What Mark Cuban Taught Me About Leadership, AI, and Building What Matters (2026)
I had the opportunity to interview Mark Cuban one-on-one during Women Leaders Associations (WLA) quarterly summit in 2023. At first, I expected big insights about business and tech. The kind of ideas you scribble down fast because you don’t want to lose them. What I didn’t expect was how simple, human, and grounded his advice would be.
Mark’s style was also unforgettable. The second he connected on Zoom and saw me in “backstage”, he comfortably addressed me by name, with no hesitation to pronounce “Fei” correctly (it sounds just like “Fay” by the way).
“How’s your day so far?” he greeted me with a smile I won’t forget, as if we were about to catch up just like old friends although we’d just met seconds ago. Right off the bat I knew the interview was going to go well.
In 2026, when everyone is racing toward “the next big AI thing,” Mark’s perspective hits differently: leadership isn’t about chasing noise, it’s about sharpening your curiosity, building your own advantage, and keeping your head clear when everyone else is distracted.
This is my Feisworld take on our conversation: what Mark said, what it means for leaders today, and how it changes how I think about work, creativity, and the future of AI.
1. The Best Leaders in 2026 Aren’t the Loudest. They’re the Most Curious
One thing Mark repeated without ever needing to say it outright was that curiosity is still the most underrated leadership skill.
He talked about reading constantly, testing hypotheses, following threads that others ignore, and asking questions until you understand something deeply enough to use it.
In a world drowning in automated content and LinkedIn hot takes, that kind of quiet obsession is rare.
Mark’s message: Curious leaders don’t get blindsided by change. They see it early and they build for it before their competitors even notice.
Feisworld takeaway: Curiosity is not a personality trait. Rather it’s a practice. Block 15 minutes to read something weird, non-obvious. Click on the article you normally scroll past. Ask the next question.
2. The AI Advantage Goes to People Who Are Willing to Get Their Hands Dirty
Mark is blunt: AI doesn’t replace people. It replaces people who refuse to learn it.
He talks about AI the same way he once talked about the early internet or streaming: not as a hype cycle, but as infrastructure. Something you can either leverage or fall behind.
For leaders, the implication is massive: If you want to stay relevant in 2026, you need a personal AI capability, not just a team or a vendor who “does AI for you.”
You don’t need to code. But you do need to:
- experiment
- break things
- build small workflows
- test tools
- understand how AI actually changes your cost structure, speed, and advantages
And you need to do it yourself, not through a report someone else generated.
Feisworld takeaway: Treat AI the way chefs treat knives: a basic tool you should know how to use with your own hands.
I still remember the very beginning of my podcasting days. I rolled up my sleeves to learn how to interview, record the conversation (straight to my laptop), edit everything using Audacity because it was free and easy enough for beginners. It took months before I found my first editor, someone who had little editing experience but was willing to learn with me. After he left to take another job, I found my next editor and then years later, German Ceballos is now my head of content.
3. Your Competitive Edge Isn’t Your Resume. It’s Your Ability to Learn Fast
Mark said something that still sticks with me:
“You don’t need to know everything. You just need to learn faster than the next person.”
In 2026, where AI makes information cheap and accessible, the real moat is how quickly you can absorb, adapt, and apply.
This means leaders who thrive now:
- learn in public
- ship messy things
- iterate rapidly
- treat experiments as assets
Perfection is dead. Momentum wins.
Feisworld takeaway: Done is not only better than perfect, in an AI-accelerated world, perfect is impossible, and done is the only thing that compounds.
We not only publish regularly here on Feisworld but we also iterate these articles and lessons we learn. There is never a moment when we feel that an article is truly complete or “perfect”. Believe it or not, we often revisit articles that are months or even years old to improve and update the content. A recent example is 14 Realistic Ways to Monetize on YouTube (Ranked and Compared). This article was originally published year ago.
4. Empathy + Execution = Real Leadership
Something I love about Mark: he doesn’t romanticize leadership.
He sees it as a balance of two things:
1. Empathy — understanding your customers, your team, your people
2. Execution — doing the hard work others avoid
When leaders over-index in empathy, nothing ships.
When they over-index in execution, the team burns out.
Mark’s version of leadership is almost quiet:
- Listen deeply.
- Decide clearly.
- Move quickly.
Feisworld takeaway: Real leadership is not charisma. It’s consistency.
Feisworld is a very flat organization. My head of content Germán Ceballos and I make most if not all the decisions – some together, and some independently. We influence each other’s leadership style because we are learning and growing everyday. Our choices are made based on what’s best for Feisworld and you (readers, viewers and friends). We publish content regularly and consistently. When we fail to do this, it’s not on one person – we remind each other of what’s most important: consistency and learning, and we keep moving forward.
We’ve been a team together for over 10 years. Not only have the content and approach changed, but we have also changed as people and creators. Once we understand who we are, our content can naturally evolve with us and not the other way around.
I believe real, authentic and effective leadership needs to be also adaptive and flexible.
5. You Can’t Outsource Relationships — Even in an AI World
Mark emphasized something that gets lost in tech circles:
“People still buy from people.”
AI can help you write better emails, prep for calls, or organize meetings — but it can’t build trust, and it can’t replace presence.
That means the leaders who win with AI are the ones who use it for leverage, not for hiding.
They use AI to:
- show up more prepared
- communicate more clearly
- create better experiences
- focus on people, not paperwork
Feisworld takeaway: Use AI to free up time for your humanity — not to reduce it.
6. The Future Favors Builders, Not Commentators
One of my favorite Mark Cuban teachings from our conversation:
“The people who talk the most usually build the least.”
2026 is full of commentators — people with threads, opinions, predictions, forecasts.
But building still beats broadcasting.
If you want to stand out:
- make the thing
- publish the draft
- launch the beta
- build the workflow
- show your work
Feisworld takeaway: Visibility comes from creation, not commentary.
7. The Most Valuable Habit for Leaders in 2026: Read the Manual Yourself
Mark still reads documentation.
Mark still tests products personally.
Mark still reverse-engineers things he doesn’t understand.
That’s not billionaire behavior. That’s builder behavior.
When leaders delegate all learning, they lose the ability to lead through change. They end up reacting, not shaping.
Feisworld takeaway: Read the manual. Touch the tool. Don’t outsource your learning.
8. What This Means for All of Us in 2026
Talking with Mark Cuban didn’t give me sensational predictions or dramatic headlines. It gave me something far more useful:
A reminder that the leaders who win in 2026 will be the ones who:
- stay curious
- learn fast
- use AI as leverage
- build more than they talk
- lead with both empathy and action
- stay close to their people
- stay close to the work
And most of all: they don’t wait for the future. They participate in building it.
That’s the part of Mark’s message I carry with me the most.
And that’s what I hope Feisworld continues to be:
A place where creativity, AI, culture, and leadership meet — without losing our humanity.
