Modern leadership was designed for people who feel. We motivate, inspire, and create psychological safety because teams need it. AI agents do not. They simulate rapport, offer apologies, and mirror empathy, yet nothing in the system actually feels. As these agents take over, leaders spend more time in human–AI exchanges and less time in human–human conversation. The result is a predictable collapse of the old playbook.

Research shows why this matters. Sustained chatbot use and heavy AI interaction are associated with loneliness, emotional and social avoidance, and empathic drift. When connection is rehearsed with machines, real conflict finds leaders dulled: presence fades, listening weakens, judgment blurs. Confidence erodes, culture splinters, execution slows.

This session is a proposal to rebuild. I will introduce an evolution of Authentic Leadership tailored for dual-mode work. The pillars remain familiar. Self-awareness becomes noticing how AI interactions shape tone and judgment. Relational transparency becomes labeling AI influence in decisions. Balanced processing becomes separating model output from human deliberation before the call is made. Moral perspective becomes a set of non-delegable decisions that stay human by design. It is a set of behaviors leaders can adopt now to protect relational intelligence while AI accelerates the work.

With more than twenty years in executive leadership across cybersecurity and IT operations and a graduate degree in Mindful Leadership I will ground this approach in current literature on agency, cognition, AI-driven leadership capability, and my own practice. The session translates that mix of research and experience into concrete choices leaders can make today.

Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of why modern leadership frameworks built to motivate and protect people who feel fail in AI-heavy environments; why sustained AI use and anthropomorphism is linked to loneliness, emotional and social avoidance, and empathy drift, resulting in leaders lacking presence and judgement in human conflict; and how to adopt an evolved Authentic Leadership model that bridges human–human and human–AI work by establishing a non-delegable decision charter, dissent by design, AI influence disclosure, and human-only conversation topics. These are leadership norms and decision policies that can be implemented now, without new tools, to keep leadership human while the machines run faster.