Ep 237 AI and Your Personal Board of Directors

Throughout the session, AI is framed as a thinking partner and perspective-expander, not a decision maker. Human judgment, values, and responsibility remain central.

AI is changing fast. Humans aren’t.

In this episode, we explore how leaders can integrate AI thoughtfully by treating it as part of a personal board of directors rather than another tool to chase. We look at life stages, inner circles of support, and how AI can serve as a strategic partner without replacing human judgment.

This conversation is for leaders who want to stay grounded, intentional, and human while navigating rapid change.

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Transcript

Humanergy (00:10)
Hey everybody, thanks for being with us. This is another one of our free workshops. We host these every month, you can check out the schedule on our website.

Today’s session is about what it means to lead humans in an AI-driven world. Not just keeping up with the technology, but staying thoughtful, grounded, and intentional as leaders while everything around us keeps accelerating. You’ll hear ideas about using AI as support, something that can help clarify thinking and create perspective as complexity increases.

One quick note before we get started. AI is meant to support your judgment, not replace it. Leadership still requires human discernment, values, and responsibility. We explore that idea more deeply in episode 236 of the Humanergy Leadership Podcast if you want to go back and listen.

With that in mind, let’s get started.

Corey Fernandez (00:58)
Alright, welcome y’all. Thank you so much for being here. I always want to start with thank yous. We know you’re busy. We know you have a lot on your mind and a lot on your calendar. So when you carve out space to be here and learn with other leaders, we really appreciate it.

One of the things I value most about this space is that knowing you’re going to show up gives us time to think more deeply about topics that really matter to us as leaders.

My role today, having spent time thinking about this topic of leading humans in an AI-driven world, is to challenge our thinking and hopefully bring some clarity by the end.

Before I jump in, I want to welcome you to February. I think this is actually a really cool month, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. The Northern Hemisphere is tilting back toward the sun again. So I want to wish you moments of apricity, moments of feeling the warmth of the sun in winter. You’ll find those moments in February and March if you’re paying attention.

With that, let’s get into our topic.

When we think about leading humans in an AI-driven world, I think it helps to go back to our roots a bit. Human beings have always been incredibly capable of adapting alongside technology. We’ve introduced new technologies for centuries, experienced disruption, and evolved alongside them.

We’ve actually been pretty good at bringing technology to the table and giving it a proper place. As new technologies come along, we adapt, evolve, and integrate.

What’s different with AI is the speed. The rate of change and integration is intense. If you look at the industry right now, it’s valued at roughly $250 billion and expected to quadruple in the next five years. No wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed, like we’re constantly behind or missing out.

It’s hard enough to stay centered ourselves, let alone help our people stay centered and balanced as they try to integrate AI responsibly. This is an intense moment.

At the same time, while technology is changing exponentially, humans are still changing linearly. We move through life stages, entering and exiting them over time, just as we always have.

Historically, when life changes, we instinctively gather inner circles of support. We reach out to people we trust to help us navigate change, confusion, and hard transitions. That instinct predates any technology.

In the business world, we often call this an inner circle a “personal board of directors.” It’s a small, intentional group of trusted advisors who help us navigate career and life decisions, offering perspective and support.

If you want to go deeper into the traditional structure of a personal board of directors, David Wheatley covers this well in episode 211 of the Humanergy Leadership Podcast.

As I was preparing for today, I kept coming back to three ideas.
 First, we need to honor our evolution as human beings and the life stages we’re moving through.
 Second, we need to continue leaning on our instinct to gather inner circles of support.
 Third, as leaders, we need to be intentional about giving AI a strategic role on our personal board of directors.

The question is how to do that well.

For me, this starts with my family. My wife and I have four healthy parents, two in their mid-70s and two in their late-70s. We know we’re entering a complex life stage. We’re part of the sandwich generation, navigating kids on one side and aging parents on the other. This is hard, regardless of AI.

So I started asking, how do I build a personal board of directors that actually supports this stage of life?

First, I decided to look beyond family members and coworkers. I wanted people outside my world who could offer different perspectives.

I landed on three categories.

High-trust partners. These are long-term relationships where there’s no agenda, just mutual support. People I can share life events with and navigate emotional highs and lows.

Growth partners. These can be long- or short-term. They involve structure, goals, and accountability, things like fitness coaches or financial advisors.

Transactional partners. These are short-term, expertise-based relationships with clear endpoints, like a lawyer or subject-matter expert.

When I mapped this out, I intentionally included AI in each category.

Some of my growth partners are AI. For example, a fitness coach. I have a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old and limited time. AI helps me think creatively about movement and health using the environment I already have.

Another is end-of-life preparation. This is emotionally hard work. AI can help me think through conversations, decisions, and planning so I show up more prepared and thoughtful.

I also use AI as a cultural and political challenger. We live in polarized times, and I have my own biases. AI can help me test assumptions and stay more open-minded so I’m a better leader, parent, and community member.

On the transactional side, I’m using AI to help with home energy use and travel planning. One helps me be a better steward of resources and money. The other helps us create meaningful experiences with our parents while we still can.

When AI is integrated this way, it becomes a strategic partner, not just a tool.

The more intentional I am about this, the more authentic I can be as a role model for the people I lead. That’s the real opportunity here.

We’re never going to keep up with every AI tool. The goal isn’t to chase everything. It’s to make strategic choices about which tools actually support us through hard, messy life stages.

So here’s what I’d offer as a starting point.

Be curious about your current life stage and challenges.
 Take note of the people already on your personal board of directors.
 Identify gaps in support.
 Prioritize those gaps and ask where AI could play a role.
 And most importantly, block time for consistent experimentation.

If we’re just dabbling, AI never becomes a strategic asset. But if we treat it like a real partnership and practice intentionally, the value compounds.

I’ll close with a quote from Jeff Woods, author of The AI-Driven Leader.

“Most AI tools don’t matter. That’s not judgment, it’s pattern recognition. Keeping up with every new release rarely creates advantage. Turning a tool into a strategic asset does.”

That’s the path forward. Leading humans in an AI-driven world means using AI intentionally, as a strategic asset, not as noise.