In this episode, Scott Allen welcomes Dr. Dan Jenkins (University of Southern Maine) and Dr. Gaurav Khanna (Cisco Systems, Stanford Continuing Studies) — co-hosts of the podcast Leaders in the Loop — for a wide-ranging conversation about the intersection of AI and leadership.

Jenkins and Khanna bring complementary expertise: one steeped in leadership pedagogy, the other living and breathing AI deployment at the enterprise level. Together, they unpack what’s genuinely exciting, genuinely concerning, and genuinely irreplaceable about the human side of leadership in an age of rapid technological change.

Key Takeaways:

• AI is a contact sport. Theory only gets you so far — lived examples and experimentation are how leaders will actually figure out how to use these tools well.
• Empathy can’t be easily coded. Students in Jenkins’ research consistently found chatbots diagnostic and solution-focused, not empathetic — a fundamental gap when it comes to leadership and coaching.
• Role-playing has real limits. Getting AI to simulate a difficult customer or a “mean” coach is harder than it sounds, and the guardrails built into most models constrain realistic leadership training scenarios.
• A new digital divide is forming. High-agency individuals who engage deeply with AI may accelerate far ahead of those who use it passively — a challenge for educators and organizations alike.
• Humans remain essential. Current large language model architectures have structural limitations that make replicating genuine human judgment, experience, and emotional intelligence unlikely in the near term.