Want a Leadership Coach? Just Ask AI |
AI is disrupting leadership, forcing managers to rethink how they guide teams and decisions.
Many people already use AI for personal support. Business leaders are starting to use it for guidance, too.
AI can help leaders test ideas, challenge assumptions, and prepare for difficult conversations.
Leadership is about people. How to mobilize people around a vision of the future. Engage them to act. And empower them to create lasting change.
But AI-driven disruption is rapidly changing how leaders need to lead.
AI is reshaping work, expectations, and decision-making. At the same time, many people are turning to AI itself for personal support and guidance to navigate these dramatic shifts.
So, while AI creates new challenges for leaders, can it also help you become a better leader?
Leadership Coaching in an AI-Powered World
Having worked with thousands of leaders across more than 30 Fortune 1000 companies, I’ve seen a lot of change in my three decades of business experience.
From the early internet to the cloud and social media, technology has repeatedly disrupted business as usual. Each wave has forced leaders to rethink how they show up and lead.
Which is why many executives and managers turn to leadership coaches for support. Coaching isn’t therapy. But a coach can help you think more clearly, see blind spots, and consider new options, all while developing greater self-awareness and emotional regulation.
According to research from McKinsey, about 90% of companies are experimenting with AI, yet only a small percentage say they are successfully scaling it across their organizations.
That leaves many managers navigating new questions every day.
How do I calm my team around fears that AI will take their jobs?
How do we use AI to advance our work instead of replace it?
How can I lead confidently while navigating so much uncertainty myself?
These are exactly the kinds of questions leaders often bring to a coach. But what happens when the very technology driving the need for coaching can start to provide the coaching itself?
What Human Coaches See That AI Can’t
A good coach sees what AI can’t. Tone. Hesitation. Fear disguised as confidence. The emotional signals hiding beneath someone’s words.
A skilled coach senses these cues and responds in real time. They challenge assumptions, test thinking, and push leaders to confront uncomfortable truths.
AI doesn’t feel. It analyzes. At least not yet. And in leadership, that difference matters.
Because leadership challenges are rarely just technical. They’re deeply human. And that’s why, unlike some jobs like software engineers or data analysts, leadership coaching is here to stay, at least for now.
What AI Can Do Surprisingly and Increasingly Well
While AI has its leadership coaching limitations, AI brings capabilities that traditional coaching doesn’t.
Generative AI can help leaders clarify challenges, map options, draft frameworks, anticipate objections, or rehearse difficult conversations, anytime, 24/7. It’s instant, accessible, and available whenever a leadership dilemma arises.
And for many managers who would never be able to afford an executive coach in the first place, that accessibility alone is a game changer.
And you can ask AI just about anything, from team-based challenges to content-focused questions about business strategy, the innovation process, marketing, and more. For example:
Help me introduce AI tools to my team without increasing their fear.
Role-play a conversation with an employee worried about being replaced by automation.
Tell me the steps in the design thinking process so I can get more product innovation.
AI becomes a thinking partner that helps you reflect before you act. And if you use it well by being specific with your prompts, you can ensure it challenges your assumptions, reflects on your progress, and suggests opportunities to take your growth to the next level. For example, you might ask the AI:
What assumptions might I be making about this leadership challenge that could be limiting my thinking and performance?
Based on this situation, what blind spots might I not be seeing clearly?
What specific actions could I take this week to become a more effective leader for my team?
This dynamic, AI disrupting business while also enabling transformational new approaches, mirrors what happened at the outset of the internet.
In the early 2000s, for example, patients began bringing Google search results into doctor appointments. They arrived with ideas, questions, and sometimes misinformation.
Doctors didn’t disappear. But the relationship changed. Patients became more informed and engaged.
Something similar is happening with leadership. Many leaders now arrive at their “human coaching sessions” with frameworks, ideas, and insights generated by AI. They’re using AI to think through strategy, team dynamics, and decision-making in between coaching sessions. In other words, they’re already using the technology to complement their traditional coaches.
The Future of Leadership Coaching
None of this means AI will replace human coaches. If anything, it may make coaching even more valuable.
That’s because while AI will rapidly become intellectually valuable by helping analyze data, solve complex problems, and define strategies and plans, business success will continue to rely on emotional intelligence, networking, and navigating human relationships. That’s where human coaches come into play.
But AI can extend the coaching process. Instead of reflecting only during a coaching session once every few weeks, leaders can test ideas, explore scenarios, and rehearse conversations in real time.
AI can also make coaching more widely available to those who might not have the opportunity to obtain a coach in the first place. While still in its infancy, those who learn to use AI well will have the greatest ability to be “coached” by the technology and take their leadership to the next level.
AI doesn't replace traditional leadership coaching. It democratizes it, and exponentially expands it for anyone who wants to grow as a leader.
Kaplan, S. (2023). Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs. Matt Holt Books.
Kaplan, S. (n.d.). SmartCoach365. https://smartcoach365.com
McKinsey & Company. (2025, November 5). The state of AI: How organizations are rewiring to capture value. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai
Rousmaniere, T., Zhang, Y., Li, X., & Shah, S. (2025). Large language models as mental health resources: Patterns of use in the United States. Practice Innovations. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pri0000292