On May 14th, I was on the AI panel at LeadWell 2026 — the third edition of the leadership and wellbeing conference organized by WHRA in Timișoara, at Tresor Le Palais, alongside about 250 participants.
The panel — "AI from hype to reality: myth, growth engine, or scarecrow?" — was moderated by Paul Cărămidariu and joined me with Mihai Tătăran, CEO and founder of Avaelgo. The framing of the whole conference, in the organizers' words, was that "change is no longer an episode, it's the permanent context." Our job on the panel was to put AI inside that same frame: useful tool or distraction, depending on how seriously you treat it.
"If your organization isn't doing anything with AI yet, start. If you already are — do it right. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Doing it badly is worse than not doing it at all."
The panel
The conversation moved across the things people actually wonder about when the hype clears:
- Where AI is already creating concrete value in organizations, and where it's still mostly theatre
- What it takes to move past the demo stage — people, processes, and honest expectations
- How leaders should think about AI under uncertainty, without either getting paralyzed or chasing every new tool
- What "doing it right" actually looks like — and why ChatGPT being easy to talk to doesn't mean the technology behind it is simple
Mihai brought the perspective of a company that has been building cloud and AI products for years; Paul kept us anchored in what the room — managers, HR leads, founders — needed to take home on Monday morning. I spoke from the side of someone building and using AI systems day to day.
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Wider context
LeadWell 2026 sits between four themes the organizers want kept in the same conversation: leadership in uncertainty, wellbeing as a strategic resource, AI as a strategic partner, and pay transparency under the new European directive. Putting AI inside that frame — not on a separate hype stage — is what made the day feel grounded.
Thanks to Paul Cărămidariu, Flaviu Pop, Ada Ditrich, and the entire WHRA team for the invitation, and to Mihai for the panel. Next edition is already on the calendar: LeadWell 2027, on 20 May 2027.