September 25, 2026
Leading the New Workforce: Coaching Humans and AI Employees in the Age of AI
In this episode of Melissa’s Muddy Boots, Melissa Wood is joined by Gabe Larsen, Chief Revenue Officer at Atonom, and Jim Iyoob, President of ETS Labs and Chief Revenue Officer at Etech Global Services, to explore what leadership looks like when AI becomes part of the workforce.
The conversation focuses on how organizations are moving from teams built on people and tools to teams where human employees and AI employees work side by side.
As AI takes on more of the work, one requirement remains the same: both people and AI still need a leader who trains, coaches, and holds them to clear outcomes.
About the Episode
What changes for leaders when some of their teammates are AI? And why do so many AI initiatives still fail to deliver business results?
According to Gabe and Jim, AI does not reduce the need for leadership but rather increases it. AI employees need onboarding, regular review, and updated knowledge, in the same way a new hire does.
Through the conversation, Melissa, Gabe, and Jim discuss five ways the leader’s role is changing, why no AI agent can fix a broken or undocumented process, and why the market has moved from AI experimentation to measurable ROI. They also explain why domain expertise and clean data determine whether AI improves customer experience, and why people remain the differentiator in every organization.
This Episode Answers the Following Questions and More
- What is an AI employee, and how is it different from an AI tool?
- How is leadership changing in the age of AI?
- Do AI employees need coaching and development?
- Why do so many AI implementations fail to deliver ROI?
- Why should leaders fix a process before automating it?
- Will AI replace human employees?
Top Takeaways
Treat AI as a Teammate
AI delivers more value when leaders onboard, train, and manage it like a new hire instead of installing it and stepping away.
Coaching Still Drives Performance
Leaders who were not developing their people before AI will not succeed with AI either.
Process Comes Before Automation
AI improves a documented process. It cannot repair a broken one.
ROI Is the Standard
AI initiatives need to lower costs or increase revenue, not just save a few minutes.
People Remain the Differentiator
AI will take on repetitive work, but people are what set one organization apart from another.
Quotes from the Episode
“When you reframe it from a tool to a teammate, it changes the way you build your org.”
“If your process is broken, no AI agent is ever going to fix it.”
“Never trust a cowboy with clean boots.”
“There’s no such thing as plug and play. You have to train this employee just like you would a real human being.”
Meet the Leaders
Gabe Larsen: Chief Revenue Officer, Atonom
Jim Iyoob: President, ETS Labs and Chief Revenue Officer, Etech Global Services
Melissa Wood: Dean of Global Leadership Development, Etech Global Services
Watch Now: Lead the New Workforce with Confidence
Discover practical strategies for bringing AI employees into your organization while keeping people, process, and outcomes at the center.
Learn how leaders can coach both humans and AI, fix processes before automating them, and turn AI into measurable business results.
Watch the full episode.
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