AI Will Dominate The Leadership Development Industry

Many people are scared that AI will replace them.

In many cases, people are right.

AI will replace their jobs.

Now, I do not believe you "should" be scared of AI for this reason, but I understand why people have this Fear.

When looking at the capabilities of AI, there is one Industry I KNOW will become dominated by AI.

The Leadership Development Industry.

I know that this $350 Billion+ Industry will become completely dominated by AI for ONE reason.

Leadership Development is an Echo Chamber of Failure.

It has an 80% Failure Rate, with "Limited Success" outside of that.

The $350 Billion+ Industry has not helped Leaders find any Success.

Statistics around Leadership Success and Approval Rates have consistently been crashing for decades.

It isn't because Leaders don't want to improve, quite the opposite!

Leaders have increased their spending to do everything in their power to improve.

The problem isn't Leaders, the problem is the Broken Models that Leaders are using.

Leadership Development continues to talk about the same things, using the same Broken Models, and continues to Fail to get Results.

It "Echoes" the same things over and over again.

This is also why AI will dominate Leadership Development quickly.

AI is amazing at quickly and efficiently Echoing the most consistent things it finds.

AI is significantly better at doing this than Humans.

AI can look up information, write extensive echoed Content, and distribute it in a matter of minutes.

For every Leadership Development Article a Human creates, AI could create anywhere from 10 - 100 Articles in the same period.

If you're trying to win the Echo Chamber game, AI will be your best friend.

This is why AI will quickly Dominate Leadership Development.

Why I'm Not Worried About AI Taking Over Leadership Development

I honestly don't care if AI dominates Leadership Development though.

The reason why I'm not worried?

I stopped doing "Leadership Development" years ago.

AI isn't going to be replacing what I'm doing.

I remember seeing these Echo Chamber problems years ago, long before AI became popular, during my short period at the Forbes Coaches Council.

I watched hundreds of "Leadership Coaches" Echo Failing Advice and struggling to get included in articles.

In only 3 short months, at the age of 26, I was published 16/16 times.

Simply because I wasn't Echoing Failure.

All of the individuals who are continuing to write that same Failing Advice will be replaced by AI.

However, this is also why I'm not worried about AI at all.

AI is simply going to continue to Echo this Failure.

Overall, AI hasn't impressed me, and I've written multiple Articles about why that is.

The way that AI works is that it conglomerates extreme amounts of data, and then Echos whatever it finds the most of - which in Leadership Development is Failing Advice.

There are many reasons Leadership Development has Failed, which is why AI will also Fail to produce results for Leaders.

Why Leadership Development Has Continually Failed

As I've researched "Leadership" deeply, looking for "why" it isn't working, I've come to a few discoveries.

Skill Focused

One of the problems is that Leadership Development is Skill-Focused.

If you have a problem, it promises that by learning "this" Skill you will succeed.

But that isn't how it works.

There is a difference between knowing the Skills, and properly using the right Skills at the right Time in the right Way.

Many problems and variables quickly get in the way of Skills being used correctly.

There is also the problem that Leaders often learn Skills when they don't need them, and fail to remember those Skills when they could use them.

Not to mention that different people have different Strengths and Weaknesses when it comes to Skills.

When you understand Strengths-Based Psychology, you find that trying to work on something you're Weak is often Self-Defeating.

Static Learning

Another problem is that most Leadership Development is based on Static Learning.

This is the problem.

Knowledge is not Power.

"Applied" Knowledge is Power.

Since most Leadership Development is Static, it never gets Applied.

Instead of "Power", you are left with wasted Time and Resources.

This Learning is often also Impersonal.

The way things are taught often needs to be adjusted based on the situation.

But Static Learning can't consider that.

Modular Approach

A Third problem with Leadership Development is that it is often done Modularly.

The problem is that most "Modules" are not designed for the Environment that it is being applied to.

Think of it like this - It's like trying to put a house specifically designed to handle the heat of the Death Valley in Antarctica.

That house was never designed to be used in those freezing temperatures.

This is the problem with the Modular Approach.

It is trying to fit a Practice in an Environment that it simply won't work for.

Wrong Questions Answered

A gigantic problem that is faced in Leadership is that most Leaders are asking the wrong questions!

However, Leadership Development has been happy to answer those questions!

AI will also be more than happy to answer the wrong questions.

When you ask the Wrong Questions, you get Answers that have no use.

You are free to act on those Answers, but it will just lead to wasted time and resources.

What Is Leadership?

Here's perhaps the BIGGEST problem of Leadership Development...

What is "Leadership"?

Ask a hundred people, and you'll get a hundred answers.

In fact, in 1995 researchers found over 850 "Academic" definitions of Leadership.

That was nearly 30 years ago.

How many more "Academic" and "Non-Academic" definitions have been created since then?

Which one are you being taught in any given "Leadership Development"?

Most people teaching "Leadership Development" aren't even sure what type of Leadership they are teaching!

This isn't even getting into the Frankenstein Modular Conglomeration that AI is spitting out.

What Leadership Should Be Looking For Instead

If you want to succeed as a Leader, the reality is that neither "Leadership Development" nor AI will help you for any and all of the reasons above.

But that doesn't mean there isn't Hope.

These are what you need to be looking for Instead.

Leadership Cultivation

Instead of looking at "Leaders" as cogs to be developed, you need to instead see Leaders for what they are.

Humans.

We all have different Strengths, Weaknesses, Motivations, Fears, and Desires.

If you want to create better Leaders, you need to Cultivate them based on what type of Leader and Human they are and can become.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to Leadership and attempts to create any have all failed horribly.

You don't Develop Leaders, you Cultivate Them.

Much like a Garden, you must give each Leader what they need to Succeed.

Dynamic Practice

Learning something is fine, but it is useless unless it gets USED!

That means that Leaders need to Practice what they are Learning in REAL situations.

Simulations and Created Scenarios don't create the necessary Results.

If you want Leaders to rise, they MUST be able to Dynamically Use what they learn.

Failure to use what they Learn will simply lead to wasted Time, wasted Effort, wasted Resources, and increased Frustrations.

This becomes significantly easier to accomplish when you are Cultivating Leaders - helping them grow based on where they currently are.

Psychophysiological Focus

Another reason Skills-Based approaches don't work is because people often get hijacked by Psychophysiology.

When we fail to understand human Psychophysiology, we will fail as Leaders.

You could know ALL of the Skills of Leadership by heart, be considered a master of those Skills, you could have the PERFECT solutions to EVERY problem, and STILL Fail completely and utterly.

All because you've been hijacked by Human Psychophysiology.

I see it happen all the time.

I have also seen Leaders have exceptional Success WITHOUT the Skills and Solutions, all because they DID have an inherent understanding of Psychophysiology!

Most of the time Leaders who attain this don't realize it though, it is a completely Unconscious Understanding that could be DRAMATICALLY Improved.

This aspect underpins almost every other aspect of Leadership.

When we look at the largest problem facing Leaders today, it is a Psychophysiological Problem.

Burnout.

Burnout is the #1 issue Leaders are facing, and there are no Leadership Development solutions that work because it's not a "Skill-Based" Problem.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" Module to solve it.

However, if you don't fix this problem, it will continuously undermine all of your efforts as a Leader.

Different Questions

When you ask the Wrong Questions, you get Useless Answers.

Most Leaders are asking the Wrong Questions.

However, they don't "know" that they are asking the Wrong Questions.

It is really hard to ask Different Questions when you don't realize the ones you're asking are wrong.

Often, you need a different perspective to be able to see and find the nuances of when the Wrong Questions are being asked, and then be able to Re-Focus on the Right Questions.

This is simply not something AI does.

It's designed to do what you ask - sometimes to hilarious failures.

To get different Questions, you need to have different Thinking.

Look for who is Thinking Differently.

Design Your Leadership

There are well over 850+ Definitions of Leadership.

What does that tell you?

Leadership is Flexible.

Instead of trying to fit yourself into someone else's definition of "Leadership", design your own.

When there isn't a Mold that Fits, Create a NEW Mold!

Now there are different ways to accomplish this, but it is good to have a Guiding Star.

The Guiding Star won't tell you the "specifics" of your form of Leadership, but it should inform the direction you are headed to follow what Employees, Customers, and the World are demanding.

When looking at today's Leadership landscape, you should be looking to Design a Regenerative Legacy.

If you feel Fatigued, or your Employees, or your Customers, or your Industry are feeling Fatigued then it is a matter of time before you Crumble.

The Solution is to Regenerate.

If you use this as a Guiding Star as you design your Leadership, it will only be a matter of time before you find the Success you're looking for.