AI readiness is not defined by technology alone, writes Yvonne Chan, Head of People & Culture, Jardine Engineering (Singapore); it is shaped by the leadership, clarity, and confidence people experience throughout change. Yet they have also led me to reflect on a dimension of AI readiness that receives far less attention: how people experience organisational change. Rather than discussing AI tools or implementation strategies, we found ourselves asking a much simpler question: Who is feeling anxious about AI, and why? Looking back on both our organisational experience and that conversation over coffee, what reduced anxiety was never the technology itself. Employees may work with AI every day, but what they ultimately experience are the decisions leaders make, the conversations leaders initiate and the confidence leaders create.