AI Isn’t Replacing Leaders, It’s Exposing Them
Written by Janet Vantriet, Certified Organisational Ombudsman, Conflict & Culture Strategist & Founder
Janet Vantriet is a Certified Organisational Ombudsman and conflict resolution specialist. She supports leaders, human resources teams, and boards in navigating workplace conflict, culture, and conduct risk with independence, confidentiality, and clarity.
AI isn’t making leaders obsolete, but it is exposing those who have relied on having the most knowledge as the basis of their leadership. As workers gain instant access to information, the leaders who remain valuable will be those who ask the right questions, exercise sound judgement, involve their people in change and advocate for them when it matters.
Technology panic is nothing new. It’s been repeated throughout history. The radio, television, and the computer were all once framed as addictive inventions that were going to undermine the world as we know it! (Now I know a lot of parents who would love to hand their kids a radio the next time they beg for screen time!)
Now, we have generative AI.
Generative AI (we’ll just refer to it as AI from here on out) has rocked the world of work. Many people panicked initially. In 2023, a study by Accenture reported that 58% of workers are worried about job security, believing it will make them superfluous. Organisations, meanwhile, are grappling with the risk of employees entering proprietary, confidential or client information into AI tools, with consequent privacy, security and intellectual-property concerns.
In Cisco’s 2024 survey, 48% of respondents said they’d entered non-public company information into generative-AI applications, while 69% cited risks to legal and intellectual-property rights and 68% worried that information entered could be shared publicly or with competitors.
But despite all these concerns, my experience leads me to believe that AI has something incredible to offer in the world, and that’s as a workplace equaliser.
AI as a workplace equaliser
You know as well as I do that leaders never actually had all the answers. They’re only human. As Billy Joel famously said, ‘We’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes!’
But the traditional organisational structure has spent all these decades assuming that leaders do have all the answers (and should). The very nature of a chain of command suggests that teams look to their leaders for guidance and answers.
Now with AI, workers have a new source of information and knowledge. AI is a powerful knowledge bank. In fact, Stanford’s 2025 AI Index found that top AI models have surpassed even highly capable people on many benchmarks, and often at extraordinary speed.
This means that AI is making it much harder for lazy leaders to hide behind what they know. When everyone can access information in seconds, knowledge alone stops being a trump card. The leaders who stand out will be the ones who can listen, make good judgement calls, speak up for their people and help a team move forward. In other words, those who value the human side of leadership. They’ll be the true advocacy leaders.
That’s what makes AI a workplace equaliser. It shifts the advantage away from leaders who seem to have all the answers and towards those people trusted to use those answers well. In today’s workplace, keeping up with the technology is only half the job. The other half is getting better at the human work no tool can do for you.
The future of work for leaders
So, what can leaders do to stay relevant in a world where knowledge isn’t a major differentiator anymore and getting better at the human work is the goal?
Ask the right questions
Instead of focusing on providing knowledge, leaders will need to be able to identify the right questions to ask. This will help their teams to optimise the use of AI to their advantage. In the information age, where we are overwhelmed with data, knowing the correct question is just as important as knowing the answer.
Exercise judgement
While AI excels in many roles, it simply isn’t human. The piece that will always be missing is an ability to exercise human judgement.
This is a complex skill that requires emotional intelligence, the ability to navigate ambiguity and make decisions based on ethics and other people’s needs. A leader can incorporate empathy, integrity and understanding in a way that a computer can’t.
Advocate for your people
Advocating for your people will be a crucial leadership skill in this new era of work. Advocacy leaders will need to help their teams navigate the uncertainty of working in an AI world.
It will be an advocacy leader’s role to align their people’s personal aspirations with organisational goals, while managing team dynamics and inclusivity.
Create a strong workplace culture
Workplace culture will also be particularly important in this technological age. As individuals feel increasingly disconnected, it will be a leader’s job to keep them united with the company. They need to feel like they belong and that they’re an important part of the team.
A leader’s emotional intelligence and the team’s trust in their leadership will make a significant impact here.
Invite participation in the discussion
Think about any major changes that have happened in your workplace or maybe even your household. Were you consulted or did they simply happen around you? When they just happened around you, how did you feel?
Studies show that when teams are involved in a decision and can participate in the discussion, they often respond very differently than when a change that hasn’t been explained or understood suddenly comes crashing down on them.
The same applies to managing your team as a leader. How work is designed and delivered will continue to evolve as we embrace new technological advancements. But when you actively involve your team in the discussions, they’re more likely to get on board.
Too often, leaders rush to embrace AI as a cost-cutting solution, rushing to restructure or reduce teams without involving the very people whose insight, institutional knowledge and expertise make the technology valuable in the first place. But the result of this is that they not only risk losing valuable capability, they also risk eroding trust among the employees who remain and create resistance to the very technology they’re trying to introduce.
If leaders want AI adoption to succeed, they need to bring their people into the conversation early, recognise the value of their expertise and give them a meaningful role in shaping how the technology is introduced and used.
Managing AI ethics
Leaders will also be called upon to set and uphold boundaries around the use of AI in the workplace. This should be done in consultation with teams so that everyone feels respected and heard. Factors to consider include privacy and accuracy.
The changing role of leadership
Yes, AI will take over some tasks from leaders. But does that automatically make leaders dispensable? Absolutely not. Does it mean leadership will likely change? Absolutely.
As knowledge and information become more accessible, leaders will need to rely less on being the person with all the answers and more on the human skills that help their people feel heard, supported and able to move forward. While AI can take care of the data and the answers, advocacy leaders will thrive when they take care of their people.
By identifying the right questions, exercising judgement, advocating for their people, inviting participation in the discussion and managing the ethics around AI, leaders will continue to remain vital.
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Read more from Janet Vantriet
Janet Vantriet, Certified Organisational Ombudsman, Conflict & Culture Strategist & Founder
Janet Vantriet is one of Australia’s few Certified Organisational Ombuds, supporting human resources (HR) leaders, chief executive officers (CEOs) and boards with workplace conflict, culture and conduct risk. With more than two decades in people and culture roles, she founded EquipMe Coaching & Consulting to address issues traditional HR cannot resolve early enough. She is an accredited mediator, certified coach, and senior HR professional whose work is grounded in neutrality, independence, confidentiality, and informality. Janet brings an advocacy‑led and multicultural perspective to helping leaders navigate difficult conversations with clarity and fairness.
