Not Everything Can Be Automated: The Case for Experiential Learning in Leadership Development
Introduction: The Human Edge in an Automated World
It is 2025, and algorithms are encroaching on nearly every aspect of work. From AI-driven recruitment to automated training modules, the promise of automation is alluring – consistency, scalability, efficiency. A new manager in London might complete a slick online leadership course, complete with AI chatbots and virtual simulations.
Yet on her first day facing a genuine team crisis – a conflict between team members threatening a project deadline – she freezes. The e-learning quizzes and video lectures had not prepared her for the messy reality of emotions and high stakes. In that pivotal moment, she discovers a hard truth: not everything can be automated when it comes to developing real leadership acumen.
This scenario is familiar to Learning and Development (L&D) professionals across the UK. We have seen leaders who ace theoretical assessments but falter when the situation calls for on-the-spot judgment, empathy, and resilience.
No matter how advanced our digital training tools become, leadership at all levels – from emerging managers to seasoned executives – remains as much art as science. And art is learned by doing. This blog explores why experiential learning is irreplaceable in leadership development, examining recent research, industry case studies, and compelling statistics that make the case loud and clear. Automation has its place in L&D, but when it comes to shaping effective leaders, experience is the master teacher.
The Allure of Automation in Leadership Development
It is easy to understand why organisations gravitate towards automation in training. Digital learning platforms can roll out modules to thousands of employees at the click of a button. AI can personalise content to learners’ needs, and Virtual Reality (VR) can simulate scenarios that feel lifelike.
The corporate e-learning market is booming – valued at over $100 billion globally and projected to grow over 20% annually (Source: grandviewresearch.com) – as companies invest in scalable tech solutions to upskill their people. The logic is simple: if automation has streamlined operations and analytics, why not leadership training too?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies dramatically increased their use of virtual training out of necessity. Webinars replaced workshops, and interactive simulations replaced in-person roleplays. Even as offices reopened, many L&D budgets remained focused on tech.
After all, automated learning promises consistency and cost-effectiveness. Consider VR-based training: a study by PwC found that VR learners completed leadership training four times faster than classroom learners on average (Source: pwc.co.uk).
Even more striking, VR-trained learners were apparently 275% more confident in applying what they learned, compared to those who attended traditional classes (Source: pwc.co.uk). Stats like these are hard for any L&D manager to ignore. Automation and technology clearly have a powerful role to play – they can accelerate learning, reduce costs, and even improve certain outcomes.
However, the rush to automate can overlook a crucial question: What exactly are we teaching our leaders, and is automation the best way to teach it? Leadership is not a purely technical skill you can drill with endless repetition.
Developments in leadership theory and practice over the last 70 years or so have confirmed that leadership is a complex interplay of mindset, behaviour, and context. An AI-powered training module can teach knowledge – e.g. the steps of a coaching model or the principles of project management – but wisdom often comes from experience. As one McKinsey analysis put it, every successful leader has stories of growth “by dealing with a real problem in a specific context,” and companies with the best leadership programmes know this.
In fact, organisations with effective leadership development were 4 to 5 times more likely to require their leaders-in-training to apply learnings in new, real-world situations and practice on the job (Source: mckinsey.com). In other words, the most successful leadership training is not just a download of information – it is a journey of learning by doing.
Automation can certainly assist that journey. It can provide adaptive content, realistic simulations, and data-driven insights into progress. But it cannot replace the core of how leadership is learned: to borrow a phrase, leadership development is not a spectator sport.
You cannot “outsource” the formation of a leader’s character, judgment, and interpersonal finesse to an algorithm. And expecting an AI or a piece of software to single-handedly produce a great leader is as futile as expecting a flight simulator to produce an ace pilot without ever flying a real plane. As L&D professionals evaluate new training strategies, it is time to balance the scales.
High-tech tools are great, but we must also invest in high-touch experiences. Why? Because certain leadership lessons “still belong entirely to us,” as one leadership expert bluntly stated – AI and automation “can’t lead with integrity, build trust, show courage in the face of conflict, or show compassion when someone is struggling” (Source: hrzone.com). Those quintessential human skills are developed through human experience.
The Human Skills That Technology Can’t Teach
Leadership in any industry – be it a fintech startup in Shoreditch or a manufacturing firm in Manchester – ultimately comes down to people. You lead humans, not machines. And humans are wonderfully complex. They require empathy, inspiration, understanding, and trust.
These are not algorithms to be optimised; they are qualities to be lived and felt. Automation can crunch numbers and even mimic polite conversation through chatbots, but it falls woefully short in nurturing the deeply human skills that great leadership demands.
Take empathy, for example – often cited as a critical leadership trait in the post-pandemic world. In a 2022 Harvard Business Publishing survey, 78% of senior leaders said that demonstrating empathy is highly important in their role. Yet only 54% of employees felt their immediate manager actually exhibits empathy consistently (Source: harvardbusiness.org).
This gap between knowing and doing is exactly where experiential learning comes in. No AI course can truly instil empathy; people cultivate empathy by engaging with others’ perspectives, facing the real impact of their decisions on colleagues, and sometimes by making mistakes and reflecting on them.
The pandemic itself was an experiential crash-course in empathetic leadership for many – suddenly, managers had to feel their way through supporting team members’ mental health and personal challenges, far beyond what any pre-scripted training had covered.
Likewise, skills like communication, conflict resolution, and influence are inherently experiential. You can read all the Harvard Business Review articles in the world about active listening, but it’s only when you’re in a tense meeting, biting your tongue to truly hear a frustrated employee, that you learn what active listening means.
Handling conflict isn’t a multiple-choice quiz; it’s navigating messy, unpredictable conversations. As Jacqueline Carter notes in HRZone, culture and empathy “can’t be automated” – technology might help gather feedback or suggest phrasing, but leading with emotional intelligence “won’t happen without human leadership at the centre” (Source:hrzone.com).
Consider emotional intelligence (EQ), often deemed more important than IQ for leaders. EQ is essentially built through experiences – learning to regulate one’s own reactions, to sense how others feel, and to respond appropriately.
A leader might only truly grasp the importance of psychological safety after seeing a team member shut down in a meeting – a poignant moment that no slide deck can replicate. Trust is another example: a leader cannot download trust-building into their brain; they must earn trust over time, through reliability, credibility, and genuine care, often via shared experiences with their team.
Even advanced technologies acknowledge the need for experience. The rise of VR in soft-skills training (sometimes dubbed “v-learning”) is essentially an effort to artificially create experiences for learners. And it does yield benefits – VR trainees in a PwC study felt nearly 4 times more emotionally connected to training content than classroom learners (Source: pwc.co.uk), precisely because VR can engage emotions through simulated experiences.
But note the implication: we use VR because purely unfocussed didactic training methods fall short on human connection. VR is at best a proxy to stimulate experiential learning when real-life practice is impractical. It’s a useful tool – especially for practicing high-stakes scenarios in a safe environment – yet it remains a tool.
What happens after the VR headset comes off is what truly counts: can the learner apply those insights with real people, and do they continue to learn and adapt? That part is squarely in the realm of human effort and reflection.
In short, the interpersonal skills so crucial to leadership (which a colleague of mine rightly insists on rebranding as “power skills”) are exactly the skills least amenable to automation. You can automate processes, data analysis, and even certain decisions, but you cannot automate compassion, creativity, or ethical judgment.
And these, ironically, are the areas where future leaders must excel as automation takes over the rote tasks. As organisations adopt more AI, the uniquely human aspects of leadership become even more important, not less (Source: blog.insights.com).
We need leaders who can unite diverse teams, steer cultures, and inspire innovation – things no robot can do, so far at least. So, while we accept tech for what it is good at, we must embrace the human edge through experience.
Why Experiential Learning Delivers What Automation Can’t
Experiential learning isn’t a new fad; it’s as old as human civilization. “Learning by doing” is how apprentices became master craftsmen in the guilds of old, and how junior officers earned their stripes under the tutelage of seasoned generals.
David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (a theory well-known in academic circles) provides a useful framework: one learns through Concrete Experience, followed by Reflective Observation, then forming abstract concepts (Abstract Conceptualisation), and finally experimenting with those concepts in new situations (Active Experimentation).
Then the cycle repeats, each time at a higher level of mastery. The key insight here is that experience alone isn’t enough – it’s the reflection and integration that turn an experience into learning. But without the experience, there is nothing to reflect on. Kolb’s research underscores that people learn best when they are actively involved in their own learning process, moving between action and thought (Source: linkedin.com).
What does this mean for leadership development? It means that programmes must be designed not just to tell potential leaders about leadership, but to immerse them in leadership situations. The old 70-20-10 model often cited in L&D circles encapsulates this well: roughly 70% of leadership learning comes from challenging assignments and on-the-job experiences, 20% from developmental relationships (mentoring, coaching, peer learning), and only 10% from formal courses or reading (Source: ccl.org).
This isn’t a hard science formula, but it emerged from decades of observation by the Center for Creative Leadership and others, across cultures from the United States to Singapore. The message is clear – experience is the primary teacher, amplified by social learning, with formal training playing a supporting (though still important) role (Source: ccl.org).
Crucially, not all experiences are created equal. The most growth-inducing experiences for leaders tend to be those that push them out of their comfort zones. A finance manager who is seconded to an overseas project, a healthcare supervisor tasked with leading a cross-functional initiative, a tech team lead put in charge of a major change programme – these stretch assignments spur on leaders to develop rapidly, or as the British saying goes, to “learn to swim by being thrown in the deep end.”
They encourage what researchers call “experience-driven development” – tying specific lessons to specific real challenges (Source: ccl.org). For instance, a turnaround project might teach a manager about decision-making under pressure, while a horizontal move to another department could develop their adaptability and influence skills (Source: ccl.org).
Studies show that when leadership programmes intentionally incorporate such experiential elements, the outcomes improve dramatically. McKinsey’s research found that companies with the most successful leadership development initiatives were up to five times more likely to require participants to practice new skills in real settings over an extended period (Source: mckinsey.com).
In other words, instead of a one-off workshop, they ensure that managers go back and apply, say, a new coaching technique with their team repeatedly, and then reconvene to discuss how it went. This learning transfer – moving from theory to practice – is the Achilles’ heel of many traditional training programmes. Without application, even the best seminar can become “shelfware.” Experiential approaches fix that by baking application into the process. Every module becomes “homework” in real life: try this, report back, learn from peers, iterate.
Academic research reinforces the point. A 2024 study in the Journal of Leadership in Organizations noted that “scholarly investigation on experiential learning has demonstrated its superior efficacy as a pedagogical approach compared to traditional lecture-based teaching methods.” (Source: doaj.org) In plain terms, people gain leadership skills more effectively by doing and reflecting than by listening to lectures.
This does not mean formal instruction has no value – it means its value is amplified when immediately paired with experiential practice (Source: ccl.org). Think of formal training as the theory and experience as the lab. The theory alone will not create lasting change, but “theory plus practice” is a potent combination.
For L&D professionals, especially here in Britain where we often take a pragmatic approach to people development, this has implications for programme design. It means designing blended journeys rather than one-off events. It means perhaps pairing an e-learning module on “Effective Delegation” with an action learning project where participants must actually delegate a real task and then debrief what happened.
It means using simulations or role-plays not as tick-box games, but as true rehearsals for work scenarios – followed by the real performance on the job. In one leadership course we ran recently, we ended day one with each manager writing down a “back-at-work experiment” to conduct in the period before day two. The difference in engagement was palpable: when they returned, they weren’t just attendees; they were practitioners reporting from the field.
The workshop discussion shifted from abstract concepts to gritty real stories of what worked and what didn’t. That’s the energy of experiential learning – it blurs the line between training room and workplace, making learning a continuous, lived experience.
Case Studies: When Experience Speaks Louder Than Automation
To truly appreciate the impact of experiential learning, let’s look at a few real-world examples, including companies in the UK that have adopted this approach, and see what changed for them.
PepsiCo (Europe) – Breaking the mould of theoretical training: PepsiCo, a global giant with a large presence in the UK and Europe, discovered a gap in their leadership development. By 2020, their L&D team observed that their existing programmes, heavy on theory and classroom instruction, were not delivering the desired improvements in interpersonal skills among managers.
According to Andrew Collier, PepsiCo Europe’s Head of L&D, “The pandemic has shown that soft skills are more important than ever,” yet their traditional model wasn’t moving the needle (Source: 10eighty.co.uk). In response, PepsiCo partnered with an experiential learning platform to “break away from their more traditional model of theoretical learning” and inject realism into their leadership training (Source: 10eighty.co.uk).
What did this look like in practice? They identified a cohort of managers who needed to improve coaching and feedback abilities – classic leadership skills that can’t be learned by memo. Instead of sending them to another seminar, PepsiCo designed a programme around real-life projects sourced via the platform, where these managers had to practice those very skills.
The goal was to make the training reflect real life as much as possible, creating a “high stakes, but safe” environment that would engage participants emotionally and intellectually (Source: 10eighty.co.uk). In effect, they treated the training like a flight simulator for leadership – only the simulator was as close to actual work as they could get.
The feedback from PepsiCo’s L&D team was telling. Jennifer Stevens, L&D Manager at PepsiCo Europe, highlighted that the biggest benefit of this experiential approach was having real situations for managers to work with, rather than hypothetical case studies (Source: 10eighty.co.uk).
Without those real scenarios, she noted, the training would have likely slipped back into old habits – theoretical discussions or simplified simulations that “would not have truly met their needs.” (Source: 10eighty.co.uk).
The experiential projects forced managers out of their comfort zones, confronted them with unfamiliar problems, and demanded that they apply their soft skills under pressure. And because the projects were real (with actual outcomes and stakeholders), managers were far more invested – the motivation to learn was intrinsic, driven by a genuine desire to succeed in the task, not just to complete a course.
The result? PepsiCo saw measurable improvements in those managers’ coaching and feedback capabilities on the job (details of their internal metrics were proprietary, but L&D leadership reported significant behaviour change vs. previous cohorts).
More broadly, PepsiCo built a repeatable model to tackle future skill gaps: identify a challenge, design an experience around it, and let leaders learn by doing.
Barclays (UK) – From classroom to real impact: One of the most striking UK examples comes from Barclays. A few years ago, Barclays UK Retail Bank identified that many of their technically strong managers lacked the leadership behaviours needed for promotion.
In response, they partnered with a leadership development firm (Impact International) to create an “emerging leaders” programme that was anything but conventional. This wasn’t a series of lectures; it was a modular experiential journey that included everything from action-oriented projects to in-depth feedback sessions and even a two-day residential where participants undertook an innovative, high-pressure team challenge (in one module, they had to create a movement-based performance – an exercise in creativity, teamwork, and coaching under stress) (Source: impactinternational.com). Senior executives acted as sponsors and mentors, tying the experience back to Barclays’ business context (Source: impactinternational.com).
The outcomes of this immersive approach were transformative. Within a year of launching the programme, Barclays saw a drastic improvement in leadership performance and concrete business results. The bank had historically been filling many leadership roles by hiring external candidates; prior to the programme, 62% of promotion opportunities were taken by external hires, indicating a weak internal pipeline (Source: impactinternational.com).
Twelve months after the experiential programme, that ratio flipped – 62% of promotions were now filled internally, meaning Barclays could promote their own people at more than twice the previous rate (Source: impactinternational.com). In other words, the programme helped grow home-grown leaders ready for bigger roles, reducing the need (and cost) to recruit from outside.
Speaking of cost, the savings in external recruitment actually offset the entire cost of the leadership programme (Source: impactinternational.com). Talk about return on investment – the programme essentially paid for itself.
But that’s not all. A follow-up survey of participants found that 97% reported improved team productivity and 92% saw better team engagement after the programme, attributing these gains to their new leadership skills in action (Source: impactinternational.com).
Most tellingly, 100% of participants said they had integrated their learning into day-to-day work (Source: impactinternational.com). That kind of perfect score is rare in L&D. It means every single leader who went through the programme was actively using what they learned, not shelving it in a binder.
For an L&D professional, that is the dream outcome – real behavioural change on the job. It’s no surprise the programme won a National Training Award in the UK for its impact (Source: impactinternational.com). And it’s a prime example of how a well-crafted experiential learning initiative can outperform any slide deck in creating leaders who deliver results.
Global survey data – high performers embrace experiential learning: The above examples are success stories, but they align with broader trends we see in other surveys. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) and Institute for Corporate Productivity conducted research on experiential learning in leadership, and the numbers are illuminating.
They found that about 75% of organisations are using experiential learning to some extent in their leadership development efforts (Source: linkedin.com). Clearly, most companies recognise the value of learning by doing. However, less than half of those organisations applied experiential methods across all levels (frontline, mid-level, and senior leaders) – in many cases, it might be used for executives but not new managers, or vice versa (Source: linkedin.com). This suggests room for growth; experiential learning shouldn’t be a perk for the top brass or a remedial tool for juniors, but a continuum throughout a leader’s career.
What is even more telling is the correlation with organisational performance. The research showed that high-performing firms (those achieving better business results) were nearly 3 times more likely to use experiential learning in their leadership programmes than low-performing firms (Source: linkedin.com).
High performers also invested more in carefully designing and managing those experiential opportunities (often with the help of instructional designers), whereas low performers over-indexed on traditional classroom or e-learning training (Source: linkedin.com).
In essence, the best companies are putting their leaders through stretch assignments, simulations, and on-the-job challenges, while the laggards are still sending folks off to generic management 101 workshops. The link between experiential development and organisational success isn’t just coincidental; it speaks to the fact that companies get the leadership they invest in.
Build a rich “leadership lab” inside your company and you get more capable leaders; rely only on rote training and you might be left with leaders who can recite theory but not execute it.
Another statistic: The CIPD Learning at Work 2023 survey (our very own UK-oriented insight) found that among various L&D methods, only 23% of L&D professionals said they utilised on-the-job learning like job rotations, secondments or shadowing in the past two years (Source: deel.com).
By contrast, larger proportions implemented mentoring (42%), in-house courses (43%), formal qualifications (42%), etc. (Source: deel.com). While organisations are wisely diversifying their learning methods, the fact that less than a quarter are tapping into structured on-the-job development is worrying.
It suggests many companies might be underutilising the single most effective development tool (the 70% in 70-20-10) that they have at their disposal: meaningful job experiences. Given the evidence, this is a missed opportunity. Those that do leverage on-the-job learning – perhaps through talent mobility programmes, leadership stretch assignments, or “acting” roles – are aligning with what actually grows leaders. And they’ll likely have an edge in building a leadership pipeline that can navigate complexity and change.
Reimagining L&D: Integrating Experience in Your Leadership Programmes
For L&D professionals evaluating or revamping their team’s training strategies, the mandate is clear: make experiential learning a centrepiece of leadership development. This does not mean discarding technology or formal training – it means using those as complements and enablers of experience, not substitutes.
Here are some insights and practical ideas to spark your thinking on blending automation with experience for maximum impact:
- Design “Experience Journeys,” not events: Shift from thinking of leadership training as a course (or a series of courses) to thinking of it as a journey that unfolds over time. For example, instead of a 3-day leadership workshop that stands alone, design a 3-month programme where that workshop is the kick-off. Follow it with real-world assignments: Month 1, each participant takes on a small cross-functional project; Month 2, they rotate leading the weekly team meeting to practice communication; Month 3, they shadow a senior leader and report insights. Provide structure and support around these experiences – coaching sessions, reflection journals, peer discussion forums – so that learning is extracted continuously. By the end, participants haven’t just learned about leadership, they have been leaders in multiple contexts. This aligns with modern adult learning principles and yields richer outcomes (Source: mckinsey.com).
- Leverage technology to enhance (not replace) experience: Rather than viewing tech and experiential learning as opposing forces, make them partners in crime. Virtual simulations, for instance, are excellent for preparing leaders for experiences that are rare or high-risk. Many UK firms now use gamified simulations for things like crisis leadership – a sort of “flight simulator” where leaders must make decisions during a mock business crisis (cyberattack, PR scandal, etc.). These tech-driven experiences can trigger the same adrenaline and emotion as real events, creating potent learning moments in a safe environment. Use AI as a coach, not just a lecturer. Some companies deploy AI chatbots that leaders can practice difficult conversations with (like giving tough feedback or negotiating), where the AI avatar responds in real-time. This is a form of experiential learning – it is interactive, exploratory, and the leader can immediately see the consequences of different approaches. The key is to remember AI’s limitation: it provides the practice arena, but the reflection and personal growth still need human facilitation. A leader might use an AI tool to rehearse a conversation, then debrief with their manager or an HR coach about how it felt and what to improve. In this way, technology becomes the gym equipment for building leadership muscles, but the workout plan and nutrition (i.e., feedback and reflection) come from humans.
- Implement action learning and real projects: Action learning – where a group of leaders work collectively on solving real organisational problems and learn through that process – is an experiential staple that has stood the test of time. If you haven’t already, consider incorporating action learning projects into your development programmes. For example, assemble a team of high-potentials and give them a six-week assignment to research and propose a solution to a real challenge your company is facing (“How can we reduce our carbon footprint in operations by 50%?” or “Develop a strategy to improve cross-selling between Product A and Product B.”). They will learn teamwork, strategic thinking, influencing, and more, simply by wrestling with a real problem. Many organisations in the UK, from the NHS to financial services firms, have used action learning sets and reported not only leadership skill gains but also tangible business improvements as a side benefit of the project outcomes. It’s the ultimate win-win: free consulting on your internal issues and a growth experience for participants. Just be sure to include a mechanism for learning capture – maybe a midpoint reflection workshop and a closing “lessons learned” presentation – so the focus on development doesn’t get lost in only delivering a recommendation.
- Promote apprenticeship and mentoring cultures: The concept of apprenticeship – learning side by side with a more experienced person – may sound medieval, but it’s extremely relevant to leadership today. Encourage senior leaders to take on the role of mentors and coaches, not in a superficial check-the-box way, but as an integral part of talent development. The UK has even introduced formal management apprenticeships (leveraging the Apprenticeship Levy) where developing managers undergo structured learning while performing their job. These programmes, often run in partnership with universities or training providers, blend academic content with heavy on-the-job application – effectively bringing back the old apprenticeship model in a modern guise. Even if you don’t use the formal apprenticeship scheme, you can replicate the spirit: assign “understudies” to senior leaders for short periods, create job rotation programmes across departments (as only 23% of companies are doing, there’s competitive advantage here) (Source: deel.com), and recognise managers who actively develop others. When a junior manager shadows a board meeting or co-leads an initiative with a veteran, they absorb leadership not as theory but as practice. And often, the senior leader benefits too – fresh perspectives and the act of teaching can sharpen their own skills (the fastest way to learn is to teach, after all).
- Embed reflection and feedback at every step: Experience alone doesn’t guarantee learning – it can as easily reinforce bad habits as good ones if not examined. The difference between experience that develops a leader and experience that merely tests a leader is the reflection and feedback around it. Make reflection an explicit part of your programmes. Encourage journals, after-action reviews, and group debriefs. One technique some companies use is the “leadership diary”: participants in a programme write weekly entries about challenges they faced, how they responded, and what they learned. Then they discuss a selection of those in their cohort sessions. This practice builds the muscle of self-awareness – leaders learn to analyse their own experiences for continuous improvement, a habit that will serve them for a lifetime. Additionally, ensure that feedback flows freely. Pair participants to observe each other (peer coaching). Or have them solicit 360° feedback mid-programme to gauge progress. Experiential learning can be intense and sometimes uncomfortable; psychological safety is needed to maximize growth. By fostering an environment where people can say “I tried this and it failed” and not feel humiliated but rather encouraged to dig into why, you create learning agility. Leaders who develop a learning mindset – who see every experience, good or bad, as a chance to learn – are far better equipped to handle the unprecedented changes and crises that the future is bound to bring (Source: mckinsey.com).
- Measure what matters (and be patient): Traditional training is easier to measure in some ways – completion rates, quiz scores, satisfaction sheets. Experiential learning might not lend itself to such neat metrics initially, but it provides deeper ones. Decide on what success looks like: increased promotion rates (as with Barclays), higher employee engagement in teams led by programme alumni, retention of those alumni (are they staying and growing?), or even direct business KPIs (did that action learning project actually save money or spark a new product idea?). Collect data through pre- and post-programme assessments, but remember that leadership development is a long game. Not every benefit will show up in a quarterly report. That said, senior stakeholders respond to evidence – and the evidence you can provide from cases and studies will bolster your case to invest in experiential approaches. Remind them that high-performing companies emphasise experiential learning (Source: linkedin.com), and that the cost of not developing leaders effectively (failed promotions, external hires, disengaged teams under poor managers) far outweighs the investment in a robust development journey (Source: impactinternational.com) . Sometimes the narrative of an internal success is the most convincing: if you can, pilot an experiential initiative with a small group, track the outcomes, and then share the story. Seeing is believing (and in this context, experiencing is believing).
Conclusion: Keeping Leadership Development Real in the Age of AI
In the current business landscape that increasingly promotes AI, data analytics, and automation as panaceas for every problem, L&D professionals must champion the elements of development that technology cannot replace. As we have explored, experiential learning is not a “nice to have” or a nostalgic throwback – it is the proven engine of effective leadership growth.
Automation can accelerate learning delivery, but it cannot replicate the depth of insight gained from a challenging project, the character built from navigating a team through stormy waters, or the confidence forged by surviving a failure and trying again.
For L&D leaders reading this, the message is both encouraging and challenging. Encouraging, because we possess a powerful tool – experience – that we can harness more deliberately to shape our future leaders. Challenging, because it requires us to step beyond the comfortable realm of classroom schedules and into the messy, wonderful world of facilitating real experiences.
It may mean convincing stakeholders to take a chance on a new development approach, or coordinating across departments to create opportunities for budding leaders. It certainly means spending as much time curating learning experiences as we do curating learning content.
But the payoff is worth it. You will know it when you see that young manager who, a year ago, was green and relying on scripted formulas, now confidently lead her team through a complex project – drawing not just on what she knows, but what she’s been through. She radiates a quiet assurance, born of having tackled challenges hands-on.
Her team trusts her, because they see in her decisions the wisdom of experience and the humility of someone who has learned from the front lines. That transformation cannot be downloaded or automated; it must be lived. And you helped design the process that made it possible.
In the end, the art of leadership is deeply human. As Rudyard Kipling wrote, learning to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” is a timeless virtue of a leader. We don’t teach that through a PowerPoint. We train it by placing leaders in situations that test and temper them – with guidance, support, and reflection to extract the lessons.
So, as you rethink your leadership development strategies, remember the power of learning by doing. Embrace technology, yes, but as a means to create richer human experiences, not to eliminate them. The next generation of leaders will certainly need to master AI and data – but above all, they will need the judgment, adaptability and empathy that only experience can impart.
References:
- AI’s limits in leadership – technology can’t build trust or empathy hrzone.com
- McKinsey survey: successful programs 4-5× more likely to require on-the-job practicemckinsey.com
- Academic research: Experiential learning proven more effective than lectures doaj.org
- ATD findings: 75% of orgs use experiential learning; high-performers ~3× more likely to than low-performers linkedin.com
- PepsiCo Europe case – replaced theoretical training with real-life projects for soft skills10eighty.co.uk
- PepsiCo insight – needed high-stakes realism to engage learners (“learn through doing”)10eighty.co.uk
- HRBP study: 78% leaders say empathy is crucial, but only 54% of employees see it in practiceharvardbusiness.org
- Barclays case – experiential programme led to 62% internal promotions (up from 38%) and 97% report improved team productivity impactinternational.com
- CIPD 2023: only 23% of L&D pros used job rotations/shadowing (on-the-job learning) in recent years deel.com
- PwC VR study: VR learners 4× faster training, 275% more confident in applying learning pwc.co.uk
