Leading With AI: A Simple Guide for Non-Technical Leaders
It’s not about speed or automation. It’s about presence, reflection, and making better decisions with more space to think.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about this shift we’re in… There’s a quiet fear many leaders carry right now, but almost no one says it out loud.
It sounds like this: I know AI is important. But I don’t really know where to start. And I don’t want to look like I don’t know what I’m doing.
That fear is real. I felt it too. Not just the arrival of AI tools, but how they change the way we lead. Quietly…
A little help to rewrite here. A quick summary there. A question I couldn’t quite answer. And just like that, AI became less of a tool and more of a partner. Slowly, I started to understand how a few automations could be created and transform my productivity. But the value of AI isn’t (only) automation, right?
The problem is, most of the advice out there skips the middle. It jumps from “AI will change everything” to “Fine-tune a model or an agent using Python.” And most of us are sitting in between those extremes, just trying to lead well in a world that’s moving faster than our calendars can handle.
So let me say this clearly:
You don’t need to master AI. You just need to learn how to use it in ways that help you lead or solve your s…stuff.
And that’s when the real shift started. I realized that I wasn’t using AI to replace my work. I was using it to stretch my thinking. To sharpen it. To help me slow down and reflect, even in the middle of fast decisions. Which, if I’m honest, is something I often forget to do..:
I already explained what I mean by “challenge my thinking” in the writing below:
So I want to share how I’ve started to use AI, not as a tech experiment, but as a way to upskill the way I lead.
What Still Matters?
Before I get into how I’m using AI, let me be clear about something: the core of leadership hasn’t changed.
You still need to listen. You still need to make decisions with incomplete data. You still need to navigate ambiguity, manage tension, and communicate with people who don’t think like you do.
And most of all, you still need to be present, because no tool can feel for you, or with you.
That’s the foundation. What AI helps with is everything that surrounds it. The layers that usually slow us down. The noise. The confusion. The mental clutter that keeps us from showing up well.
1. Decision-Making
Most leadership decisions don’t fail because of logic. They fail because of assumptions.
We think we understand the problem. We think we see the options clearly. But we’re moving too fast, or we’re too close to the work to notice what we’re missing.
Now, I use AI as a way to test my thinking. I ask it to challenge my assumptions. To play devil’s advocate. To generate a few other ways of looking at the same problem.
It doesn’t give me perfect answers. That’s not the point.
What it gives me is a pause. A mirror. A second mind in the room that doesn’t care about my ego, or about what happened last quarter.
That’s been surprisingly powerful.
2. Strategic Thinking
When I was younger in my career, I thought strategic thinking meant long documents and business models.
Now I know it often looks like a whiteboard and a good question. AI helps here, too. I use it to scan ideas.
To explore what other industries and people are doing. To pressure-test whether something we’re doing has been tried elsewhere.
Sometimes I just describe the situation and ask, “What are 5 ways someone outside of tech might solve this?”
Again, the goal is not perfect answers. The goal is to stay open.
Leadership, to me, means being able to think beyond the first answer. AI helps stretch that range.
3. Communication
This is the most visible change. AI has made me more intentional with my words.
Before I send something important, I ask AI to read it.
Not for grammar, but for tone.
I want to know how it might feel to someone reading it in a rush, or in a bad mood, or after a tough week. I want to know what’s missing.
It doesn’t always catch everything. But it always gives me something to think about.
And honestly, this has helped me slow down. Which is something I needed.
Leadership communication should feel like presence, not performance. AI reminds me to check that before I hit send.
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4. Coaching and Feedback (With Myself)
What comes back isn’t always usable. But it helps me rehearse. It helps me get out of my own head.
It’s like a warm-up... It doesn’t replace the real thinking process, but it makes me show up better. Calmer. Less reactive.
And sometimes I use it the other way around.
I ask AI to role-play as someone who disagrees with me. I practice listening. I practice explaining things again, but with less frustration.
That kind of repetition builds muscle.
What It Will Never Do
Let me also be clear about what AI won’t do for you.
It won’t feel. It won’t notice when someone on your team is tired, or anxious, or slowly disengaging. It won’t build trust with people over time. It won’t catch your own blind spots about power, bias, or culture.
That’s still your work. No matter how smart your tools get. You still need to show up. To listen with full attention. To ask better questions. To admit when you’re wrong. To lead when things are unclear.
But what AI can do is create more space for that work. Less time re-reading the same document. Less time drafting something from scratch. Less time wrestling with a half-formed idea on your own.
More time thinking clearly. More time with your team. More time building what matters.
Where Else Am I Using It?
Thinking partner for big questions: I often use it as a sounding board. Not to get answers, but to explore angles, challenge assumptions, and pressure-test ideas I’m working through.
Editing drafts, not writing from scratch: I write first. Then I ask it to help rephrase, tighten the structure, or adapt the tone. I never let it write whole pieces for me, it’s a refining tool, not a writing replacement.
Helping me find blind spots: When I’m building content (especially for LinkedIn or Substack), I ask it to find weak spots, contradictions, or assumptions I might be missing.
Repackaging long-form content: I write one main piece, then use ChatGPT to help break it down into LinkedIn posts, summaries, or different formats for other channels. It saves time and keeps the message consistent.
Writing with constraints: I’ve trained it to follow my style: no dashes, no broken-line formatting, no GPT-isms. This turns it from a generic assistant into a tailored tool when I need to repurpose my content. Remember: never write from scratch if you, like me, have a passion for the writing craft.
Pushing deeper on topics I care about: I use it to explore new angles on things like digital leadership, stakeholder dynamics, AI's role in teams, or career growth, not just surface-level content.
Organizing complex content systems: For my taxonomy work and multi-channel publishing system, it helps me categorize, reformat, and keep things structured when juggling hundreds of ideas.
Clarifying thoughts when I’m stuck: Sometimes I just write a messy paragraph and ask it: “What am I really trying to say here?” It helps me clean my own thinking when I have an idea of what I am writing there. Sometimes, nothing is there anyway!
This is a free and open article, so I want to check… Was this reading worth a cup of coffee?
Five Low-Pressure Samples to Start Using AI as a Leader
1. Write a message. Then ask AI to check the tone: See how it reads. Does it feel cold? Too long? Confusing? You’ll start noticing small patterns in how you write and how others might read it.
The Prompt I’ve been using for that is this:
Act as a professional re-writer, supporting me on improving my communication clarity and readability.
Re-write the text I will paste below, giving me options.
Avoid too much formatting to be faster on the response.
Tones to re-write:
1. Same text, just grammar and punctuation corrections
2. Funny / Cool tone
3. Casual tone
4. Professional / Formal tone
5. Shortened
7. Extended2. Summarize something long you’ve been putting off: An article, a long email thread, a leadership report. Ask AI: What are the three most important points? Then ask: Is anything missing that a senior leader should care about?
3. Prepare for a tough conversation: Write down what you want to say. Then ask: Is this clear and fair? How might this land on the other person? Is there a better way to say it with empathy and honesty?
4. Reflect on something that went wrong: Describe the situation. Then ask: What might I have done differently? What blind spot could I have missed?
5. Learn something new in plain language: Pick a topic you feel a little behind on, maybe machine learning, product strategy, or change management. Ask AI to explain it like you’re ten years old. Then ask for examples in your context.
Start with just one of these.
Try it once this week. See how it feels. Then do it again next week.
It’s not about scale. It’s about rhythm. The same way you build strength with repetition, you build clarity by practicing small moments of reflection and precision.
AI gives you space to do that. Quietly. Without judgment. And without waiting for a leadership workshop or a learning budget.
You’re not supposed to master everything at once.
You’re supposed to pay attention. And you’re supposed to stay in motion.
That’s what leadership has always been: staying awake while others are overwhelmed.
Choosing reflection when urgency wants you to react. Creating clarity when things feel foggy.
AI doesn’t replace any of that. It just creates new ways to support it.
If I’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s this:
AI will not make you a better leader. But it can help you lead better if you’re already trying.
It won’t build trust for you. It won’t sense the tone in the room. It won’t know who needs encouragement today and who just needs space.
But it will challenge your thinking just enough to stop you from defaulting to old patterns. And that’s what I want you to take from this.
Not a strategy. Not a checklist.
Just this simple truth: you are allowed to grow at your own pace. And AI, if used with care, can help you do it faster, with less pressure, and more clarity.