How AI Is Changing Leadership Development

AI is already part of a manager's toolkit

AI is changing leadership development, and we're only beginning to see where this is going.

Managers can already use AI to prepare for difficult conversations, come up with coaching questions, work through problems, create development plans and practice how they might handle a situation before they actually have to deal with it.

That's useful. But it also raises a bigger question: if managers can get leadership advice from AI in seconds, what should we be teaching them?

Leadership development doesn't become less important because of AI. Quite the opposite. We now have to teach managers how to lead people while also teaching them how to use AI without turning their judgment over to it.

AI can be a very good tool. It can help you prepare and give you things to think about. But at some point, you have to put the tool down and lead.

AI can give you information. It can give you ideas. It can help you prepare. But it can't take responsibility for the decision you make. That's still your job.

Leadership development can become more personal

Think about how we've traditionally done leadership development.

A group of managers attends the same program, hears the same material and then goes back to completely different jobs, teams and challenges.

One manager needs to learn to delegate. Another needs to become more comfortable communicating with senior management. Another may be technically excellent but having a terrible time managing people.

Those aren't the same development needs.

This is an area where AI has a lot to offer. It can help a manager take a broad goal like 'I need to be a better leader' and start breaking it down into something useful. What specifically needs to improve? What behavior needs to change? What can the manager practice? How will we know if it's getting better?

Of course, there's a catch. AI only knows what we tell it. Give it very little information and it will give you a very general answer.

It also doesn't actually know the manager or the people that manager leads. That's an important distinction.

Difficult conversations are still difficult

One of the best uses of AI may simply be helping managers prepare.

Let's say you have an employee who has always done a good job, but lately something has changed. Performance is slipping.

Before sitting down with that employee, a manager could use AI to think through the conversation. What questions should I ask? Am I making assumptions? How can I address the performance issue without going into the conversation having already decided what's wrong?

That's a great use of the technology.

Then the manager sits down with the employee and the real conversation begins. Maybe the employee hesitates. Maybe their tone changes. Maybe they say something the manager wasn't expecting at all.

Now the manager has to pay attention. Do I ask another question? Do I change direction? Is this the time to be direct? Do I need to listen for a minute?

AI isn't in the room. It doesn't know the history between these two people, and it doesn't know what just happened unless somebody tells it. The manager does.

That's why preparation and leadership aren't the same thing.

Feedback needs to sound like it came from the manager

AI can also be useful when a manager is preparing feedback.

Maybe the manager knows exactly what needs to be said but has written it in a way that's too harsh. Or maybe the message is all over the place and needs to be organized.

Fine. Use AI to help clean it up. But managers shouldn't hand the whole thing over to AI.

Employees don't need perfect management language. They need a manager who knows what's going on.

If I'm receiving feedback from my manager, I want to know that you've noticed my work. Tell me what I'm doing well. Tell me where there's a problem. Tell me what needs to change.

The words matter, but the relationship behind those words matters a whole lot more.

Learning can happen when the manager actually needs it

This may be one of the biggest changes AI brings to leadership development.

A manager might attend a leadership program in March and then run into the situation they really needed help with three months later.

Now they can get help when the problem is sitting right in front of them.

A new manager might need to lead an executive meeting for the first time tomorrow. Someone else has two employees who can't seem to work together. Another manager has just been told, once again, that they need to delegate more.

They don't necessarily need another class at that moment. They need help thinking through what they're about to do.

That doesn't mean we stop leadership development programs. It means we need to be more thoughtful about what we're trying to accomplish with them.

Managers can find information very easily now. What isn't so easy? Judgment. Communication. Accountability. Emotional intelligence. Coaching. Adaptability. Ethics. Critical thinking. Self-awareness.

We can teach someone what good leadership looks like. The harder part is helping them become a good leader when things aren't going according to plan.

Managers also need to know when AI might be wrong

This is something we're going to have to spend much more time teaching.

AI can give a very confident answer. That doesn't mean it's the right answer.

Managers need to get into the habit of questioning what they're getting back. What information am I missing? Am I making an assumption about this person? Is there another reasonable explanation for what's happening? Does this recommendation fit our organization and our values? Could there be bias in the answer?

And sometimes the question needs to be even simpler: Should I be asking AI about this at all?

There are situations involving employees where the next conversation needs to be with HR, legal counsel or another leader, not an AI tool. Knowing the difference is part of good judgment.

We also need to talk about confidentiality

Managers have access to an enormous amount of information that isn't theirs to share freely.

Performance issues. Compensation. Employee conflicts. Succession candidates. Customer information. Business strategy. Organizational changes.

A manager can be trying to do exactly the right thing and still put information into an AI system that should never have been entered there.

Organizations need clear rules. Which AI tools are approved? What information can managers use? What should never be entered? When should AI stay completely out of the situation?

Teaching someone how to write a better prompt isn't enough. Responsible AI use has to become part of leadership development.

And then there's succession planning

This is an area where leadership development and succession planning have always gone together.

There are plenty of ways AI can help. It can organize information, help define leadership competencies, compare development needs with future positions, suggest development activities and help leaders prepare for succession discussions. There is tremendous potential there.

Where we would draw the line is allowing AI to determine who should be the next leader.

There are things about people that don't fit neatly into a spreadsheet.

Who does everyone look for when something goes wrong? Who stays calm when everybody else is getting rattled? Who admits they made a mistake? Who can disagree with someone and still maintain the relationship? Who makes the people around them better? Who has good judgment when there isn't an obvious right answer? And who looks absolutely wonderful on paper but leaves unhappy people everywhere they go?

If you're making decisions about the future leadership of an organization, those things matter.

AI can help us organize what we know. It can even point out things we may not have considered. But somebody in that organization still needs to know the people.

Some things really haven't changed

For all the attention we're giving AI, organizations are still made up of people.

People want to trust their leaders. They want managers who know who they are and recognize the work they do. Difficult conversations are still uncomfortable, and poor leadership can still drive very good employees right out the door.

We still have to identify potential. We still have to develop people before we need them. We still have to give future leaders opportunities to prove themselves before putting them into bigger jobs.

And somebody still has to make the call.

That's why AI doesn't make leadership development obsolete. If anything, it raises the bar.

Organizations are going to have some remarkable tools available to them. The challenge will be developing managers who know when those tools can help, when they should question what they're being told and when they need to put the technology aside.

Because AI can give you information. It can give you ideas. It can help you prepare. But it can't take responsibility for the decision you make. That's still your job.

Sources

McKinsey & Company. Building Leaders in the Age of AI. January 2026. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/building-leaders-in-the-age-of-ai

McKinsey & Company. Reimagine Learning and Development for the AI Age. March 2026. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/reimagine-learning-and-development-for-the-ai-age

SHRM. 2026 L&D Executives: Priorities and Perspectives. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/2026-ld-executives-priorities-perspectives