Most tech leaders are solving the wrong problem. AI just made it urgent

Have you come across someone who is struggling after having been promoted from technical expert to leader? It’s often the case that the logical next step for the outstanding technical expert is into leadership. But they are typically thrown in the deep end with little or no leadership development support. Maybe now that same leader is wondering if they made the right call. Their problem solving superpower helped them solve technical problems. But in leadership, the problems they face are 'people' problems wherever they look. It's a separate skill.

The first step is recognising that there is a problem. Here are seven telltale signs of someone struggling with the transition from expert to leader.

1️⃣ They say, ‘It's hard to get good people’ 

2️⃣ Easier to do it themselves than explain it
  
3️⃣ Still prefers solving technical problems over people ones
  
4️⃣ Likes being the smartest person in the room
  
5️⃣ Team says they're a micromanager
  
6️⃣ Loves solving problems their team should be solving
  
7️⃣ Drowning in an ever-growing to-do list

Sound familiar? 

AI is making that gap wider. Fast.

When AI can do in minutes what once took your team days, the instinct of the technical expert-turned-leader is to lean in harder. More oversight. More involvement. More control. But that instinct — the one that made them brilliant — is now the bottleneck.

Because AI accelerates execution. It doesn't create alignment. It doesn't build commitment. It can't restore trust when cooperation breaks down. Those remain the work of the leader.

For leaders promoted on the strength of their technical excellence, AI isn't a solution. It's a magnifying glass.

The good news? The transition is learnable. And the leaders who make it don't just survive disruption — they're the ones their organisations lean on through it.

🙋 Which of the 7 signs do you recognise most often in tech leaders?

Best regards, Brian

PS: Join me in a free 60-minute conversation for senior technology and cyber leaders hosted by Influential U CEO and co-founder, John Patterson, exploring exactly this topic.

📅 Friday 6 March | 10:30 AM AEDT | Free, 60 minutes

It’s worth an hour of your time. Register here: When Technical Excellence Stops Delivering Outcomes