Why AI Will Make Bad Leaders Worse(And Great Leaders Unstoppable)

allynitschke
Aug 5
4 min read

It's been a busy couple of weeks with the kick off to the New Financial Year, some sneaky last minute engagements with clients, and kicking off new programs to get the year off to a good start.Last week I was in Sydney, I was invited to speak at a conference on AI. While I'm absolutely not an AI expert, part of my job is continually keeping an eye on the horizon, the future of leadership.

I'm always researching, ideating, listening and thinking about what this will potentially mean for my clients, as well as leadership of the future AND the entire workplace human experience. I'm also quite a lateral thinker making the way I use AI is completely different to the standard 'rewrite this email so it sounds nicer' prompts.

In my presentation I shared some of the unconventional ways I use AI in my business. Most recently it's been to help catalogue all my thought leadership and develop a spreadsheet of what's published, what's pending publication and how some of the pieces I wrote years ago can link and fit into what I'm seeing today.

What I wanted to share with you is a little bit of a summary of where we are right now with AI. Unless you've been living like an Ostrich (with your head in the sand) you've probably heard about AI, you're using AI... But are you using it to YOUR greatest potential?

There's a quiet revolution unfolding in workplaces across Australia and around the world. AI has stormed in, not with fanfare, but with function. And while most of the buzz has been about jobs and automation such as this predicted data from the World Economic Forum (About 170 million new jobs will be created this decade, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025.)

I think we're missing a far more pressing conversation.

And that is; What does AI actually mean for Leadership?

Spoiler alert: AI won't fix poor leadership, in fact it will magnify it.

In my work with leadership teams, I'm seeing two distinct camps emerge. On one side, we have leaders who are paralysed with fear, resistant to change or playing the waiting game ('She'll be right, or, it'll blow over"). On the other side, we have courageous leaders who are embracing AI not as a replacement, but as a catalyst.

There is an uncomfortable truth though. Several.

AI is a mirror, and what is reflects is your current leadership capacity.

A recent MIT study estimated 83% of people who used ChatGPT to write coupon remember anything they wrote a few minutes later (oops!) and Neural connections dropped from 79 to 42 when engaging in writing tasks (for context: people do brain teasers daily to prevent even a 2% yearly decline in cognition)

You can read more about my thoughts on the report here.

Poor Leaders + AI = Faster Dysfunction

Leaders who rely on control, who micromanage, or who struggle with clarity are being exposed at warp speed.

Why?

Because AI removes the excuses.

When AI can handle reporting, analysis, meeting recaps, and even communication drafts. The value of a leader shifts. It’s no longer about doing more. It’s about leading better.

If your team is unclear, disengaged, or underperforming, AI won’t solve that. It will however simply reveal it more clearly and more quickly.

Great Leaders + AI = Exponential Impact

On the flip side, great leaders are using AI to create focus, flow, and freedom.They’re not afraid of disruption because they’re grounded in and committed to human capability. Specifically: empathy, communication, vision, and decision-making.

This is where leadership moves beyond process and into presence. And that, friends, is where the game is changing.

The New Leadership Intelligence

This year I've had a strong focus on the advisory work we do. When working with our clients we talk about the emergence and importance of Hybrid Intelligence, the powerful combination of human insight + technological leverage.

It’s not about choosing between people and platforms. It’s about knowing where your value is irreplaceable.

Here’s what the new (and future) leadership landscape demands:

Clarity over Control
Presence over Performance
Adaptability over Authority

You cannot fake this. And you certainly can’t delegate it to a chatbot (leave that to your shopping lists).

Where to Start: Your Leadership Audit and Reflection

If you’re serious about stepping into this next (and I think very exciting) chapter, ask yourself:

What decisions am I avoiding right now?
Where am I still operating out of fear or scarcity?
What do my team really need from me that AI could never provide?

If these questions are feeling a little uncomfortable, good. That means there’s space to grow.

My Challenge to You

AI is here. The real question is: Are you ready to lead with it?

Over the next quarter, I’ll be working closely with a handful of executive and senior leadership teams to build AI-resilient leadership capabilities using the Courageous Leaders Framework, the Radical Accountability Model, and Hybrid Neuro-Mastery Intelligence Coaching.

If you’re ready to have the conversation, let’s chat. Here’s how our clients are working with us right now: engaging in keynote sessions that spark momentum, following through with targeted workshops, and partnering on strategy to turn insight into sustained impact.

Because the future doesn’t belong to the busiest or the bravest.

It belongs to the clearest, the courageous and the clever.

Ally Nitschke is a best-selling Author, an award-winning Thought Leader and Speaker. She has been working with leaders and as a Leader for over 20 years.

She is on a mission to change the way we communicate at work, to lean into those uncomfortable conversations and lead with courage.

Ally is a Keynote Speaker at conferences, delivers Transformational Programs & highly engaging workshops as well as provides Executive Coaching.