I spent the last 48 hours helping someone I care about through an emotional rollercoaster and I was riding it myself. By Monday afternoon, I was emotionally drained, and an AI was handling the situation better than I was.
That should have been humbling. Instead, it made perfect sense.
I was curious, so I asked the AI directly how it could show empathy without having feelings. It explained that it doesn’t feel empathy, but it recognizes the patterns in language that signal when someone needs support and validation. See the screenshots below.
That explanation clarified a problem I see leaders facing every day. We know driving AI transformation is a people challenge, not a tech one. We know we need to be patient and understanding with our teams to calm their fears, but that’s emotionally draining. We all have days when we can’t be at our best for every single situation.
AI had a process for recognizing when someone needed understanding and responding appropriately. It didn’t get tired. It didn’t have a bad day. It listened and reflected back what it heard.
We can use that same approach to help us show up better for our teams. Here are three practical ways:
➡︎ Practice the hard conversations before they happen.
Talk through what you want to say with an AI. Ask it to role-play as a worried team member. This helps you get comfortable with the words.
➡︎ Check your message for fear triggers.
Before you send that email about the new AI pilot, paste it into an AI. Ask: “If my team is already anxious about AI, how will this land?” You’ll catch things you miss when you’re focused on the business case.
➡︎ Debrief after difficult conversations.
Describe what happened to an AI and ask what you might have missed. It’s like having a coach who never judges and helps you see blind spots.
The biggest fear I hear is that AI will make work feel less human. I think the opposite is true. Used thoughtfully, AI can help us be more consistently human. It can help us show up as our best selves for our teams, especially on the days when that feels the hardest.
The goal is to make sure we have the emotional bandwidth to connect when our teams need us most.
