Leaders in the Loop

Leaders in the Loop -- Episode 10 -- ILA 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit Preview | Leading With AI Across Sectors

Dan and Gaurav are joined by Dr. Mary Tabata [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marytabata/] and Dr. Kevin Bottomley [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-bottomley-phd-cde%C2%AE-506745b/] to preview the International Leadership Association’s 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com], The Integration Frontier: Leading With AI Across Sectors. The summit takes place live on May 6–7, 2026, with on-demand access available afterward. Mary Tabata serves as associate faculty at American Public University System [https://www.apus.edu/] and Eastern University [https://www.eastern.edu/]. Kevin Bottomley is an assistant professor of Global Leadership at Indiana Tech [https://www.indianatech.edu/]. In this conversation, they discuss how the summit came together, why cross-sector dialogue matters right now, and what leaders can expect from this year’s program. ----more---- Episode Overview This episode introduces the purpose and structure of the ILA 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] and explains why its cross-sector focus matters. The conversation highlights how AI is reshaping leadership practice in education, business, healthcare, and organizational development, while also raising questions about ethics, governance, literacy, and implementation. The summit is designed as a space for leaders, educators, researchers, and practitioners to explore those questions together. The official event page describes the summit as ILA’s second virtual AI summit and emphasizes themes such as ethical and responsible AI, AI literacy, innovation, productivity, leadership development, and reskilling. Event details and registration [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Topics Covered * Preview of the ILA 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] * The summit theme: The Integration Frontier: Leading With AI Across Sectors * The growth of the International Leadership Association [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/]’s AI and Emerging Technologies member community * Early leadership and teaching use cases for ChatGPT [https://openai.com/chatgpt] and Claude [https://www.anthropic.com/claude] * Hallucinations, verification, and responsible use * AI literacy and implementation frameworks * Leadership challenges in business, education, and healthcare * Human-centered leadership in AI-enabled systems Key Takeaways * The ILA 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] is designed to connect leaders across sectors around shared AI adoption challenges. * AI implementation is not only technical; it also requires leadership in governance, culture, and change. * Early experiences with generative AI revealed both practical value and clear limitations, especially around fabricated references and unreliable links. * AI literacy needs to be developed with role, context, and sector in mind. * Cross-sector dialogue can help leaders identify common patterns in AI adoption. * Human judgment remains essential in high-stakes environments such as education and healthcare. * The summit emphasizes ethical, inclusive, responsible, and impactful AI leadership. Examples & References Discussed Mary and Kevin describe their early experiments with generative AI in professional and academic settings. Those experiences included testing classroom assignments, reviewing AI-generated papers, and encountering hallucinated citations and broken links. These examples helped shape their approach to responsible AI use and to the kinds of summit sessions they believe leaders need now. The episode also traces the development of the AI and Emerging Technologies member community within the International Leadership Association [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/]. That work grew out of earlier conference conversations and collaborations around AI, ethics, education, and leadership. The summit program [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] brings together voices from multiple sectors and includes sessions focused on leadership development, implementation, governance, AI literacy, and organizational practice. The event page also lists Ganna Pogrebna of Queen’s University Belfast [https://www.qub.ac.uk/] as the closing keynote speaker. Mary highlights Pogrebna’s work at Queen’s University Belfast [https://www.qub.ac.uk/] and the broader mix of speakers contributing to the summit. The conversation makes clear that one of the event’s central goals is to help attendees think more clearly about how leadership and AI intersect in real organizational settings. Resources & Mentions * ILA 2026 AI & Leadership Virtual Summit [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/events/2026-ai-leadership-virtual-summit/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] * International Leadership Association [https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/] * ChatGPT [https://openai.com/chatgpt] * Claude [https://www.anthropic.com/claude] * Chris Wildermuth [https://www.linkedin.com/in/criswildermuth/] * Ganna Pogrebna [https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/ganna-pogrebna] * Queen’s University Belfast [https://www.qub.ac.uk/] Stay curious. Stay human.

Leaders in the Loop -- Episode 09 -- Greg Allen on AI Practice, Feedback, and The Leaders Lab.io

In this episode, Dan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjenkinsphd/] and Gaurav [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkhanna1/] are joined by Dr. Greg Allen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwallen/], founder of The Leaders Lab.io [https://leaderslab.io/], co-founder of Ascendant Global Leadership, LLC, and a professor of leadership at The Citadel. In this episode, they explore how AI can support leadership development through structured practice, reflection, and feedback. Check out the video version here: https://youtu.be/N5f_fzsGl5o [https://youtu.be/N5f_fzsGl5o] ----more---- Episode Overview Greg shares the thinking behind The Leaders Lab.io [https://leaderslab.io/] and explains the developmental gap he set out to address: what happens after a leadership workshop, class, or assessment, when learners need opportunities to practice, receive feedback, and improve over time. The conversation focuses on AI as an augmentation tool for leadership learning, not a replacement for human coaching. Dan and Gaurav connect Greg’s approach to familiar leadership development practices, including assessments, coaching, communication feedback, and role-play. Topics Covered * The gap between leadership learning and leadership practice * Why Greg Allen built The Leaders Lab.io * The role of Virtual Sapiens in communication feedback * Transformational leadership as a foundation for the platform * AI role-play, Practice Mirror, video Q&A, and uploaded video analysis * Feedback on clarity, empathy, buy-in, framing, and trustworthiness * Using AI to extend leadership development beyond workshops and assessments * Greg’s perspective on safe, prosocial, human-centered use of AI Key Takeaways * Leadership development often breaks down after the initial learning experience, when people need practice and feedback to turn ideas into behavior. * The Leaders Lab.io is designed to support rehearsal, reflection, and improvement over time. * Greg positions AI as a practice partner and feedback mechanism rather than a substitute for human coaching. * Assessments become more useful when paired with conversation, reflection, and action. * The platform’s feedback addresses both the content and delivery of communication. * Practice matters more than simply adding more leadership content. * Greg emphasizes the importance of using AI in ways that are constructive, ethical, and grounded in human development. Examples and References Discussed A recurring theme in the conversation is the difference between acquiring leadership knowledge and building leadership skills. Greg explains that leaders often gain insight from courses, workshops, and assessments, but still need structured ways to rehearse difficult conversations, test approaches, and receive feedback. Dan connects that point to strengths-based development and other assessment tools, while Gaurav emphasizes that the real need in leadership development is not more content, but more meaningful practice. Greg also walks through the main functions of The Leaders Lab.io, including AI role-play, Practice Mirror, video Q&A, and uploaded video analysis. He describes how the platform can generate feedback on both what a leader says and how they show up while saying it, including factors such as clarity, empathy, buy-in, eye contact, trustworthiness, posture, intonation, and filler words. The discussion also situates The Leaders Lab.io within the broader landscape of leadership and AI. Dan references an earlier Leaders in the Loop episode with Gary Lloyd and LeadershipSkillsLab.ai, and Greg explains how his work was shaped by leadership scholarship, practical coaching needs, and collaboration with Virtual Sapiens. In the closing segment, Greg also recommends Teaching with AI by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson. Resources and Mentions * The Leaders Lab.io [https://leaderslab.io/] * Virtual Sapiens [https://www.virtualsapiens.co/] * The Citadel [https://www.citadel.edu/] * Gallup CliftonStrengths [https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx] * Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) [https://www.leadershipchallenge.com/leadership-assessments/lpi-360] * DiSC [https://www.discprofile.com/] * Myers-Briggs / MBTI [https://www.themyersbriggs.com/en-US/Explore-Solutions/MBTI] * Toastmasters [https://www.toastmasters.org/] * Descript [https://www.descript.com/] * Audacity [https://www.audacityteam.org/] * OpenAI [https://openai.com/] * Teaching with AI [https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54122/teaching-ai] by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson Stay curious. Stay human.

Leaders in the Loop – Episode 08 – Expanding our Context Windows with Chief Creative Officer Dr. Jonathan Reams

Dan Jenkins [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjenkinsphd/] and Gaurav Khanna [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkhanna1/] are joined by Dr. Jonathan Reams [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-reams-08bb2/], Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at the Center for Transformative Leadership [https://www.transformleadership.no/], founder of Adeptify [https://www.adeptify.ai/], and author of Maturing Leadership, to explore what leadership development looks like in an AI-saturated environment—especially when information is abundant but developmental capacity is not. ----more---- Episode Overview This episode frames leadership growth as a developmental process rather than a knowledge-transfer problem. Drawing on adult development theory, neuroscience-informed models of prediction and emotion, and applied AI practice, the conversation explores how leaders expand capacity, interrupt reactivity, and remain accountable in complex systems. Topics Covered * Leaders “create the weather” through emotional and relational climate * The bricoleur mindset and adaptive learning * Predictive processing and constructed emotion * Horizontal vs. vertical development * Downward assimilation of complex concepts * Psychological Aikido and interrupting reactive cycles * Learning loops and dynamic skill theory * Context windows and attention (human and AI parallels) * Intentional AI collaboration and ethical acceleration Key Takeaways * Leadership behavior reflects predictive models shaped by early experience. * Capacity expansion—not content accumulation—drives developmental growth. * Complex ideas degrade when leaders lack the capacity to hold them. * Iterative learning loops enable meaningful skill development. * AI tools require deliberate framing and human accountability. * Ethical maturity must keep pace with technological capability. Examples & References Discussed Adult Development & Learning * Robert Kegan – Harvard profile [https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/robert-kegan] * Jean Piaget – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/piaget/] * Kurt Fischer – Dynamic Skill Theory * Theo Dawson – Lectica [https://lecticalive.org/] Neuroscience & Psychology * Lisa Feldman Barrett – Official site [https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/] * Benjamin Libet – readiness potential research * Andy Clark – University of Edinburgh profile [https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/andy-clark] Leadership & Organizations * The Leadership Circle [https://leadershipcircle.com/] * Arbinger Institute [https://arbinger.com/] * Amy Edmondson – Harvard Business School [https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451] * Peter Senge – The Fifth Discipline (Publisher page [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/160027/the-fifth-discipline-by-peter-m-senge/]) AI, Technology & Culture * Google AI Studio (Gemini) [https://aistudio.google.com/] * Claude (Anthropic) [https://www.anthropic.com/claude] * Visual Studio Code [https://code.visualstudio.com/] * Kilo Code (VS Code extension) [https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=kilocode.Kilo-Code] * The Coming Wave – Official site [https://www.the-coming-wave.com/] * Co-Intelligence – Publisher page [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738266/co-intelligence-by-ethan-mollick/] * Algorithmic Justice League [https://www.ajl.org/] Stay curious. Stay human.

Leaders in the Loop – Episode 07 – Designing Leadership for the Age of AI with Kathy Guarini

In this episode, Dan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjenkinsphd/] and Gaurav [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkhanna1/] are joined by Kathy Guarini [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-guarini/] to discuss how leadership must evolve as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday organizational decision-making. Kathy brings extensive leadership experience in enterprise technology and research, including serving as Chief Information Officer at IBM, where she led large-scale technology, AI, and digital transformation initiatives. ----more----Episode Overview This conversation examines leadership as a design challenge, rather than a technology adoption problem. The discussion focuses on how leaders can intentionally design systems, roles, and decision processes that preserve human judgment, accountability, and ethical responsibility as AI capabilities scale. The episode situates “human-in-the-loop” as an organizational and leadership concern—not solely a technical safeguard. Topics Covered * Human-in-the-loop as a leadership responsibility * Designing organizational systems alongside AI tools * How leadership decisions shape AI outcomes * Algorithmic bias and unintended consequences * Facial recognition systems as a case example * AI literacy as a leadership competency * The limits of analogy-based reasoning about AI * Accountability in AI-supported decision-making Key Takeaways * AI outcomes reflect leadership and design choices. * Human judgment must be intentionally built into systems. * Leaders remain accountable for decisions supported by AI. * AI literacy is increasingly essential for effective leadership. * Ethical responsibility cannot be delegated to technology alone. Examples & References Discussed * Facial recognition bias and the work of Joy Buolamwini [https://www.media.mit.edu/people/joyab/overview/] * Research and advocacy from the Algorithmic Justice League * Enterprise-scale AI and technology leadership contexts Resources & Mentions * Algorithmic Justice League: https://www.ajl.org [https://www.ajl.org] * IBM: https://www.ibm.com [https://www.ibm.com] Stay curious. Stay human.

Leaders in the Loop – Episode 06 -- AI at the System Level: Leadership, Shared Services, and Scale with Ryan Low

In this episode, Dan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjenkinsphd/] and Gaurav [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gkhanna1/] are joined by Ryan Low [https://www.maine.edu/mainecenter/ai-essentials/#Ryan], Vice Chancellor for Finance and Strategic AI Integration at the University of Maine System [https://www.maine.edu/], for a deep dive into what it takes to lead AI adoption across a large, multi-campus organization. Ryan shares how AI is moving beyond pilots and experiments into core operational workflows, reshaping shared services, financial planning, faculty engagement, and leadership practices across the system. ----more----Episode Overview This conversation explores AI not as a standalone technology initiative, but as a leadership and systems challenge. Ryan discusses how governance, training, trust, and modeling behavior are just as important as the tools themselves when scaling AI responsibly. Topics Covered * AI as a system-wide capability, not a niche pilot * Shared services as the highest-impact use case for AI * Using AI agents in budgeting, forecasting, and reporting * Leadership modeling vs. top-down mandates * Faculty adoption and voluntary experimentation * AI literacy as an equity and access issue * Risks of organizational lag in fast-moving AI environments Key Takeaways * AI delivers the most value when embedded in everyday tools and workflows. * Shared services offer measurable efficiency gains and better insight. * Leaders accelerate adoption by modeling use, not issuing mandates. * Continuous learning matters more than one-time AI training. * Scaling AI responsibly requires balancing speed, trust, and governance. Resources & Mentions * Ryan Low – University of Maine System profile: https://www.maine.edu/chancellors-office/staff/ [https://www.maine.edu/chancellors-office/staff/] * Google Gemini: https://ai.google [https://ai.google] * Microsoft Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot [https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot] * Hard Fork (New York Times podcast): https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork [https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork] Have thoughts or questions about this episode? Join the conversation and let us know how AI is showing up in your organization. Stay curious. Stay human.