Why Do We Still Need a Human Touch in the Age of AI?

As both an endurance athlete and coach, and someone who has spent years partnering with senior HR and business leaders globally, I have recently been reflecting on the parallels between endurance coaching and the evolving role of leadership in today’s business environment.

Over the past few months, particularly among newer and less experienced endurance athletes, I have seen a growing reliance on AI-generated training programs as these tools become increasingly sophisticated, accessible and often available at little or no cost.

Interestingly, many more experienced athletes still tend to place significant value on working with an experienced coach who can provide a far more tailored and nuanced approach beyond simply generating a training schedule.

The appeal is obvious.

Many of these platforms are free or available at very low cost, and can instantly generate structured training plans, recovery recommendations, performance analysis and race simulations. In many cases, the quality is genuinely impressive.

However, what quickly becomes clear is that there remains a significant difference between an algorithm-generated program and a truly tailored approach from an experienced coach who understands the athlete as an individual.

The best coaches continually adapt based on context, psychology, fatigue, motivation, stress, strengths, weaknesses and long-term development rather than simply optimising around training data.

Ultimately, the value lies not just the program itself, but also in the judgement, trust, anticipation, accountability and human understanding that underpin it.

I believe there is a strong parallel here for leadership among CEOs, Boards, HR and the wider corporate functions.

AI is already revolutionising the workplace at a remarkable pace. Across industries, organisations are automating processes, restructuring teams, and fundamentally rethinking how work gets done. This wave of change is unavoidable and, in many ways, essential.

At the same time, AI is also significantly raising the bar.

If technology can increasingly provide technical outputs, analytics, benchmarking, summaries and recommendations faster and more cost-effectively than ever before, then the capabilities that become truly differentiating are likely to be the deeply human ones.

The leaders and professionals who will continue to generate value will be those who can act as trusted advisors, influence stakeholders, coach leaders through ambiguity, navigate organisational complexity, manage sensitive situations, anticipate challenges before they emerge and build credibility over time.

In many ways, the same principle applies in business as it does in sport.

AI can deliver a robust technical baseline quickly and efficiently. However, the real value often comes from experienced coaches, leaders, and business partners who can customise their approach to fit the individual, the organisation, and the broader context, rather than applying a standardised solution to every challenge.

Some of the most capable business leaders I have worked with over the years — across all functions of an organisation — were rarely defined solely by technical expertise. What set them apart was judgment, empathy, communication, commercial understanding, and their ability to build trust during times of uncertainty, transformation, and pressure.

This is equally significant at the CEO and Board level. The most effective senior leaders are often those who can combine data and technology with perspective, emotional intelligence, sound judgement and the ability to rally people around difficult decisions.

Ironically, as AI automates more technical and transactional tasks, these human abilities may become even more significant rather than less.

Technical expertise will continue to matter enormously, but it may increasingly become the standard expectation rather than a genuine differentiator.

The differentiator will be the ability to turn expertise into influence, alignment, trust, and action.

Those who continue to develop these capabilities will remain highly relevant in an AI-driven world.

Those who do not risk becoming obsolete.

AI can build a very good training program.

But when situations become uncertain, challenging, or under high pressure, most athletes still want a coach they trust.

Leadership is no different.

As organisations continue to evolve through disruption, transformation and AI adoption, the value of trusted partnership, coaching, influence, empathy and judgement may ultimately become even more significant than before.

Not despite AI.