(Part of the “My Why with AI” series by Women Applying AI)

In moments of crisis, our core values often reveal themselves.

For Debbie Millin, that moment came on September 11, 2001, when, as a 30-year-old director at a telecommunications company in Boston, she was suddenly faced with a defining choice.

“Our senior management team was traveling, and in the chaos of that day, I had to decide whether to let calls across the country go through for free.”

It wasn’t in the manual. But Debbie knew instinctively it was right.

“I was prepared to be fired. But we did it. I didn’t get fired, I got promoted.”

That decision became a turning point not just in her career, but in how she defined leadership itself.

“Being true to myself has been the theme of my entire life and that has carried through my career to this day.”

Choosing Integrity Over Playbooks

Debbie’s career path was anything but conventional.
Her parents were both teachers, and she grew up knowing little about business except that it was how the world operated.

So she set out to learn it. She went to business school, discovered her passion for technology, and taught herself what she needed to know. That curiosity led her to leadership roles in fast-growing tech companies including serving on an all-female founding team at G-P/Globalization Partners, a firm that helped create the employer-of-record industry.

“Every decision I’ve made in my career is based on being true to myself, even when it was difficult. And it has served me well.”

Two of the companies she helped lead went on to become the fastest-growing in Massachusetts. Yet through it all, she never let speed outpace her sense of purpose.

Her “Why” with AI

Today, Debbie sees AI as another defining inflection point, one that mirrors those moments of decision-making that have shaped her career.

“AI is changing the way the world works in ways we are just beginning to understand.”

And, she says, it’s essential that women take an active role not just using AI, but shaping its direction.

“It’s so important that women are involved in every aspect of this moment – that we build humanity into our technology.”

Debbie shared how she believes AI can enhance and accelerate leadership with empathy, authenticity, and courage to make new rules when old ones no longer serve.

“We’re at another pivotal moment in history. It comes down to making choices aligned with your core, with what you feel is right – to leading with conviction and care. AI helps us see data and patterns faster, and the best leaders use data combined with wisdom to make those crucial business decisions.”

From Disruption to Transformation

For Debbie, the lesson is timeless: technology alone doesn’t define progress, values do.

AI may change what we do, but integrity will always shape how we do it.

“Being true to yourself is a superpower,” she said. “It’s how you build trust with people through times of change, and it is a critical component of being a leader today.”