Leading Humans, Leading AI: What L&D Needs to Rethink About Leadership Development

We’re just back from an amazing couple of days at this year’s L&D Symposium in the beautiful Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Quick shout out to @ashtonmedia for putting on yet another superb conference with many great speakers and many more fantastic delegates, all willing to share learning and contribute as much as they take away.

This year we were honoured to be one of the sponsors and will be back next year!

At this year’s event, one theme echoed loud and clear: AI isn’t just on the horizon—it’s in the room. And while its potential in learning and development continues to unfold, what struck us most wasn’t just the tools on display, but the deeper leadership challenge beneath them.

As AI takes on a more prominent role in business, leaders are increasingly managing hybrid teams made up of both humans and intelligent systems. Salesforce, among others, is already there. But how well are we preparing leaders for this dual responsibility? And how does leadership itself evolve when the team isn’t just human?

At LIW, we’ve been reflecting on this intersection—and what it means for the future of leadership development.

Leading AI: Precision, Parameters, and Predictability

When leading AI systems—whether it's decision engines, predictive models, or workflow automation—the leadership task is surprisingly clear: be explicit. AI thrives on clarity, structure, and defined boundaries. It needs purpose, parameters, and performance metrics. It can process logic, not nuance.

In this context, leadership looks like:  

• Defining clear objectives and outcomes

• Providing structured feedback loops

• Understanding system capabilities and limits

• Managing ethical and bias-related risks

• Interpreting outputs and integrating them into human workflows

It’s less about inspiration, more about instruction. Less about culture, more about calibration.

Leading Humans: Empathy, Autonomy, and Belonging

Contrast that with human leadership, where the landscape is far less linear. Humans seek meaning, connection, and value. They want to feel seen, heard, and empowered. Leadership here isn’t about command—it’s about creating conditions for others to thrive.

That means:

• Fostering psychological safety

• Cultivating inclusion and a sense of belonging

• Coaching for growth and independent thinking

• Navigating ambiguity with humility and empathy

Where leading AI is about optimisation, leading humans is about unlocking potential.

The Overlap: Conscious Leadership for All Team Members—Human or Not

While the leadership approaches for AI and humans may differ, the foundation of great leadership remains remarkably consistent: presence, awareness, and intentionality. Whether you’re setting parameters for an AI tool or creating psychological safety for a team member, what matters is making a conscious choice—understanding the context, the impact, and your own role in shaping the outcome.

In fact, human leadership development can sharpen our approach to leading AI. The self-awareness we build through coaching, feedback, and reflective practice helps leaders be more precise, ethical, and curious in how they deploy and interpret technology. And likewise, the discipline required to lead AI—being clear, structured, and intentional—can reinforce the focus and clarity leaders bring to human interactions.

At LIW, we often say: “Do whatever you want, just know what you’re doing.” It’s a reminder that effective leadership—whether of people or machines—isn’t accidental. It’s built through focused practice, experimentation, and above all, conscious action.

What This Means for L&D

Future-fit leadership development needs to prepare leaders to do both: to guide intelligent systems with precision and lead human teams with empathy. That’s not a small shift. It challenges traditional models that focus on just one or the other.

At LIW, we believe the answer lies in integration—helping leaders become not just tech-savvy, but human-smart. Training them to set the rules for machines while building the trust of teams. Because leadership in the age of AI isn’t just about technology—it’s about balance. And that’s where real transformation begins.

Written by Andy Chevis – Chief Learning Officer at LIW: Improving lives by transforming the experience of work.

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