Leadership in the Age of AIFrom Resistance to Opportunity
A leadership-in-the-age-of-AI workshop for executive committees: the 10 21st-Century Leadership Competencies for professional, personal and team development, with assessment and action plan — not an AI awareness talk.
Leadership in the age of AI: from resistance to opportunity
Artificial intelligence is not replacing leadership: it is exposing which part of it was, in truth, dispensable. In most organizations, the rise of generative AI is experienced by the executive committee as an efficiency threat — fewer hours, fewer people, less room for error. The technology gets managed, but the fear that comes with it does not.
This workshop starts from a different conviction: AI frees up time and computing power, but it does not free up judgment, empathy or team spirit. The question an Executive Board should be asking today is not what AI is going to automate, but where the leadership team will add value precisely because it is human.
The workshop’s thesis: turn resistance to change into a professional and personal development roadmap, built on the 10 21st-Century Leadership Competencies — the humanist framework the leadership team must embody first, in order to require and model it across the rest of the organization. That, in essence, is the leadership in the age of AI this workshop sets out to instill in the executive committee.
Designed for executive committees
A program specifically for members of the Executive Committee, senior managers and leaders with teams reporting to them. It is not a mass-audience awareness workshop: the seniority of the attendees is a necessary condition for the assessment and the action plan to carry real authority.
- General management and area/department heads
- Managers who lead people day to day
- Small groups, 10 to 18 people, to work in subgroups by department
- The outcome: an honest diagnosis, active practice and a signed action plan by the time you leave the room
Two possible formats
Half day · 4 hours
Conceptual framework of the 10 competencies, a live initial assessment, hands-on exercises on the priority competencies, and a first sketch of a per-department action plan, to be completed with a guided template.
Full day · 8–8.5 hours
Includes the compact program and adds in-depth work on all ten competencies, a 90-minute module on managing conflict during AI implementation, department-level work with direct coaching, and a close with public commitments.
The full-day format is recommended when the goal includes building an operational action plan, not just elevating the strategic conversation.
Theory, practice, diagnosis and action
Practicing leadership in the age of AI requires combining theory and action. The workshop combines four moments that repeat for each block of competencies, so it never becomes a reflection with no follow-through.
Theoretical framework
The context of AI in today’s leadership, storytelling and real cases for each competency.
Guided practice
Exercises, role-play and individual and team activities focused on the committee’s day-to-day reality.
Assessment
A live diagnosis of current maturity in each competency, with voting and comparison by area.
Action plan
Concrete, measurable commitments, each with an owner per department, for the next 90 days.
Individual and collective diagnosis
Each participant rates, anonymously and in real time, their department’s maturity in each competency (1–5 scale). The result is displayed as a heat map by competency and area — an objective, shared starting point, not the opinion of a single executive.
Comparison and discussion
The results are discussed within the committee itself: where perceptions align, where there are gaps between departments, and which competencies need priority attention.
Action plan by department
Each area lead leaves with two or three concrete commitments, each with a date and a tracking indicator, tied to the lowest-maturity competencies. Diego provides a 30–60–90-day tracking template.
The 10 21st-Century Leadership Competencies
What AI cannot do for us, and what a leadership team must put back at the center.
Decision-making
Deciding with incomplete information and owning the consequences. AI supplies data, but it doesn’t remove uncertainty.
Conflict management
Most conflicts come from information poorly communicated between people. No algorithm mediates between two people who don’t understand each other.
Order and punctuality
Order is about process; punctuality is about respecting other people’s time. Visible discipline that can’t be automated.
Empathetic communication
AI can generate text, but it can’t truly listen. Communicating and listening with intent remains human territory.
Emotional intelligence
Whoever manages their own emotions manages their performance; whoever manages their team’s, truly leads.
Teamwork
With or without AI in the picture, results are built by people rowing in the same direction.
Sociability
Getting out and about is still essential to knowing what a team truly feels, beyond the dashboards.
Critical thinking
Faced with an AI output, the question is no longer “what does it say?” but “is it correct, is it relevant, who benefits?”.
Innovation
Using technology not just to optimize what already exists, but to imagine what wasn’t possible before.
Adapting to change
Unlearning matters as much as learning. No technological transformation waits for those who don’t adapt.
«AI frees up time and computing power, but it doesn’t free up judgment, empathy or team spirit.»
Diego Antoñanzas · Executive Coach and Speaker
Structure of the day (full format)
The half-day format keeps the same logic, condensing the practice blocks and limiting the assessment to the competencies most critical for the organization.
| Time | Content | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00–09:30 | Opening: from resistance to opportunity | Opening storytelling and framing of the real challenge |
| 09:30–10:30 | Theoretical framework: the 10 Competencies versus AI | Presentation + real cases from the sector |
| 10:30–11:15 | Live initial assessment | Anonymous individual voting by competency and department |
| 11:15–11:30 | Break | — |
| 11:30–12:30 | Practice: decisions, order, communication, emotional intelligence | Role-play and team exercises |
| 12:30–14:00 | Special module: managing conflict during AI implementation | Simulation of difficult conversations: convincing a team that AI empowers rather than replaces |
| 14:00–15:00 | Lunch | — |
| 15:00–16:00 | Practice: teamwork, sociability, critical thinking, innovation, adaptation | Structured debate and cases applied to your own company |
| 16:00–16:15 | Break | — |
| 16:15–17:15 | Work by department | Building the 30–60–90-day action plan |
| 17:15–17:45 | Close and public commitments | Each department shares its plan with the committee |
Why a dedicated conflict module: implementing AI doesn’t generate abstract resistance, it generates concrete conflicts between people — especially when convincing a team that the technology is there to empower them, not replace them. This 90-minute module tackles that difficult conversation explicitly, with simulation and change-communication tools.
What the organization walks away with
- Assessment report with the maturity map of the 10 competencies by department
- Individual action plan by department, with commitments, an owner and an indicator at 30–60–90 days
- Tracking template so the committee can review progress without needing an additional session
- Executive summary of the day to share with the rest of the organization, if the committee sees fit
Optionally, a 90-day follow-up session can be scheduled to review how the action plan is progressing and recalibrate priorities.
Diego Antoñanzas de Toledo
Motivational speaker, corporate leadership trainer and certified executive coach (ICF ACC), ICF Global Ambassador since 2024. His work is grounded in Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy and a humanist leadership approach that treats meaning and vulnerability as strategic advantages.
He has worked with executive committees and teams at companies such as Adidas, Pfizer, BBVA, CaixaBank, Peugeot, ASISA, Sanofi, BioMarin and Multiópticas.
Round out your team’s training
Conflict management and resolution course
Liquid leadership and management skills
Effective communication course
Error culture and building trust
Time management and business productivity
Digital communication workshop
Answering questions about the leadership in the age of AI workshop
What exactly is the Leadership in the Age of AI workshop?
It’s a half-day or full-day program for executive committees that combines a live assessment of the 10 21st-Century Leadership Competencies with guided practice and a per-department action plan. It is not an artificial intelligence awareness talk, but a leadership development workshop set in the context of AI.
Who is this workshop designed for?
For members of the Executive Committee, senior managers and leaders with teams reporting to them. It runs in small groups of 10 to 18 people to allow for an honest assessment and a real action plan for each area.
How long does it last and where is it delivered?
There are two formats: half day (4 hours) or full day (8–8.5 hours). It is delivered on-site at the client company’s premises.
How is it different from other AI training?
Most AI training focuses on tools and processes. This leadership-in-the-age-of-AI workshop focuses on the human competencies — decision-making, conflict management, emotional intelligence and eight more — that technology cannot replace.
What do you walk away with at the end of the workshop?
An assessment report with the maturity map by department, an individual action plan at 30–60–90 days, and a tracking template, so the committee can review progress without needing an additional session.
Want this workshop for your Executive Committee?
Request no-obligation information about this leadership-in-the-age-of-AI workshop. The script is always tailored with a session held with your organization beforehand.
Get in touch and let’s talk
Tell me which team the workshop is for and I’ll get back to you with availability and a quote. No obligation.