AI Demands Are Taking A Toll On Business Leaders, Says Psychologist

One of the defining characteristics of leadership is the continuous pressure to deliver results for an organization. In addition, this expectation must be balanced with managing any associated risks. Determining the right set of actions to achieve positive outcomes while also protecting the business is both a science and an art.

Leveraging the value of emerging technologies is an example of this challenge. These solutions often arrive offering remarkable promise, but they also carry significant uncertainty. For many, the desire to move quickly to adopt these technologies and capture a first-mover advantage means accepting significant uncertainty and risk.

As an emerging technology, generative AI has proven to be unique in this regard. While its value has been demonstrated quickly in many business functions, the pressure on leaders to fully exploit its potential and find novel revenue-generating uses has created a high degree of anxiety in the C-suite.

The speed, uncertainty, and expectations surrounding AI are creating a new form of leadership pressure that traditional coping and change-management approaches may not be equipped to handle.

The Growing Pressure To Deliver AI Returns

Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier is a leadership psychologist and executive coach based in Vancouver, Canada. After a successful corporate career, she started her own practice and for over a decade she’s been helping senior leaders strengthen their decision-making, resilience, and effectiveness under sustained pressure.

After years of working one-on-one with leaders on traditional workplace issues such as dysfunctional business relationships and the complexities of managing teams and projects, she has begun to notice a new trend emerging in her client sessions.

Leaders deal with change and pressure all the time, but Pelletier observed that something was really different about the expectations imposed by the arrival of AI in the enterprise.