What are the fundamental leadership capabilities that are needed for an era of exponential technology and AI innovation?

Agreed about curiosity, but let me qualify it: Be curious - WITHOUT AGENDA! 

Very very insightful

And I would say the ability to be a life long learner. 

As promised, here is the long form article on this topic - authored by me.

Long form article:
Chief Executives will increasingly become Chief Navigators too, as exponential or emerging technologies will reshape the world. Having competitors or disruptions are not new for businesses or leaders, however, it is going to become more frequent and intense. So, what are some of the leadership skills we need to consciously build?
 
The key pillars to running the business in the digital world - Strategy, People, Technology, Data, and Business models - are going to be there. On top of these, this article outlines, a few capabilities that are not covered most often. 
1. Human-Centered Technologist:
  
Every company’s core could possibly be tech-driven. So, understanding the technology, its human users, cith* (all life forms) users & acith* (non-life forms) ingredients is going to be critical. [*Samskritham / Sanskrit words]. There are many tech giants who have gone to reach sky-high valuations but fail to understand the addictiveness of their tech. When companies care for their users’ well-being, including mental health, won’t that add more stickiness?

Weighing the results of every action and assessing how it affects (positively or negatively) everyone. What can be the remedial actions for those who are negatively affected? In the past, when scientists spoke about the negative effects of leaded petrol, those in power discounted those voices. The same was the case with X-Rays (to check even one’s shoe fitting X-Ray was used) and only after decades regulations followed.
 
So, leaders and companies should not wait for the regulations but they need to show ‘humaneness’ and self-regulate. Of course, they need to take risks too without that progress won’t happen.
  
2. Asymmetrical Risk Taker:
  
The world and the events in it are complex, respecting them as they are is a good starting point. The leaders who are risk-takers even when they are asymmetric, & own the consequences (especially negative outcomes) will be highly rewarded rather than interventionists or risk-transferors. 
  
The world is in awe when players and leaders take crucial decisions, deliver a win and make it look easy. While this is good for movies, if these qualities are not coded then how will companies & managers replicate the decisions (in the same context)? 
  
3. Codifier of Knowledge & Decision-Making Process:
  
Both successes and failures should be codified so that the successors can learn and act accordingly. Is it going to be easy with more technology or going to be tougher? With shorter tenure for employees, many of them gig workers, and CxO tenures even shorter, how is this knowledge coding going to work? Organically or inorganically?
  
Until positronic brains become mainstream and we can transfer knowledge instantaneously - we need to work on coding.
  
Also, we may mature in the future with robots shadowing executives, learning their habits, and helping other humans to replicate their behaviors. Will leaders be open to such shadowing and help companies keep the entry barriers high?
  
4. Architect of the Company’s Moat:
  
A competitive differentiator can be erased in a few hours with new technology. Example: GenAI or Quantum Computing. Assessing a company’s moat should be a daily routine just like analyzing the daily balance sheet. This is one of the key pillars of staying relevant to the customers and stakeholders.
  
Relevance includes not only the value provided but also assessing threats to the business & its users (their data etc.). Tech infusion into business should be for the people and centered around humans & earthlings.
  
5. Recharger of Energy:
  
Whatever the leaders used to assess every few years - their business model or USPs - they will be forced to do it more frequently. Everyone is going to get tired and deplete their mental, emotional, and physical energy. Finding answers will get more difficult with every progressive day. Where do you conserve or find your reserve energy?
  
Going beyond employees, leaders should look at all stakeholders (including users), show care and meet quarterly or annual stock market expectations!  Of course, numbers are hard realities and one can’t get away with alternate realities. Can they? Should they?
    
6. Champion of Thought Experiments & Embracing Alternate Realities:
  
According to the father of Quantum Computing, Deutsch, it will be crucial to embrace ‘Many Worlds Interpretation’ as proposed by Everett III (1957). Consequently, alternate realities too for every event. We will reach a situation in the future, where like in the movies, we could be discussing shaping the realities not just the narratives - solving a puzzle in a fine-grained matrix of realities (Taleb).
  
The ability to draw lessons from the extremes, including sci-fi, will shape the strategies.Example: Marketing in a Martian community. Customer experience for humanoids. Will the product work without electricity?
  
These out-there-somewhere thought experiments need to be embraced as well, for the purpose of keeping the business dynamic! 
  
7. The Driver of Purposefulness:
  
Many of today’s and even immediate future problems, might have an easy or instantaneous solution. Thanks to the evolution of technology. As the tech gets more accessible for everyday life, it is likely to increase automation and reduce even opportunities to use our grey cells as the systems could pre-emptively address them. It is like having a bored Sherlock Holmes (in billions).
  
Also, learning through ‘pathemata mathemata’ (guiding your learning through pain) will get difficult as most of the pain or resistance to learning could be eased out. Are humans ready for such a process or will they ever be?
  
To conclude, when emerging technologies are going to be democratized, every human/company will have access to it, so, retooling the core tech / proprietary tech will become imperative. This will open up more questions, like: will open source tech stay relevant? Will companies be willing to file a patent?
  
How should leaders think and act in the exponential tech era?