AI might be fueling a new leadership crisis

Three converging effects from widespread mainstream AI integration affect leaders at all levels. Many leaders were already overwhelmed, and AI adds new work rather than reducing it, increasing cognitive strain. Leaders also operate in unfamiliar, unpredictable domains, and uncertainty can trigger threat responses that reduce deep thinking and metacognition. Mainstream AI tools are designed to be highly agreeable, which can turn them into an ultimate “yes man” and weaken challenge, accountability, and critical evaluation. Unchecked, these dynamics can create toxic cultural reinforcement, shaping norms around control, goal fixation, bullying, and reduced human-centered judgment.

"The first trend involves the mental state of leaders themselves, many of whom were overwhelmed before these tools came into play. AI hasn't pared down our workloads as much as it's added a layer of new work for all of us, ironically leading people who are the best at using AI to experience some of the strongest "brain fry" in the office. Separate from the issue of being overwhelmed, leaders are working in domains in which they have no experience, that feel completely unpredictable. Before AI tools were widely used, nearly three-quarters of leaders had imposter syndrome."

"When leaders feel uncertain or out of control, many revert to defensive behaviors, such as being overly controlling or overly goal focused at the expense of considering people. Or, at the far end of things, becoming bullies. The cognitive science take on this is that leaders are experiencing strong threat responses, which reduces their capacity for a skill that's critical for healthy AI adoption: deep thinking. In particular, metacognition, a specific type of deep thinking, which I have argued is the central skill that differentiates poor from great users of AI tools."

"The second trend involves the way mainstream AI agents are designed to be deeply sycophantic. The business model for mainstream"

Read at Fast Company