Future Leaders - People v. AI, pt. 1

“Empathy is not sympathy. It doesn’t mean that you rub [your soldiers’] bellies and ask them how they feel every morning. What it means is that you can see [the situation] through their eyes.” — Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal

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Like money, ideas move in patterns. 3 years ago, empathy and EQ were the hot assets in managerial consulting. Now these same consultants hide while Mark Zuckerberg demands a return to “masculine leadership” (whatever that means), and the US President leads our country in a style we’ll conservatively call “not empathetic.” Want to see the hot-cold trend in numbers? Check out this chart from a recent Springer analysis of leadership research.¹

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So we need to talk about the future of leadership. I see 2 paths.

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1. We keep devaluing EQ like a collapsing NFT bubble. AI eats our jobs and rules the world. Future leaders could be either robot tyrants or tyrant robots, but they’re both bad and no one is asking you anyway.

2. We accelerate IQ and EQ at every level of leadership. AI devours our todo lists and scales our productivity while multiplying innate human leadership and vision. Future leaders are AI assisted superhumans who balance IQ and EQ like they’ve had 6 millennia of practice.

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If AI can accelerate both efficiency and empathy — IQ and EQ — the real question becomes, “Does EQ still matter in the age of AI?” The researchers above ultimately decide, “Our research design was open to identifying both positive and negative effects of empathetic leaders. Our findings underscore that empathy in leadership is predominantly associated with positive outcomes, justifying its relevance.”

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Ok, empathy is relevant. That seems obvious. We know empathy makes work life better. We’re asking whether it’s economically effective in the AI age. The 2025 EQ pullback follows a global down market where Boards are pressuring CEO’s for immediate financial results. That highlights an assumption that empathy is somehow anti-effective.

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In fact, this global research spanning 38 countries proves the opposite.² Impressively, empathetic leaders perform better than their peers in the eyes of their bosses. But are those bosses also just bedazzled by the empathetic leader’s thoughtful charisma?

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Probably not. In the 38 country study, subordinates judged their leaders based on empathy itself, but bosses judged those leaders based on goal performance and competence. So high EQ leaders are truly more effective in the near term.

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And what about long term effectiveness? This study³ and many others directly connect leader empathy to team innovation, concluding that empathetic leadership is “positively correlated to employee’s innovative behavior.” I think even capitalist cynics will agree that innovation is the precondition of long term effectiveness, i.e. future profit.

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If empathy is so effective, why Zuck’s big MMA rebrand? Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal explains in the Army Press,

“Leaders must not confuse empathy with ‘going soft’…While sincere concern and compassion may occur as a by-product, empathy is about gaining understanding, not generating personal feelings.”

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Today’s CEOs are armlocked by a rampant misconception of empathy, specifically that it comprises feelings which interfere with effectiveness. In fact, empathy is highly effective, deeply innovative, and psychologically sustainable. IQ and EQ are critical for future human leaders. Armlock escaped.

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Future businesses will be built by next-gen workforces combining the best of human and AI talent. Business leaders will command fleets of delegated agents with one breath, then move the heart of a nation with the next. Humans must exponentially accelerate our natural leadership IQ and EQ — scaled delegation and high touch communication — to stay relevant in the AI age.

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A new age is coming.

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At LeaderX we are on a mission to add leadership superpowers to your existing Zoom meetings, and prepare humanity for a better future (learn more here). We will be building in public and blogging as we go. Please follow, share, and most importantly contribute to the discussion. Together we will create the future of human leadership.

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¹ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11301-024-00472-7/figures/2

² https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S104898431100107X

³ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11150825/

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