Executive coach Dr Marie-Hélène Pelletier says psychological resilience, not technical skill, will define leadership success in the AI era
As artificial intelligence reshapes how organisations make decisions, restructure teams and redefine roles, psychologist and executive coach Dr Marie-Hélène Pelletier argues that the hardest part of the transition isn't the technology itself.
In discussion with HRD, the Vancouver, Canada-based coach – whose TEDx talk Crossing the River: Resilience in the Age of AI have positioned her as a leading voice on workplace resilience – said the pressure to adapt "faster" is testing leaders' judgement in ways most organisations aren't yet built to handle.
Asked directly whether the AI era's biggest challenge is psychological rather than technological, Pelletier said "it’s probably both, really,” pointing to how senior leaders were promoted in a more predictable, stable era – one where it was possible to "know everything about everything."
That certainty, she said, has gone. "We still have to, as leaders and as HR leaders as well, continue to make good decisions, responsible decisions, but at the same time, with everything happening so fast, it just becomes harder to maintain good judgement – we're seeing some ethical drift," she said, describing professionals who see themselves as ethical but are, without realising it, "relying a bit more than we think on technology."
Resilience has become leadership infrastructure
For Pelletier, the response isn't a wellness add-on – it's structural. "Resilience has moved up from being a nice wellness concept over on the side to being very central – to being actually leadership infrastructure," she said.
That reframing matters for HR leaders building a case for protecting human connection and judgement as AI absorbs more decision-making load. It also echoes a broader shift already visible in HR data – recent workplace research on overload and organisational design has found that employee confidence that leaders treat wellbeing as a genuine priority has fallen steadily over the past five years, even as organisations expand wellbeing programs.
AI is quietly reshaping identity at work
A recurring theme in Pelletier's practice is identity. "What we do in our work is in part defining our identity," she said. "It's where we create meaning, where we create relationships, a sense of purpose, a sense of community."
As AI replaces, augments or creates different tasks, she said, it inevitably reshapes that identity – for better or worse. "AI coming in and modifying what we can do is impacting our identity, which means it might bring us closer to what we could call our ideal work self – or it could be moving us away from it."
Her advice to leaders: go beyond generic check-ins. "In addition to asking how people are doing, what they need, and their ideas, we can go even more specific – how is this impacting your work self, your identity at work, your sense of satisfaction and meaning with what you do?" she said.
Naming that shift, she added, is itself protective – "one of the things we know about humans is when we can name things, it helps us process them, make sense of them."
That risk of quiet disconnection is echoed in HR research; a recent global report on AI's effect on workplace communication found a meaningful share of employees now speak less to colleagues since adopting generative AI tools day to day.
What effective leaders are doing differently
Pelletier said the strongest leaders she works with share two habits. First, consistent AI training – "so there's always the next training happening… that gives a sense of agency in a context where there's so much we don't know, and it's structured."
Without it, she warned, people fill the gap themselves: "In the absence of training or information, we will make assumptions – and assumptions can be dangerous, can be not helpful."
That training gap is now showing up in the data. Research by Boston Consulting Group researcher Julie Bedard and colleagues identified a pattern researchers are calling "AI brain fry" – a form of mental fatigue linked to heavy oversight of multiple AI tools, marked by mental fog, slower decision-making and headaches.
The same study found that intensive AI oversight was associated with roughly 12% greater mental fatigue and 19% greater information overload among the employees surveyed.
Separately, ManpowerGroup's 2026 Global Talent Barometer, based on interviews with nearly 14,000 workers across 19 countries, found that while regular AI use rose sharply in 2025, workers' confidence in the technology fell by around 18% over the same period – a gap the report's authors attributed largely to tools being rolled out without adequate training or context.
Pelletier said effective leaders invest deliberately in their own resilience – exercise, sleep, nutrition, relationships and boundaries – rather than waiting until they're depleted. "Now is better than any time after now," she said.
Isolation is a real risk – and a fixable one
Pelletier also pointed to emerging research showing "that with more use of AI, people can feel more isolated," making it more important to build structured opportunities for connection – such as a standing cross-functional group to discuss how AI integration is going from a human perspective.
Her message to leaders who think they've missed the window: "If someone's thinking, well, we're too early for this – no, you're not. Do it now. If you're thinking it's too late, we're already too far – no, no, it's not. Do it now."
