A while ago, I asked AI to review my last five conversations with it. I use Claude, and I was expecting it to tell me something useful about how it could help me work better: where it had misunderstood me, or where it hadn't worked the way I'd hoped.
It turned out the error was mainly me.
It told me I had been unclear in what I was asking, and that I had confused it. What struck me was that these are exactly the leadership lessons I share with my clients, and that my clients share with me, all the time. How do you delegate clearly enough that you get a good job well done? Working with AI asks the same question.
That was the moment I understood what AI could do for a leader. Used well, it creates the thinking time that never used to happen. And getting good at it uses the same skills that make you a good leader.
Why is AI so hard for leaders to get started with?
There are a few reasons, and most of them have little to do with how clever the technology is.
Two worlds are emerging
In my work I am seeing two very different worlds.
In smaller businesses, people are embracing AI, mostly Claude or ChatGPT. They are finding use case after use case and learning from each other as they go. Because they see traction quickly, and it helps them do their job, they stick with it.
In corporate organisations it is much harder. Most are built on Microsoft, so people are working with Copilot, which in my experience is not yet as advanced. And most of the leaders I work with don't have the full Microsoft 365 Copilot that works inside their email, documents and Teams. They have the chat version on its own, which can't see their work, so every task starts from scratch. That makes the barrier higher still.
On top of that, there is a lot of understandable fear about data, and a long list of rules about what you can and can't do. The upshot is barriers and friction at every turn, and many leaders stop before they have seen what AI can do for them.
You are already incredibly busy
Your plate is already full, and AI can feel like one more thing to learn on top of everything else. Used well, it can help you get out of that overload.
What you are carrying
If you are a senior leader, you are probably being asked for an AI strategy by the people above you, while the people below you are either using it more than you are or not using it at all. You built your career on expertise, and now there is a technology that seems to be repositioning expertise. It is a lot to carry, and most people at your level are carrying it without much support.
If you are a few years into managing a team, it probably feels more like this: you are dabbling, you have tried a few prompts, some of it was impressive and some of it was rubbish, and you are not sure what is worth your time.
Why waiting doesn't work
AI, like leadership, is learned by doing. Using it in your day-to-day work builds your AI literacy: the quality of what you can get it to do, and your confidence with it.
Leaders who wait until the tools and the rules have caught up will find they don't have that confidence when the moment comes. They won't know the right questions to ask.
So start now, inside whatever rules your organisation has. Even with the tools you are allowed to use, there is plenty to practise on. What most leaders are missing is a simple map of where to start.
The bullseye has three rings. Work from the outside in.
Outer ring: Time savers, admin and repeat work
The everyday tasks AI can take off your plate. Managing your email. Updating you on project status and issues. Helping you keep on top of your work. Documentation, first drafts, summarising notes, research, data synthesis, scheduling, and turning a voice note into a summary after a meeting.
Start here, with something you already do every week. That is how you learn. You find out quickly how brilliant and how rubbish AI can be, and you get some time back while you are doing it.
Middle ring: Thinking partner
AI as a partner for preparation and challenge. Preparing for a one-to-one or a stakeholder meeting. Generating coaching questions. Rehearsing a difficult conversation. Pressure-testing a plan. Pushing you to make the priority choice you have been avoiding.
This is where AI gets interesting for leaders, because it helps you get to the thinking that never previously had time to happen. It works best when AI knows your context, which is why I encourage leaders to build a simple guidebook about themselves, their team and their projects.
Centre: The Human Zone
The irreplaceable core, where the leader must always show up. Judgement. Ethics. Connection. Communication. Coaching and building your team's capability. The pattern recognition that comes from years of experience.
The Human Zone is built on CAT: clarity, alignment and trust. AI cannot and should not do this work. And as AI handles more of the surrounding work, the Human Zone becomes more visible and more valuable.
Should leaders adapt to AI or double down on human skills?
Both. Not one or the other.
The real risk is that leaders who use AI well will outpace those who don't. At the same time, the leaders who stand out will be the ones who use the time AI gives back to spend more of it in the Human Zone: having the conversations, making the hard calls and building the team.
Why do you need to systemise first?
AI amplifies whatever is already there.
If your leadership infrastructure is solid, with a weekly rhythm, working one-to-ones and a clear plan, AI makes it faster and broader and frees up thinking time. If the infrastructure is not there, AI adds to the noise, and you end up with overwhelmed, reactive managers who now have one more thing to keep up with.
That is why, on the Leader's Ladder, AI sits on the Systems rung. Build the routines first, starting with the Golden Hour, then overlay AI on top.
Why getting good at AI is a leadership skill
Go back to those five conversations I asked Claude to review. The problems it found in my requests were the same ones I help managers fix when they delegate to a person. I hadn't explained the context. I hadn't said what a good job well done looked like. I was thinking out loud and expecting it to keep up.
That is why I say getting good at AI is a leadership skill, not a tech skill. Give AI unclear direction and it tries to please you and often disappoints, just as a capable team member would. Give it the same things you would give a person you are delegating to, and the output improves dramatically:
The context. What is going on, who this is for, and why it matters.
The outcome. What a good job well done looks like, and what you don't want.
The checkpoints. Ask it to question you before it starts, and review the first draft before you ask for more.
And it works the other way too. Practising clear direction with AI, every day, makes you clearer when you delegate to your team.
That is also why leaders need to be users of AI, not observers. You cannot lead AI from the strategy room. You only find out what it is good for, and what it shows you about how you lead, by using it in your own week.
What this looks like for a senior leader
At Director or VP level, AI is a leadership challenge. It needs a stance as well as a tool.
It is common to believe AI is going well in your function when, underneath, adoption is low, and people are using tools nobody has talked about. The bullseye gives you a way to lead the conversation. Use it yourself first, in the outer and middle rings, so you know what you are talking about. Then take it to your team with three statements: this is what good looks like, this is where we won't go, what could we try?
And keep coming back to the reframe. AI doesn't threaten what makes you valuable. Judgement, accountability, the hard calls, trust and culture are exactly the work it can't do.
What this looks like for a mid-level manager
For you, AI is a practical tool to embed in your week. Start in the outer ring with one time saver, such as triaging your email or a weekly project update. Once that is a habit, move to the middle ring and use AI to prepare for your next one-to-one. Ten minutes of preparation with a thinking partner can change the quality of a conversation.
Then use the time you get back for the Human Zone. Coaching. Influence. The difficult conversation you have been putting off.
What the bullseye means for organisations
If you are in HR or L&D, you may be under pressure to "do something about AI" across your management population. You have probably also seen what happens when AI training is tool-led: a burst of interest, then low adoption, and managers who still don't know how it fits into the way they lead. Add the friction of a corporate roll-out, with approved tools and data rules to work within, and many managers stop trying before they have seen any benefit. That is exactly why they need structured practice in their real work, inside your guidelines.
The bullseye gives managers a shared, simple language for AI that starts with their real work. It keeps the human side of leadership at the centre, which matters when teams are anxious about what AI means for their jobs. And because it sits on top of their leadership systems, it connects AI adoption to things you can see: time saved, better-prepared one-to-ones, and managers handling more at their own level.
Try this
Answer three questions this week.
What is one time-saver, admin job or repeat task I could hand over to AI this week?
Where could AI be a thinking partner for me: preparation or challenge?
What will I always keep in my Human Zone?
Then do the first one. A voice note after your next meeting, turned into a summary, is a good place to start.
