🎧Biggest AI Mistake CEOs Are Making Right Now

AI Leadership & Management Special

AI isn’t just changing products.
It’s changing power.

Right now, inside boardrooms and engineering orgs, one dangerous question is surfacing:

Should AI evaluate human performance?

In this episode, I sit down with Bala Muthiah, Director of Engineering at Lyft, to unpack why centralized, top-down AI mandates may be the biggest strategic mistake CEOs are making today. Over the last few months, I’ve watched more leaders drift toward command-and-control AI rollouts, and Bala’s experience at Lyft is the strongest case I’ve seen for doing the opposite.

Because the future of AI in leadership isn’t about replacing managers.
It’s about multiplying the best ones.

—Team Unlocking the AI advantage

🎧 Watch the full breakdown (Episode 54)

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❓ Big questions this episode forces us to confront

• Should leaders ever allow AI to evaluate human performance?

• Is decentralized AI the only way companies survive this shift?

• Will AI replace managers — or elevate the best ones?

• Are top-down AI mandates killing innovation internally?

• Can engineering teams double productivity without cutting jobs?

• Is AI widening the divide between tech insiders and everyone else?

Core tension:
AI scales decisions.
Leadership owns consequences.

⏩ If you only skim, read this…

🌊 Why this episode matters

This conversation surfaces four leadership shifts already underway:

🔹 Decentralization Over Control
AI strategy cannot live only in the C-suite. Teams closest to problems must shape AI adoption — or risk resistance and misalignment.

🔹 AI as a Leadership Multiplier
Used correctly, AI augments mentorship, coaching, documentation, and decision prep — freeing leaders to focus on judgment, trust, and culture.

🔹 Human-Impact Decisions Stay Human
Performance reviews, promotions, layoffs, and conflict resolution should never be delegated to models trained on historical bias.

🔹 Productivity Without Headcount Panic
The best engineering cultures are doubling output through AI assistance — without defaulting to workforce cuts.

This isn’t about AI strategy decks.
It’s about preserving the human core of leadership.

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🎙️ In this episode

[00:00] Why AI leadership is the defining challenge of 2026
[02:18] Setting the stage: the real executive dilemma
[03:20] Bala’s philosophy on decentralized AI strategy
[06:00] AI as a leadership multiplier
[09:11] Building a people-first engineering culture
[11:47] The shift to human-centered leadership
[13:43] AI in mentorship and growth democratization
[18:07] Decisions leaders should never delegate to AI
[20:51] Balancing technology and community impact
[23:15] Using AI to become a better leader

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🤝 Connect with Ramesh

AI now touches the conversations that used to happen only behind closed doors: performance reviews, promotions, even layoffs.

If this episode changed how you see those decisions, send it to one leader who’s still tempted to let AI judge their people.

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