Bring Back the Humans! AI & Leadership Event

Every leader is under pressure to adopt AI faster, deploy it wider, and prove the productivity gains. Fewer are being asked the harder question: what happens to leadership, culture and business distinction when AI is overused in the pursuit of productivity?

That was the starting point for our new AI & Leadership event series: Bring Back the Humans!

For our first event, Karly Boast (our Group CEO of Consult and LEAD Executive Search) and Amy Laing (Business & Growth Advisor) shared new research on AI adoption, leadership fatigue, and where the smartest NZ businesses are drawing the line between using AI well and losing what makes their business distinctive and more importantly, human.

Below is a highlights recap of what was covered during the evening.

Our event summary report is also available for download here.

1. Joining the dots that aren’t joined enough.

The night opened with a simple observation: every business now has access to the same AI tools. What sets businesses apart isn’t the technology itself, it’s how we choose to adopt AI, how we lead through this unprecedented time of change, and the culture we build around it.

The room sat with two questions throughout the evening:

1. What are you accidentally removing in the pursuit of AI productivity?
2. If AI does more of the work, how are you developing your next generation of leaders?

Most businesses focus on just one of four pieces that need to work together in thinking through how to use AI as a tool to supercharge your people and your business:

1. Bolt-on AI use. Using AI to do existing tasks faster (where most business use currently sits).
2. The new leadership mandate.
3. Human first. Building the skills AI cannot replace.
4. Rethinking org and role design as AI becomes more the operating norm.

2. The new leadership mandate.

AI hasn’t changed what good leadership looks like at its core. It has changed what leaders now need to build alongside it.

What’s remained true about good leadership: Great leaders are visionary, results-driven, and lead with clarity. They are self-aware, challenge with care, are adaptable, and build trust quickly.

What has fundamentally changed about leadership:

• The need for constant upskilling
• How to approach learning & development and succession planning in this age of AI
• How to lead teams that are increasingly human, hybrid (part AI, part human) and non-human (fully AI/digital employees).

3. Human first. Building the skills AI cannot solely replace.

In workplaces that will increasingly default to AI as a core part of its operating system, it is critical we don’t lose sight of the skills that AI cannot replace and the skills that are at the core of successful businesses that grow.

As AI becomes more the norm and more part of all our roles, building these skills is even more important. These skills are taught by doing, by failing, by reflection, by good feedback conversations – no AI tool can solely do this the way humans can.

The skills AI cannot solely replace, as shared on the night:

If AI does more of the technical work, we need to be much more intentional about how we build our leadership muscle and human impact.

“Bringing back the humans doesn’t mean using less AI. It means being deliberate about what makes humans special and magical, and that will accelerate your business.” Karly Boast.

4. So where to from here? 4 things to put into practice.

1. Leadership roles have changed.
Good leadership fundamentals remain, but the environment leaders now operate in (constant upskilling, hybrid teams, AI-driven ambiguity) has fundamentally shifted.

2. This pace of change is permanent.
Build regular learning into your week, not a once-or-twice-a-year course. Upskilling is now continuous, not periodic.

3. Succession planning needs to account for this shift.
If AI is doing more of the work junior people used to learn from, businesses need to be intentional about how the next generation of leaders builds resilience and judgement.

4. Build the skills AI can’t replace.
Be decisive about where you use AI, and equally decisive about where you don’t. Protect and develop the human skills that make your business distinct.

Looking ahead. More human discussions to come!

Thanks to everyone who joined us, asked the hard questions, and stayed for the discussion that’s clearly on everyone’s minds.

The feedback and conversation was fantastic, and we are already planning our next event. If you’d like to attend our events, follow us on LinkedIn for announcements.

We look forward to having you at our next event.

At Consult Recruitment and LEAD Executive Search, we work with senior leaders at the intersection of people strategy and business performance. If you’re reshaping your organisation, evolving leadership capability, or hiring roles that sit at the intersection of people, technology and transformation, we’d love to support you. Get in touch today.