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No Bullsh!t Leadership
AI for Leaders in 2026: Promoted or Replaced?
Have you ever sat in a meeting about AI, nodded along, then thought, "I've got no idea what they're talking about, and I'm meant to be leading this"? If so, you're in good company.
In this episode, I chat with Em and AI expert James Killick to answer the question every leader is quietly asking. In 2026, does AI get you promoted, or replaced?
Here's the truth. AI isn't coming for leaders. It's coming for the leaders who live in the detail and do the work of the people below them. Your job hasn't changed since the Industrial Revolution. Take your people, your tools, and your budget, and turn them into something valuable.
In this episode:
- Why AI replaces the technical work, not the leadership work, and who that puts at risk
- The "automate last" rule, and why 9 in 10 AI projects fail
- How to treat AI like an over-enthusiastic intern, so your judgement matters more, not less
- The one mindset shift: lead AI inward, lead people outward
- What to hand to AI first, and the 20% only you can do
The window is open right now. Move first and you get ahead. Sit still and you get left behind.
Leadership Beyond the Theory June cohort is open. Doors close Friday 26 June. Join now: https://go.leadershipbeyondthetheory.com/
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Connect with James:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ai_orchestrator/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-killick/
YouTube + Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@james-killick
Join his FREE Skool community: https://www.skool.com/make-money-with-ai
Get training or his DFY AI services: njin.co
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You can connect with me at:
Website: https://www.yourceomentor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentor
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor
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Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
Your boss wants more with less. Your team wants less, full stop. You're stuck in the middle.
Leadership Beyond the Theory is 9 weeks to promotion-ready leadership.
2,800+ leaders from 150+ organisations. 99% would recommend.
Doors are now open for the June 2026 cohort, they close Fri 26 June!
Join the cohort here: https://go.leadershipbeyondthetheory.com/
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412. 5 Ways To Align People's Pay With Their Value
20:05||Season 1, Ep. 412Can you explain clearly why the people on your team are paid what they're being paid? If you can't, you may have a hidden problem eating away at your meritocracy. We've produced a few episodes over the years on remuneration structures, particularly how to link incentives to performance. This episode is all about the gap between what people believe about merit-based pay, and what actually happens when you try to put that into practice. Timing… negotiation skill… historical anomalies… skill shortages… there's a long list of barriers that conspire to stop you from paying people what they're truly worth. And most of them are completely outside of your control. In this episode, I give you five specific, practical steps that you can take to rebalance the scales of merit-based pay. And, at the very least, you’ll be able to explain, with a high degree of confidence, why your people are paid what they're being paid.————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
Moment 182. Do You Understand Your Psychological Contract?
04:24|The psychological contract is the mutual understanding between an employer and employee about their respective obligations to each other.There are no rules for these contracts: they’re based purely on people's perceptions, and they exist in people’s heads, not in formal documents.No matter how hard you work to keep your people happy, it's never enough: privileges just become entitlements. But there are three things that actually do make a difference… and they cost you nothing.If you want to make sure your people feel valued, have a listen to Ep.347: How to Wildly Exceed Your People’s Expectations————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
411. Stop Rescuing Underperformers: How to Make Consequences Stick
26:32||Season 1, Ep. 411Underperformers don't change because you ask them nicely. They only change when they can no longer avoid the consequences of not delivering.Every time you swoop in and rescue someone, you’re filling that performance gap on their behalf. At the same time, you’re reinforcing the fact that they never have to meet an acceptable standard, if they don’t want to. You might think you're just delivering the outcome: but you’re also unintentionally condoning unacceptable performance.As the leader, you’re responsible for the culture… and that’s a cancer in your culture. Every minute you spend doing someone else’s job is a minute you’re not doing your own. While your team is rewarded with extra work, they see you rewarding the poor performer with more of your time and attention.In this Q&A episode we cover:Why rescuing an underperforming peer is a disaster waiting to happen: if it works they take the credit, and if it fails you’re the scapegoat;The soft escalation technique that puts your boss in the picture without starting a political war you can't winAn influencing technique that brings pressure to bear on a stubborn peer, without going over their headWhy your people can predict exactly what you'll tolerate, and how that sets the performance barThe reason why nobody warns you when things are going wrong, and what you can learn from big corporate failures, like Theranos, that suppress bad newsWhy an empty house is better than a bad tenant: the case for exiting your worst performer, even in a tight labour marketHow to farewell someone with dignity, while still taking the opportunity for the rest of the team to learn from the cautionary tale.————————Podcast————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
Moment 181. Getting Maximum Mileage From Your 1:1s
03:59|As a corporate executive and CEO, the 1:1 meeting was the single most powerful weapon I had in my leadership arsenal. It was here that I mobilised my direct reports to excel.But even with that focus, I still left a lot to chance. It wasn’t until much later that I learned a technique to lock in people’s commitment to deliver.If you want to get more mileage from your 1:1s, there are three questions you can ask at the end that will wildly increase the chances of your direct reports delivering.If you want to make sure your people have extreme clarity on your expectations, have a listen to Ep.334: The Perfect Ending for a 1:1.————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
410. The 2 Hardest Conversations You'll Have With Your Top Talent
17:20||Season 1, Ep. 410Your top talent doesn't always quit because they're unhappy. Often, they simply can’t see what their next move is. And if that’s the case, it’s not their fault: it’s yours!Every leader I talk to at the moment is obsessed with retention; it feels like it's getting harder for them to hold onto their top performers. Job tenures are declining, but the averages often mask the real story. In this episode, I explain why a scarcity mindset entices good leaders to do dumb sh!t, by playing defence at exactly the wrong moment; and I walk you through the two hardest conversations you'll have with your top talent. If you get them wrong, you’ll lose your best people when it could have easily been avoided. But, if you get them right, you'll get more out of them for longer, even though you know you might lose them eventually.It doesn’t matter what your team structure is… it doesn’t matter whether or not a promotion opportunity exists… your job, as a leader, is to develop, grow, and stretch every individual to bring out their best, no matter what.Links mentioned in this episode:No Bullsh!t Leadership episodes:Ep.404: 8 Surprising ways to Reduce Unwanted TurnoverWikipedia link:Superbowl LIBLSUS Bureau of Labor StatisticsLBT link:Leadership Beyond the Theory————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
Moment 180. How to Eliminate Hiring Mistakes
03:58|Most job interviews are just friendly chats. They don’t provide any real due diligence.Making the right hiring choice requires a lot more than résumés and reference checks. Even personality profiling has limited utility.If you want to work out whether someone can actually do the job, you need to get good at interviewing.If you want to reduce the risk of hiring a dud, have a listen to Ep.379: Interview Questions to Expose the Bullshitters————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
409. Meetings: When to speak, when to listen
19:01||Season 1, Ep. 409Meetings can be a political minefield, and most leaders rely purely on their instinct to get by: which means they get it wrong more often than they realise.This episode cuts through the noise on one of the most deceptively complex leadership skills: knowing when to talk and when to shut up. It sounds simple, but It isn't: and The Economist's "Babble Hypothesis" proves why getting the balance wrong can derail your career.In this episode, I lay out a practical framework for two meeting scenarios that matter most: when you're in the chair, and when you're a participant in a room full of people more senior than you. I also give you my take on three types of meeting disrupters (otherwise known as d!ckheads), and some killer lines to get them off their soapbox, without blowing up the whole meeting.By the end, you'll have a clear, context-driven model for moving between listening and contributing, so that every time you open your mouth, it actually counts.————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
Moment 179. Why You Keep Avoiding the Hard Thing
04:32|Leadership might be hard, but there’s nothing you can’t master with application and discipline. This is why the toughest challenge is often just convincing yourself to start.In this Moment, I show you exactly how to overcome the comfort of inaction, and push yourself to do the things that will ultimately pay off.I don’t care if you’re an introvert, or if you get anxiety… this is about realising your long-term career ambitions.If you want to really get stuck into the psychology of taking that first small step to mastery, have a listen to Ep.337: How To Do Hard Things————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.
408. The Real Reason Your Team Moves So Slowly
15:55||Season 1, Ep. 408When we think about high-performing teams, we assume they have superior strategies and top-class talent. But one characteristic we often overlook is pace. And pace doesn’t happen organically: it takes a leader to build momentum into the culture.The best teams have a relentless drive to get things done; a bias for action that cuts through everything they do. A team that has momentum feels entirely different, and once you’ve been on a team like that, everything else will feel second-rate.The problem is that, despite all the posturing and empty claims, most leaders never truly create momentum in their teams. In this episode, I break down why speed is so critical to performance; I identify the seven biggest killers of momentum; and I leave you with the three moves you can make (starting right now) to build genuine pace into your team's culture.————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally.