Top 5 Highlights from Alexis

1. The least exposed jobs to AI based are social and hands-on roles like teachers, nurses, and tradespeople, while high-knowledge and business roles are among the most exposed.
2. People’s sense of identity is tied to the tasks they enjoy at work, and AI can threaten or enhance that identity depending on how leaders redesign roles in an AI-world.
3. A gender trend in the classroom: more male students eagerly embrace AI, while many female students hesitate because they want more human connection in their work.
4. Job crafting with AI can actually improve fit and motivation by letting people offload tasks they dread so they can spend more time on what they love.
5. The most important future leadership skills may be empathy, relationship building, and supporting employees’ self-motivation as roles change rapidly.

Learn more about Dr. Hanna's work:

• Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexi-hanna-830b6884
• Hanna et al. (2024) paper on Interests and AI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104012.
• UNR faculty page: https://www.unr.edu/business/faculty-and-staff/hanna-alexis
• Analytics, Recruitment, and Careers (ARC) lab website: https://arcresearchlab.com/

In this episode of My Robot Boss, Dr. Katina Sawyer joins Devon to explore how technology is reshaping leadership, trust, and well-being at work. Katina’s research reveals why “generator leaders” - those who actively create energy, trust, and connection - will become even more vital in an AI-driven future.

Together, they discuss:

• Why wellness programs alone can’t fix burnout and how leadership behavior is the missing piece.
• What “person-centered planning,” adapted from Carl Rogers’ psychotherapy, teaches us about leading with curiosity and care.
• Why the best leaders listen to understand, not to fix.
• How to balance efficiency gains from AI with the need for genuine human connection.
• What younger generations really think about working in AI-heavy organizations and why companies should pay attention.

Key Quote:

“Leaders can be healing forces at work — but only if they stay curious, compassionate, and human.” — Dr. Katina Sawyer

Learn More about Katina and her work:

• LinkedIn: Dr. Katina Sawyer
• Book: Leading for Wellness 
• Workr Beeing Podcast

Subscribe to My Robot Boss wherever you get your podcasts and join the conversation about how AI is transforming leadership, performance, and the human experience at work.

Together, Devon and Anna dive into:

• How performance management evolved from annual reviews to continuous feedback.
• Why AI offers both promise and peril — enabling real-time insights but risking surveillance.
• The central role of trust, transparency, and privacy in the age of data-driven performance.
• How digital coaching is democratizing development across entire organizations.
• Why “human-in-the-loop” leadership is more critical than ever.

Key Quote:

“It’s not about technology — it’s about intention. Tools don’t transform organizations; people using them thoughtfully do.” – Dr. Anna Tavis

Learn More:

• LinkedIn: Dr. Anna A. Tavis
• Book: The Digital Coaching Revolution 
• NYU Coaching and Technology Summit

Subscribe to My Robot Boss wherever you get your podcasts to explore how AI is transforming leadership, performance, and the future of work.

In this episode of My Robot Boss, Devon speaks with Dr. Adam Sandell—ER physician, writer, and former human rights lawyer—about the paradoxes of purpose-driven work. From his remote post on a First Nations reserve in British Columbia, Adam shares a deeply human view on what it means to help others, the cost of caring, and why burnout is often a byproduct of meaning.

We explore:

• Why people in mission-driven roles struggle with boundaries
• What AI can and can’t replace in high-empathy professions
• The promise and perils of AI in medical settings—from scribes to decision support
• How feedback and coaching from AI could transform how we work and grow
• The rising difficulty (and necessity) of having hard conversations—and whether AI can help

Whether you’re in healthcare, social impact, education, or just thinking about what a “good” working life really means, this conversation will resonate.

Read more of Adam’s work at www.adamsandell.net

Top 5 highlights:

1. AI Can Reduce Bias — But Only When Used Intentionally: Magda explains how AI isn’t automatically fair or unbiased — but with the right design and integration, it can become a tool to counter human bias in decision-making, especially in high-stakes leadership moments.
2. Emotion + Pattern = Decision Trap: Drawing from research and years of working with clients, Magda shares how unacknowledged emotion can distort perception and lead to reactive, biased decisions — and how AI might help surface these blind spots.
3. Why Decision Intelligence Is the Next Core Leadership Skill: In an AI-augmented workplace, leaders who can slow down, interrogate their thinking, and make clear decisions will stand apart. Magda explains how this new meta-skill is key to navigating complexity.
4. Augmentation > Automation: Magda reflects on how her team’s coaching product didn’t work as expected when it was used on it's own vs. to augment a human coach. The lesson: AI should partner, not replace, in human development.
5. The Risk of Disconnection and Dehumanization: She warns of an emerging risk: AI may offer leaders the illusion of clarity and speed, but without checks, it could increase isolation, reduce reflection, and drive short-term decisions that undermine performance and trust.

Listeners can connect with Magda and get early access to her Sense module and audiobook at GetSense.net, by emailing her directly at magda@getsense.net, or by finding her on LinkedIn.

Top 5 Highlights:

1. AI Outperformed Humans in Strategy Simulation: Hamza’s simulation showed that an AI model outperformed hundreds of MBA students and executives in business decision-making — except during unpredictable Black Swan events.
2. Why AI Struggles with Uncertainty: Unlike humans who hedge against the unexpected, the AI grew overconfident and “bet the house” — failing dramatically when faced with novel disruptions.
3. Executives vs. MBAs: Risk & Plateauing: Executives quickly reached product-market fit but often stopped playing to avoid reputational risk, while students kept pushing and innovating.
4. Rise of the Digital Twin: Strategize builds “digital twins” — AI-powered, hyper-personal agents that learn everything about an executive’s work, preferences, and communications to serve as a personal co-pilot.
5. The Future of the CEO Role: AI will not replace CEOs—but the best leaders will be those who know how to work with AI to amplify decision-making, handle data complexity, and retain accountability.

Hamza's work along with his co-authors Kamal Munir, Shaz Ansari and Amal Zahra is featured in HBR: https://hbr.org/2024/09/ai-can-mostly-outperform-human-ceos

To learn more about Hamza and his work, follow him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamzamudassir/)