More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead

by Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter

AI has the potential to transform leadership and business—or to lead us toward an automated and uninspiring work experience. Which will it be?

Humans have always been good at inventing tools that change the way we live and work, but not always good at adapting to those changes. The internet has given us instant access to gigabytes of data and yet has made us more distracted. Social media has enabled constant connection to our networks and yet it can also alienate or isolate us. What impact will the phenomenal growth of AI ultimately have on our life and work?

So far, that question has mostly prompted a wave of anxiety about the disappearance of jobs and the loss of humanity in our work lives. But as founder and managing partner of Potential Project Rasmus Hougaard and senior partner Jacqueline Carter show in this essential book, that's a very limited perspective, leaving out a crucial AI has the power to transform leadership for the better. The key is in how leaders use it.

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with more than a hundred CEOs and executives across a range of industries, met with top AI experts, and completed 360-degree surveys of scores of leaders and employees worldwide. They found that by thoughtfully delegating tasks to AI and using it to augment skills and behaviors, leaders can unlock a truly human experience of work while enhancing organizational performance.

The AI-augmented leader moves beyond a focus on the technology itself to constantly probe how it can strengthen the core qualities of human-centered awareness, wisdom, and compassion. In this way, AI can help leaders and organizations become more human.

With deep insight and rigorous research, More Human will help leaders navigate our AI-enabled future.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Technology, Artificial Intelligence

158 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 18, 2025

Reviews

[Rodrigo Herrera · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost never read a book rated under 4.0, but this one had just been released and didn’t have any reviews yet. Unfortunately, it turned out to be extremely basic and lacked any real insights about AI. The title promises something deeper or thought-provoking, but the content falls flat. If you’re looking for meaningful reflections or practical learning, this isn’t the book.

[Greg Hawod · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was able to thoroughly explain how leaders today including those who have been leading for decades understand the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing the way they lead.

I really like the chapter about compassion because it discusses the importance of not losing our humanity given how easy it is nowadays to get the advice we need from AI tools.

Thanks to HBR Press team and NetGalley for the review copy in exchange for my honest take on this book.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am reading a lot of books about AI and leadership so please take that as the context. This book felt to me more like a new leader leadership primer with the opportunities of AI included. So perhaps suited to people at the start of their leadership career. Thank you to the authors. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[J Kromrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

A visionary, deeply humanistic guide to leading in the age of AI—equal parts practical roadmap and philosophical provocation.

In More Human, the authors challenge the prevailing narrative that AI will strip leadership of its humanity. Instead, they offer a compelling counterpoint: that AI, when used with intention and integrity, can actually make us more human—not less. This is not a book about algorithms or automation. It’s about awareness, wisdom, and compassion—the three pillars of what they call the “AI-Augmented Leader”.

Drawing on interviews with over 100 global executives, extensive research, and real-world case studies, the authors argue that AI is not a threat to human leadership—it’s a tool that can amplify our best qualities. But only if we lead with clarity of mind and heart.

The book is structured around three core leadership capacities:
- Awareness (context vs. content)
- Wisdom (questions vs. answers)
- Compassion (heart vs. algorithm)

Each section explores how AI can support—not replace—these traits, offering practical mindsets and exercises to cultivate them.

- The tone occasionally veers into the aspirational, with less attention to the structural and ethical risks of AI in less ideal contexts.

- Readers looking for technical implementation strategies may find the book more philosophical than procedural.

More Human is a timely, necessary book that reframes the AI conversation from fear to possibility. It doesn’t offer easy answers—but it does offer a compass. For leaders willing to do the inner work, this book is both a guide and a call to action: to lead not in spite of AI, but because of it—and to do so with wisdom, awareness, and heart.

[Mike Travers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was assigned reading in my professional development department, and the core message is a good one: that our human qualities are actually what will help us thrive alongside AI. And that AI, in turn, can be used to enhance our humanness rather than replace it.

That basic idea resonated with me. But a lot of the book felt stretched out and might have landed better as a blog post. The sub-skills and frameworks didn’t add much new insight for me, and I found myself wishing there were more practical examples of how leaders can actually use AI to become more human in the way they work.

The writing is clean and accessible, and for someone totally new to AI or nervous about its impact on leadership, this could be a reassuring entry point. But for those already familiar with AI tools or modern leadership practices, it might feel a little too basic.

[Ana Claudia Santos-Cortez · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book serves the purpose of introducing the very basics of behaviors, mindsets and core actions of a leadership position. Emphasizes excessively around meditation. I don’t see this as an AI-world useful book. Could have been a good reading if I’ve never been into or exposed to leadership roles before probably.

[Lucille Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Look, it's some reheated social psychology repurposed for AI insights, not particularly novel. Be adaptable, know yourself, be open to change. About the same that could have been said in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 in any Business School trade press. Just slot in "AI" for TQM or Six Sigma or something else that was the hype at the time.