AI & Leadership: New Rules to Stop Leading Like It’s 1990 (#140)

Episode Transcript

AI & Leadership: New Rules to Stop Leading Like It’s 1990 (#140)

Your Transformation Station with Gregory Favazza

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Introduction

Gregory Favazza — 00:00

Welcome back to Your Transformation Station.
I’m your host, Gregory Favazza.

Today is going to be an interesting episode.

For those of you who are new to the show, go ahead and subscribe. You’re about to see why.

The last two recordings I attempted for potential new episodes completely fell apart. And I think this is actually a good opportunity to share part of that experience with you.

What listeners typically see is the finished episode. What they don’t see is everything happening behind the scenes.

Setting up interviews.
Researching guests.
Preparing questions.
Trying to determine whether someone truly has something meaningful to contribute.

With the rise of AI and online marketing, it has become harder to distinguish between real expertise and people who simply know how to say the right things.

That leads into the focus of today’s episode.

How do we recognize authentic leadership versus performative expertise?

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Military Leadership Expectations

Gregory Favazza — 01:40

The first recording I’m referencing involved someone with prior military service.

On paper, this person looked like an excellent guest. Over 25 years of service, retiring from the Army as a Colonel in logistics operations and planning.

That kind of background normally suggests deep leadership experience.

But when the recording started, something felt off.

One of the things military service often instills is presence, authenticity, and accountability.

Those qualities weren’t showing up in the conversation the way I expected.

And that caught me off guard.

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The Agentic Shift

Gregory Favazza — 03:00

Part of why it took a moment to recognize that comes from something psychologists call the agentic shift.

The term is associated with research by Philip Zimbardo and discussions around authority in studies like the Stanford Prison Experiment.

The basic idea is that within hierarchical systems, people often respond automatically to authority.

In the military, for example, if you encounter a senior officer, your reaction is immediate.

Stand at attention.
Render a salute.

Those behaviors become automatic responses built through training.

Even after leaving the military, that instinct can remain.

You see the rank, the credentials, and your brain automatically shifts into a mode of deference.

But eventually you step back and realize you’re no longer operating inside that structure.

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Second Interview Example

Gregory Favazza — 06:00

The second recording involved a conversation with Jim Carlo.

This conversation highlighted something that happens frequently in leadership discussions.

Sometimes people acknowledge your point with phrases like:

“Yes, I agree.”

But then they continue speaking without actually addressing the substance of the question.

That conversational pattern can feel dismissive.

So I want to play a portion of that exchange and break down what was happening.

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Interview Clip

Jim Carlo — 07:55

“Seven of the ten reasons people quit their job are directly related to their leader.”

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Gregory Favazza — 08:03

Yes, I can understand that.

Leadership affects clarity of roles, expectations, work-life balance, and psychological safety.

But I’m curious how much that statistic varies across industries.

For example, in blue-collar environments or labor-heavy industries, leadership structures may operate differently.

Many supervisors in those environments move up through experience rather than formal management training.

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Jim Carlo — 12:30

That actually illustrates something common in organizations.

Many companies promote the most technically skilled employee into management roles.

But those individuals are often never trained to lead people.

That creates what some call an “accidental manager.”

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The AI Leadership Question

Gregory Favazza — 13:10

At that point, I shifted the conversation toward a different issue.

Artificial intelligence.

AI tools are becoming embedded in nearly every workplace system.

So the question I asked was this:

What happens to leadership decision-making when AI becomes a daily cognitive tool?

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Gregory Favazza — 14:20

AI cannot replace leadership.

But it can influence how decisions are made.

We already see a similar pattern with smartphones.

Many people today struggle to remember even a few phone numbers because devices store that information for us.

Technology changes how we process information.

So the question becomes:

What happens when leaders rely on AI systems for reasoning assistance every day?

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AI and Organizational Decision-Making

Jim Carlo — 18:45

AI tools are already used in hiring.

Many organizations use automated systems to screen resumes.

But those systems cannot evaluate human factors such as cultural alignment, commitment, or leadership potential.

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Gregory Favazza — 19:30

That raises another issue.

If AI is involved in screening candidates, that means leadership decisions are already partially influenced by algorithmic systems.

So the long-term question becomes how organizations balance efficiency with human judgment.

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Leadership Reflection

Gregory Favazza — 21:30

What this conversation ultimately highlighted for me is something important about leadership credibility.

True leadership requires the ability to challenge your own assumptions.

A learning organization cannot exist if its leaders are unwilling to reconsider their perspectives.

Technology has made it easier than ever to create the appearance of expertise.

Books can be produced quickly.
Marketing can amplify authority.

But appearance and expertise are not the same thing.

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Closing Thoughts

Gregory Favazza — 24:00

If you’re currently in a leadership or management position, it’s worth asking yourself a simple question:

Are you still operating from an outdated leadership model?

Or are you actively adapting to the realities of modern organizations?

Because employees today expect more than command-and-control leadership.

They expect clarity.
Respect.
And the opportunity to grow.

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Gregory Favazza — 25:25

This is Your Transformation Station.

Thanks for tuning in.

I’ll see you next week.