Aristotle, AI, and the Search for Human Wisdom with Anna Gallotti

Join seasoned master coach and innovator Anna Gallotti as she explores the frontier of the "collective learning curve" in the age of ChatGPT. Having developed her own AI avatar to support clients between sessions, Anna reveals why technology should augment human power rather than replace the coach’s presence.

In this episode, we bridge the gap between ancient philosophy and future tech, discussing:

• The Aristotelian Edge: Why information and technique are no match for the embodied experience that remains profoundly human.
• Radical Autonomy: How to use AI "nudges" to keep clients on track without creating a dangerous dependency on the machine.
• The Value of Imperfection: Why our human vulnerability and mistakes are our greatest differentiators for human development.
• Life-Centered Design: Moving beyond the human-centered approach to become actors in an ever-evolving world.

Are you ready to reassess your role as a human coach? Tune in to discover how to navigate the ethical, inclusive, and deeply personal future of coaching.

About Anna Gallotti

Anna is an ICF Master Certified Coach, researcher, and a leading voice in the evolution of leadership within a human + AI world. With over 25 years of experience coaching C-suite leaders and global teams, she helps executives uncover their unique "leadership signature" and navigate complex cultural transformations. As the founder of Share Global Coaching and the Group Coaching Institute, she is a pioneer in integrating AI into coaching practice to augment human agency and strengthen client autonomy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annagallotti/?skipRedirect=true

https://share-coach.com/

https://www.groupcoachinginstitute.com/

Host: Susan Caesar

https://www.humain.org/

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome. If you've been following my work at Humane, you know we spend a lot of time looking at how organizations can remain resilient and humane in this age of rapid acceleration. But there is another layer to this story, one that is quieter, more personal, and perhaps even more vital. I've come to believe that as our technology becomes faster and more automated, our humanity must become deeper. We are moving into an era where coaching isn't just a professional service, it's becoming the connective tissue of our society, a human fabric that helps us navigate complexity in every domain, from our schools and hospitals to how we lead our communities and care for our planet. That is why I'm launching this separate series, Humane Coaches. While humane leadership focuses on the how of organizational resilience, humane coaches is a dedicated space for the who. It is a global inquiry into coaching wisdom, exploring what it means to be a presence bearer in a world that often feels all tired and overwhelmed. In this show, we aren't just talking about productivity or performance metrics. We are talking about presence, human development, and transformation. We are talking about the ancient art of listening and the modern necessity of helping humanity grow wider as we co-evolve with the systems we've built. Whether you're a professional coach, a leader holding space for others, or simply someone curious about how we stay human together, there is a place for you here. So welcome, Anna. Would you like to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yes, thank you, Susan. So I'm Anna Galotti, I'm Italian, lived in France for 20 years, and then now I live between France and the United States. I've been a coach for the last 25 years, so doing individual team group coaching. I have a coaching school, a group coaching institute. And I've been into AI very soon because I was the chair of the Thought Leadership Institute at ICF at the very beginning of ChatGPT, and this is where I discovered AI and AI in coaching. And then, as you know, I was part of the task force coaching and AI at ICF, and now I'm with you on the AI Coaching and AI council, working very happily with you. And I do also research in coaching and AI with the Italian chapter, but also I published uh research at Colombia. So I'm into the space and I love to learn, discover. So, all what's new.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Perfect. Yes, and thank you so much for everything that you do for the community and the collaboration with the council and the uh the wider community. Yeah. It's going to be an informal conversation. I'm curious if we start the conversation by perhaps sharing an observation you might have had of a meaningful moment where you've observed human connection with AI coming together in coaching.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

So um I experienced AI in coaching myself because I have an avatar of AI of myself. So I'm still building it. But the thing is, uh I made this choice because I wanted to my clients to have coaching in between the sessions to sustain their action plan. And this is how I use it. I would say it augments, not me, my coaching, I would say, the power of my coaching, and also helps my client to sustain their action plan and to have a presence. I'm very clear with them that they need to use it carefully because it's a boss, it's not perfect, and that they need to use it only in the moment they need really to sustain their action plan, not every day, not becoming dependent on it, and always thinking with their own brain what they really want beyond what the chat tells them or invite them to do. So for me, this is meaningful because I put the human at the center. And for me, also it's important to put the human choice at the center of all this process. Because at the end, we do not have to delegate our choices to AI, even if it seems super intelligent and knowing it all. We need to have our own choices of what is good for us. So, this is what I tell my clients, and it's important because for me the ultimate goal of coaching is to create autonomy, so to have our clients autonomous with their own objectives. And of course, if we uh give an AI, we need to strengthen this autonomy, not draw it from them.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I like the way that you've introduced it as part of your practice and you're being very clear about the guidance and where it's helpful and where it's not. How are your clients? What comments might they make to you? What experiences are they sharing with you about how you're guiding them?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

So it's uh it's funny because it's very new for them, as for me. So we are learning on the way, and I'm very open with it because I'm still tweaking it so that it improves, uh, so it's not far from perfect. I would say there is the fun part of the discovery, the mutual discovery, but also the surprise, because they say, Oh, it's powerful, it's useful. And uh we enjoy having these nudges from time to time from the chat box because it keeps me on track with my objectives, and if I want, I connect with it, otherwise I don't. So I would say the fun, the fun part, and then the discovery, the surprise, and also you know, uh witnessing that it's useful. And there are some clients who really like it, others less. So I leave them the freedom to decide if they want to use it or not, what they want to do with it. So it's a free trial, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

And I guess as you're experimenting in that discovery space, as we experiment and learn with AI, how do how do we what are the principles that we need to think through or keep to ensure AI remains human-centered, ethical, and inclusive?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

First of all, that's why I created, I would say, an avatar, not because I think highly of myself. It's more uh because I wanted to put my content, my philosophy. So I don't want to have a rogue AI, you know, working for me and instead of me. So this is for me is uh it's a very important principle. The other principle is that I inquired a lot about the confidentiality of the conversation, and the guy who is developing it uh told me also that I can go into the conversation. So this is a conversation I had with my client previously, and I asked them, do you want me to check on your conversation? Yes, no, uh, how do you feel about it? So total transparency, that's a key element. As I said before, choice. And then also, you know, I invite my client to discuss about it. Um of course, it's not part of the whole session, but let's say five minutes in the session, how do you feel about it? Did you feel comfortable? So I continuously check if they feel comfortable with it, if they want to keep using it or not. So that's for me extremely important. And also I ask them for feedback, uh, you know, is they're talking about inclusiveness, you know, do you feel comfortable with it? That does it address properly to you, uh, all this stuff that for me is extremely important, so that it's uh inclusive, they feel comfortable and they are happy with it or not, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

If we imagine one shift that could positively shape the next chapter of coaching, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

So it's the positively. So I put some nuance here because on one side, uh, I think that it can positively shape coaching, because first of all, it's a learning curve for us as coaches. So it's a moment where we need to reassess ourselves. What are our competencies as human coaches? What is our differentiator? So it challenges us, and for me, this is extremely positive. Because, you know, coaches were used to not to be challenged apart from by the clients, but now we are challenged to become even better professionals. For me, this is huge. This is a really a big benefit. And myself, I challenge myself and I say, Am I still a good professional? What do I need to change? How do I can become even more human with my clients? So this is extremely positive for me. The other positive thing is the learning curve, you know, the collective learning curve. It's important for me to create this community around AI, to share our experiences, to learn from each other, to reflect on when it's a benefit for the client or not. So to open up discussions among us, I think that's a meaningful discussion, of course. So that's a real plus for me, and that's why I also I give conferences because I like uh, you know, to teach. I don't consider myself an expert because I'm still learning a lot, but you know, to telecoaches, think by yourself, the choices, the ethical aspects. So it brings us to question ourselves on fundamental topics like the ethics. Here again, this is very positive. And then the nuances were the danger where us or our clients relay too much on AI. So this for me is a huge point of attention. And the other challenge we may have as coaches, and I I've heard some coaches having it, is that their clients they use AI as a coach. So they say, oh, um, ChatGPT, whoever, whatever AI coach or not AI coach told me to do this and that, gave me this and that suggestions. And this is where we need to be mindful as coaches to bring back the client to what they want to avoid a dependency. Because for me, the biggest issue and danger is dependency.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

So if you look on the horizon, what about coaching stays the same and what changes?

SPEAKER_01 11:55

I would say coaching will not stay the same. I'm convinced that because things evolve, the world evolves beyond AI. So we need to evolve with our clients, with the world around us to stay connected to our clients as well. So, for example, what I tell coaches in in my conferences is you cannot avoid AI. You cannot, you can decide if you want to use it or not, but you you need to know what's happening out there because your clients are heavily impacted by it. In the horizon, the changes are, as they say, challenges for us to keep up not much with the speed of AI, but with the being informed and to give our clients informed food for thoughts. The other thing is that the answer is that I don't know. Because AI will bring societal changes, they will bring uh uh changes in the business. Everything I think will change because of AI and not only AI. Our uh destiny, I would say, and I said it's positively, is to change with the world.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Yep, to life-centered design, as I've talked about, is uh beyond human-centered, now it's life-centered, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Exactly. So we need to be actor and support our our clients to be actors of their own life, whatever is happening outside themselves. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us today? I would like to uh to share one thing is that wisdom is something that comes from experience. That's why I like to go back to Aristotle. As you as you know, I like this philosopher because he said that we can learn the technique, we can learn information, but at the end of the day, the embodied experience is what stays with us and is profoundly human. And the other thing I would like to say is that AI makes mistakes, but we don't necessarily see them. And we need to accept to be vulnerable, that ourselves will make mistakes and go beyond this illusion that AI will be perfect one day. Because imperfection is inherently human. So it's part of us. And so if we accept that we make mistakes, mistakes as coaches, we can invite our clients to open up to this vulnerability.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Well, Anna, thank you very much for your time today and sharing your experience and your insights. It's great that you've uh created your own avatar, your your little bot. That's great. Interesting to hear about it. Thank you. Thank you, Susan, for having me. It's a pleasure. Thank you.