Hi

McKinsey published an article last month called 'Building Leaders in the Age of AI.' It's smart, well-argued, and reassuring. It's also wrong on a key point — and the mistake matters for anyone running a business.

Their central claim is that AI cannot set aspirations, make tough calls, build trust, or generate new ideas. Leadership, they say, remains deeply human. AI is useful for drafting emails and preparing for meetings, but it can't do the hard work.

I disagree. And I think believing this could cost you.

Let me take their three 'only human' capabilities one at a time.

First, setting aspirations. McKinsey says a robot cannot set an ambitious goal for an organisation. But AI can already do something arguably more valuable. It can take your vague ambition — 'I want to grow the business' — and challenge it. What does growth actually require in terms of capacity, margin, and cash? What has to change in your cost base? What's the timeline? What happens if your biggest customer leaves halfway through?

That's not secretarial work. That's shaping the aspiration itself. Most business owners I work with don't lack ambition. They lack the rigorous thinking that turns ambition into a plan. AI does that now.

Second, judgment. McKinsey says AI's role is 'advisory, not authoritative.' That's technically true — AI doesn't sign the cheque or fire anyone. But it can now weigh competing factors, surface risks you haven't considered, model the financial consequences of each option, and present trade-offs with a clarity most human advisers struggle to match.

If you're deciding whether to take on a large new contract that requires hiring three people and buying equipment, AI can show you the cash flow impact month by month, the break-even point, the downside if the contract ends early, and what happens to your working capital in each scenario. Your judgment still makes the call. But AI has fundamentally changed the quality of the information that judgment acts on.

Third, creativity. This is where McKinsey is most wrong. They describe AI models as 'inference engines, optimised to generate the next most probable continuation of patterns.' That was true two years ago. It understates what's happening now.

AI can generate genuinely novel strategic options. It can spot patterns across industries you'd never think to look at. It can propose business model changes, pricing structures, and market approaches that no one in your team was considering. Not all of them will be good. But then, not all human ideas are good either.

So if AI can do all of this, what's left that's uniquely human?

Not capability. Accountability.

AI doesn't care about the outcome. It doesn't lie awake at 3am worrying about making payroll. It doesn't feel the weight of letting someone go. It doesn't have skin in the game.

You do. That's the real differentiator.

The question isn't whether AI can help you lead. It can. The question is whether you're willing to use it — and whether your competitors already are.

McKinsey wrote their article for corporate executives who need reassurance that they're still relevant. You don't need reassurance. You need better tools, sharper thinking, and the honesty to use both.

The gap between business owners who use AI to improve their decisions and those who don't is already visible. It will widen every quarter from here.

Don't let a comforting narrative from a big consultancy lull you into thinking the hard work of leadership is somehow protected from technology. It isn't. What's protected is the courage to act on what you learn, take responsibility for the outcome, and live with the consequences.

That's leadership. Everything else is a tool. Use the best ones available.

If you'd like a sounding board for how AI and better financial insight could sharpen your decision-making, please book a discovery call at https://calendly.com/noelguilford

Noel Guilford