A few weeks ago, Fortune reported that almost half of its tech executives already deployed agent AI in their workplaces. When I read it, my initial response was: What are the other half waiting for? Hesitating is a new risk in an age where generative AI and autonomous agents are rapidly redefineing work outcomes.
Salesforce’s Andy Valenzuela recently said, “Every work should be rethinked.” I agree, and I start with myself.
For over 20 years, I have led my team through a wave of change. Google is scaling operations across Canada. With Evernote, pilot the turnaround. Help us launch AI-Native’s workplace assistant at Glean. And now, at Growthloop, we’re navigating the next wave of AI-driven marketing. Each role is shaped by intense speed, evolving technology, and unforgiving expectations. But no one has formed how I lead more than what is happening with AI now.
I once believed that effective leadership meant mastering the whirlwind. It moved fast, moved through switching contexts, and was ahead of everything. Urgency, determinism, omniscience: these were the traits I cherished. But something unexpected has happened over the past year. When AI agents began to integrate into my daily rhythms not only as tools but as collaborators, I realized I would let go of what I once thought was essential. In doing so I discovered space to lead.
This is not an essay about AI replacing people. It’s about how AI helped me to lead, more existent, thoughtful, and yes, humans.
Leadership’s H-Shut up
Five or ten years ago, I would have described great leadership in terms of output. Have I decided? Responsive? Can you overtake everyone else?
On a typical day I juggled 10 meetings, 30 slacks reds, and to-do lists that spilled over the weekend. Every moment was triage. I wore busyness like a badge of honor. Looking back, it wasn’t leadership. It was survival. I had a response more than a reflection, but it was efficient, but honestly, I felt more robotic than humans.
And then something changed.
My inflection point with AI
Like many leaders, I have started using AI for speed. A consolidation of dense report summaries, email drafting, and customer surveys. Initially, these were just practical shortcuts. But I quickly realized it was doing something else entirely: clearing up mental confusion.
I saved my time and mental energy when AI agents condense the 260-page trend report into digestible bullet points. When I used AI to personalize outreach to Fortune 500 contacts, it wasn’t just faster. Because I had the time and ability to be intentional in my tailored approach and had the time and ability to think about something specific that is valuable to the person I am reaching out to.
That extra capacity is everything. I realized I was putting off for months. It involves coaching team members, thinking deeply about product vision and writing company updates that don’t sound like HR Bot wrote.
Scaling output and impact
Today, 60% to 70% of my daily life are involved in AI agents. Offloaded status updates, document analysis and first-pass messaging on the machine. In return, I reclaimed something I didn’t know I had lost: Space.
A space to think. To the coach. Take the lead.
Instead of obsessing with all the outreach details and brute-enhancing personalization, I rely on agents to express relevance. Before asking about recent customer activity, major project updates, and even internal sentiment. The change made me feel more thoughtful, more focused and unexpectedly available.
A Growthloop teammate recently said, “You’re asking bigger questions as well as faster questions.” That comment stuck to me. It captured what I was feeling, but it wasn’t clear: I was showing a different look. I’m in Reactive mode, not Reflective mode.
That is the true power of AI. It’s not what it deletes, it’s what it restores. Yes, it brightens the load. But it also shifts leadership attitudes from tension to strategic and scattered to present.
The benefits of human automation
The actual ROI of AI is not measured by the amount of time saved. It is measured with keen thinking, richer conversation, and better decisions.
Recently I sent my personalized outreach notes to a famous contact who was a former editor who played hockey with a famous politician. AI agents helped create messages that reminded them of specific anecdotes about hockey games in real and relevant ways. I wouldn’t have pulled it off in the middle of my usual whirlwind. But that’s where relationships and opportunities begin.
Rethinking Leadership
We spend a lot of time debating which employment AI will change or eliminate. But what about Reed’s work? That role must also be rethinked.
Old-fashioned leadership was about control, predictability and long-term planning. But control is an illusion, and long-term planning is probabilistic at best. AI moves faster than long-term plans. So we have to do that.
This means that leaders need to move from supervisor to design. From commands and controls to context and coaches. In reality, it means stopping trying to decide every decision and instead focusing on creating the right environment for your team to succeed. You don’t need to have all the answers, but you need to build systems, processes, and cultural norms that will help your team make good decisions without constant monitoring.
Soon, all employees will manage the fleet of AI agents. In a way, turn all employees into responsible leaders who set clear goals, provide appropriate feedback, and delegate well to drive results through these tools. Our role as executives is to equip them for that reality. That starts now. Invest in training, set clear decision-making principles, redesign workflows and effectively integrate AI. The earlier you create those conditions, the larger the team (and their AI counterparts) will be delivered.
A call to reconsider rather than retreat
If you’re a founder or executive who is still trying to control everything, my advice is simple: stop it. You cannot scale yourself. But employing AI, team power, and your own humanity can broaden your impact.
Start small. Select one task you fear, such as status updates, investigations, or triages your inbox and pass it to the agent. After that, spend the time recovering to do what the machine can’t do. Give your teammates honest feedback, listen to frustrated customers, and write appreciation notes.
Those are the moments when leadership lives. AI can’t replace them, but it helps to create space for them.
Yes, I believe that all work should be rethinked. But let’s start with ours.
Chris O’Neill is CEO of GrowthLoop and Director of GAP’s Board of Directors. His career spans over 25 years, featuring his role as Managing Director of Google Canada and CEO of Evernote.
The opinions expressed in the commentary on Fortune.com are the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of good fortune.
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