Should CEOs use AI themselves?

There's a line I hear from leaders all the time, especially in the conversations after my talks. "My team handles that. I don't get in the weeds."

I understand the instinct. You've got a company to run, and handing a new tool to the people closest to the work sounds like good delegation.

But you're also the one expected to lead your people through AI change. And they're watching how you handle it.

So should CEOs use AI themselves? Yes. The simple answer... you lead this by going first.

That means AI on your own work, and then sharing what happened with your people. Here's why handing it off doesn't hold up, and what going first looks like in a normal week.

Why can't leaders hand AI to their team?

When a leader tells me their team handles it, here's what I usually say back.

How are you supposed to lead your organization through this AI transformation if you don't understand how it affects you? How it affects your business? How it affects your day-to-day role?

Then the harder question.

Your team can run a lot of the rollout. The part you can't hand off is your own use of it.

If leaders buy the tools but never use them, the organization reads the signal. AI starts to look optional, or performative, or risky, and people act on what they see.

And once you're in the water, the whole thing starts to look different.

What changes when a leader uses AI on real work?

Most leaders have tried AI at least a little. Gallup, the polling and workplace research firm, surveyed more than 22,000 working US adults in late 2025 about how often they use AI in their role.

69% of leaders said they use it at least a few times a year. That compares with 55% of managers and 40% of individual contributors, the people with no one reporting to them.

A few times a year is a low bar, though. Gallup also says part of that gap likely reflects role type, since leaders are more likely to hold office-based, remote-capable jobs where AI tools are easier to apply.

So the question that matters is what work you're using it on. Here's what I see once a leader has used AI on their own work for a few weeks.

First, they stop getting caught up in the hype cycles, the waves of excitement and panic that follow every big AI announcement. The headlines, either the doom and gloom or the greatest thing since sliced bread.

They start to see where the technology really is, and the value it brings them. Then they connect the dots. If it does this for me, where else could it help in my own world?

That's when they want to become the evangelist. They start asking how to get their senior leadership team involved, and how to dedicate the time and resources to get everybody using it.

Then they look at the organization. How else can we improve our efficiency? What problems could AI help us solve?

And then the industry. What direction is our industry going? What opportunities do we have now that we didn't have before?

It starts snowballing from there. And every step of that snowball begins with a leader seeing the value for themselves.

What does going first look like in a normal week?

I wrote about this on LinkedIn in October, and it comes down to three steps.

Real work is the part that matters most. Pick something from your own week. A board update you need to draft, or a hard conversation you want to think through before you have it.

Do it with your own hands on the keyboard. One good result is a start, and the goal is regular use across your work, to the point where you can judge what it gives you and pick the next problem yourself.

Start small. That's how I started.

My own AI system started small back in early 2023. Honestly, I don't remember exactly what I first used it for. My best memory is content and emails, finding the words for things I knew I wanted to say.

Then came a few AI projects (workspaces inside an AI tool where you keep documents for it to draw on) with documents about my business, my audience, my offers, and my voice.

Some of the early builds were ugly. Some I rebuilt. Every one showed me what to try next.

I couldn't have pictured where it would end up. Today my whole business runs on it, and the picture showed up one build at a time.

Yours will too. And the moment you have something to show, step two starts.

What should leaders share with their people?

Share what happened. The wins and the misses. Imperfect is fine.

Sharing the misses matters. When your people hear that something you tried didn't work, they learn that trying and missing is safe here.

When your people see you experimenting, it gives them permission to get curious. They start trying things. On their own.

You start asking a different question, too. What are people doing with AI? That question gets other people excited. It puts more ideas on the table, and it gets the culture built in.

In my work, this is Leaders Go First, one of the four parts of The Culture Mortar, the culture that holds an AI rollout together. Leaders use the technology in their own work, share their wins and misses, and show their people a future where they grow with it.

That third step is easier when you've been in the water. You can talk about where AI is taking your people's work from your own experience, and they can hear the difference.

What this means for you

If you've been handing AI to your team and staying out of the weeds, start with one problem from your own week. Use AI on it yourself.

Then tell your people what happened, whether it worked or it didn't.

That's what they're watching for. When you go first, they'll take you farther than you could have pictured.

So what's the first problem you'll put it on this week?

You lead this by going first.

Key takeaways

1. 01Your team can run a lot of the AI rollout. Your own use of AI is the part you can't hand off, because your people read what you do with it.
2. 02Most leaders have already tried AI. In Gallup's late 2025 survey, 69% of leaders said they use it at least a few times a year, which is a low bar.
3. 03A few weeks of AI on their own work changes how leaders talk about it. Less hype, more value they've seen for themselves, then a closer look at the organization's problems and the industry's direction.
4. 04Going first takes three steps. Use AI on your own real work this week, share the wins and the misses, and show your people a future where they grow with it.
5. 05When your people see you experimenting, they get permission to get curious, and the culture starts to build from there.

Questions

Sources

Frameworks in this piece: The Culture Mortar