI is adding new subject matter to the profession while increasing the importance of deeply human capability. Change and transformation professionals increasingly need AI fluency while strengthening judgment, sensemaking, influence, coaching, facilitation, executive advising, and intervention under ambiguity. What will organizations need from change and transformation professionals next?
Built Around the Work — Not the Hype
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated brings multiple perspectives into one connected conversation.
Throughout the day, you will encounter:
- expert insight and emerging thinking;
- real-world cases and practitioner lessons;
- current evidence and research;
- adoption challenges and failure patterns;
- human, organizational, governance, and technology perspectives;
- practical demonstrations of technologies affecting adoption; and
- facilitated opportunities to compare what you are seeing with peers.
The purpose is not to predict an artificial intelligence future.
It is to better understand the reality already unfolding inside organizations.
Leave Ahead of It — Not Behind It
A one-day Summit is not a substitute for applied training. What it will do is put you ahead of the shift while it’s still unfolding — sharpening what you notice, the questions you ask, and the conversations you’re ready to lead before your organization needs you to.
You will leave Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated with:
- a clearer picture of what meaningful AI Adoption actually requires;
- greater awareness of the patterns that can strengthen or derail adoption;
- practical examples of what organizations and practitioners are trying and learning;
- sharper questions to ask business, technology, risk, Human Resources, and executive leaders;
- greater insight into human-AI work, governance, leadership, identity, agency, and judgment;
- a clearer view of how change and transformation practice is evolving; and
- relationships with professionals confronting many of the same questions you are.
- the standing to be the person your leadership turns to on AI adoption.
The goal is not simply to know more about AI.
It is to understand what you need to see differently when you return to your work.
FEATURED KEYNOTE
Travis D. Hahler
Senior Director, Global Strategy & Transformation
Salesforce
Author, Rethink Resistance
Rethink Resistance
to AI Adoption
What if resistance to change isn’t rebellion—but biology?
Travis D. Hahler brings neuroscience and nearly two decades of transformation experience to Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated, helping leaders understand why people resist change and what that means for leading AI adoption.
Every participant receives a complimentary copy of Travis Hahler’s book included with their conference ticket.
Get to know our keynote speaker → Watch Theresa Moulton’s recent CMR conversation with Travis Hahler
The Summit Experience
What Are You Seeing Now?
Before the main Summit begins, join an open facilitated working session with peers.
Compare what you are seeing inside organizations around AI Adoption, leadership, governance, identity, human-AI work, and the changing role of the profession.
Review™ State of the Field
A synthesis of what is changing in AI Adoption, what Change Management Review™ (CMR) is seeing across the field, and what those developments may mean for the future of change and transformation work.
Travis Hahler
Senior Director, Strategy and
Transformation, Salesforce
Author of Rethink Resistance:
Embracing Neuroscience to Lead
Transformational Change
Every Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated
registration includes a copy of
Rethink Resistance.
Expect a carefully curated mix of:
Expert Presentations · Panel Discussion · Real-World Case Study · Fireside Interview · Practitioner Perspective · Closing Synthesis
The agenda is designed as one connected conversation, not a collection of unrelated presentations.
Voices Selected for Substance
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated will bring together researchers, practitioners, executives, advisors, technologists, governance experts, behavioral experts, and transformation leaders who can help us examine AI Adoption from multiple dimensions.
Confirmed speakers include the leaders below. They will contribute across the critical questions shaping Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated. Session details and speaker topics will be announced as the agenda is finalized.
Curated by Theresa Moulton
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated is curated by Theresa Moulton, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of Change Management Review™, to bring together the perspectives professionals need to understand AI Adoption and what it means for the future of change and transformation.
For nine years, Lead Change™ has convened professionals around the forces reshaping the field.
In 2026, the conversation is focused on one of the most consequential of those forces yet:
How artificial intelligence is changing organizations, work, people — and the practice of leading change itself.
Jason Little
Founder
| Lean Change Inc.
Jason Little is the creator of the Lean Change approach and Lean Change OS and an international speaker and author. His books include Lean Change Management, Change Agility, and From Skeptic to Strategist: Embracing AI in Change Management.
| Lean Change Inc.
Paul Gibbons
Author & Advisor
| Paul Gibbons Advisory
Paul Gibbons works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, organizational change, behavioral science, and leadership. He is the author of eight books, including Adopting AI: The People-First Approach, The Science of Organizational Change, and The Future of Change Management.
| Paul Gibbons Advisory
Kim Bohr
President & Chief Executive Officer
| SparkEffect
Kim Bohr leads SparkEffect, a research-driven leadership and advisory firm. Her work focuses on organizational trust, disruption, leadership, and transformation, including research into how trust changes under pressure and what leaders can do to strengthen it.
| SparkEffect
Dana Houston Jackson
Managing Director, Adoption Readiness
& AI Acceleration
| itD
Dana Houston Jackson is a long-time change practitioner and advisor focused on helping organizations move from technology implementation toward adoption that takes hold in the way people work. She is also the author of AI Adoption Traps.
& AI Acceleration
| itD
Mel Reyes
Managing Director, AI &
Cybersecurity Advisory
| itD
Mel Reyes is a technology and cybersecurity executive with more than 25 years of experience leading enterprise modernization, security, and transformation. His work connects AI strategy, governance, cybersecurity, and operational execution.
Cybersecurity Advisory
| itD
Edwina Pike
Founder
| Pike Squared & Irrational Change
Edwina Pike applies behavioral science to leadership, adoption, and organizational change. Her current work explores how artificial intelligence can strengthen behavioral intelligence, decision-making, and the human experience of transformation.
| Pike Squared & Irrational Change
Tim Morton
Co-Founder & President
| Prompta AI
Tim Morton helps organizations use AI-enabled change intelligence to improve readiness, adoption, and transformation outcomes. His work focuses on turning workforce and organizational signals into faster, more targeted action while strengthening human judgment in change leadership.
| Prompta AI
Who Should Attend
Lead Change™ 2026: AI Adoption, Activated is designed for experienced professionals contributing to, advising on,
or leading AI-enabled change and transformation, including:
- change management professionals;
- transformation leaders;
- project and program managers;
- human Resources professionals;
- communications professionals;
- learning and Development professionals;
- organizational development practitioners;
- culture and leadership advisors;
- AI Adoption professionals; and
- consultants supporting AI-enabled change.
Bring the Conversation Into Your Organization
AI Adoption crosses functions.
Technology may be focused on deployment. Leaders may be focused on productivity and value. Risk and legal teams may be focused on governance. Human Resources may be focused on workforce implications. Change and transformation professionals may be focused on how people and the organization actually make the transition.
Lead Change™ gives those stakeholders an opportunity to hear the same conversations and develop a stronger common understanding of what AI Adoption requires.
Bring your:
Change or transformation team · Human Resources colleagues · Program Management Office · Change Leadership Team · Internal Community of Practice
Then take the conversation back into your organization.
Bring Your Team
About Change Management Review™
Change Management Review™ (CMR) is an independent professional organization focused on shaping the work of change and transformation.
CMR advances the ideas, capabilities, and conversations professionals and organizations need to respond to a business environment being reshaped by intelligent technology — bringing together original thinking, applied capability development, professional community, and industry events.
Lead Change™ is CMR’s annual flagship event.
Join Us November 4
Lead Change™ 2026 — AI Adoption, Activated.
November 4, 2026 · Virtual Global Summit · 9:00 AM–5:00 PM Eastern Time