Generic use cases fail to persuade leadership. To get genuine AI investment, build a custom tool that solves a specific, tangible pain point for an executive. An example is an 'AI board member' trained on past feedback to critique board decks before a meeting, making the value undeniable.

The best use of AI in coaching is as a tool for skill practice, not a human replacement. It offers a safe, low-stakes environment for leaders to rehearse challenging scenarios, like difficult conversations, and receive immediate feedback without the judgment of a human observer.

An Executive Assistant at Zapier built an AI agent that automates her weekly meeting prep. The agent researches external attendees, checks the CRM and internal comms for context, and delivers a digest and tasks. This saves hours of manual work and ensures thorough preparation.

To make company strategy more accessible, Zapier used Google's NotebookLM to create a central AI 'companion.' It ingests all strategy docs, meeting transcripts, and plans, allowing any employee to ask questions and understand how their work connects to the bigger picture.

Instead of static org charts, AI can monitor team performance and sentiment to propose small, ongoing adjustments—like rotating a member for fresh eyes or changing meeting formats. This turns organizational design into a dynamic, data-driven process of continuous improvement, overcoming human inertia.

Go beyond using AI for research by codifying your North Star, OKRs, and strategic goals into a personalized AI agent. Before important meetings, use this agent as a 'thought partner' to pressure-test your ideas, check for alignment with your goals, and identify blind spots. This 10-minute exercise dramatically improves meeting focus and outcomes.

Instead of spending hours agonizing over how to deliver constructive criticism, Lindsay Carter used AI. She inputted her concerns for a new assistant and prompted the AI to act as an expert. It generated a clear, structured, and helpful email in five minutes, demonstrating AI's power for improving leadership efficiency and communication.

To scale the CEO's feedback, his EA created a custom GPT trained on his feedback style, strategy docs, and company norms. Team members use this 'CEO clone' to stress-test their proposals before official review, improving document quality and saving executive time.

An automated workflow analyzes call transcripts and sends immediate, private feedback to the sales or CS rep on what they did well and where they can improve. This democratizes high-quality coaching, evens the playing field across managers of varying skill, and empowers motivated reps to upskill faster.