How to Remain Irreplaceable in the Age of AI

Severin Sorensen
4 days ago
5 min read

Updated: 21 hours ago

AI is turning coaching from a novelty into a utility. For Chairs and executive coaches, the market is bifurcating: the commodity vs. the craft. To stay relevant, we must hand over the routine tasks to the algorithms and double down on the distinctly human "craft" that no machine can replicate.

What AI is Absorbing

AI has already reached a level of competency that threatens the traditional "junior coach" or the facilitator who relies solely on structured processes. These elements are becoming commoditized:

Frameworks & Check-ins: GROW-model sessions, structured accountability check-ins, and goal tracking are logic-based systems. AI can manage these with perfect memory and zero fatigue.
Information Curation: Basic reframing exercises and resource curation (tasks that once required a coach’s research) are now instantaneous via Large Language Models (LLMs).
Template-Driven Work: If a session follows a rigid script or a template-driven facilitation style, it is at high risk of displacement.

Today, AI does these things competently. Within two years, it will perform them well enough to displace anyone whose primary value is process management.

The High-Value Territory

The work that AI cannot replicate lives in the realm of nuance, emotional intelligence, and shared human experience. This is where the elite coaches and Chairs can operate.

The Unspoken Word: AI analyzes data and humans read the room. The ability to sense the tension in the air or "read what the room isn't saying" is a uniquely human sensory experience.
Strategic Silence: AI is designed to generate output. A master coach knows the power of holding silence until the truth arrives, waiting for the client to bridge the gap themselves.
Navigating the Inner Landscape: Dealing with grief, ego, fear, and identity requires a level of empathy and shared vulnerability that an algorithm cannot possess.
Knowing When to Break the Rules: While AI follows frameworks, a master coach and Chair knows exactly when the framework is wrong and has the "earned trust" from years of presence to pivot mid-stream.

Your Strategy for Persistent Relevance

To remain relevant in this shifting landscape, coaches can adopt a three-pillar strategy to evolve their practice.

Pillar 1: Delegate the Routine

Stop fighting the technology and start leveraging it. Let AI handle the prep work, the data analysis, and the structured framework reminders. By delegating the "routine" to AI, you free up your mental energy and your schedule to focus on the deep work. For example, instead of spending hours on manual synthesis or administrative prep, a Chair can use AI to elevate the quality of the coaching experience:

The accountability architect: Rather than just noting a goal like "improve company culture," use AI to transform rambling session notes into a structured accountability framework with specific KPIs and 30, 60, and 90-day trackable milestones.
Multi-perspective roleplay: Prepare a member for a major strategy shift by using AI to simulate a "Devil’s Advocate" persona (such as a skeptical CFO or a data-driven board member) to ask the "hard" questions the peer group might be too polite to raise.
Cognitive bias checker: Use AI to act as an objective auditor, reviewing a member’s rationale for a major decision to identify Sunk Cost, Confirmation Bias, or other blind spots that might be clouding their judgment.
Rapid learning briefs: When a member faces a niche technical challenge (like an ESOP transition), have AI provide a 10-minute executive briefing on the pros, cons, and "must-ask" questions so you can stay one step ahead during the session.
Difficult conversation scripting: Help a member move from theory to action by drafting multiple versions of an opening script for a high-stakes talk, ranging from direct to empathetic, ensuring they have the right words for a crucial COO or board dispute.
Leadership philosophy developer: Synthesize disparate ideas from months of session notes into a cohesive Leadership Philosophy Manifesto that the member can share with their executive team to clarify expectations.

Pillar 2: Deepen Your Craft

Reinvest the hours saved by AI into the "relational work" only you can do. This means doubling down on presence and listening. In an increasingly automated world, your undivided, high-level human attention becomes a premium, scarce resource. A Chair or coach can elevate their "Distinctly Human" craft in these three specific ways:

The "third ear" (deep listening): Because you aren't worried about capturing every key action item (which AI is doing in the background), you can listen for what isn't being said, like the slight tremor in a CEO’s voice when they mention their CFO, or the long pause before they commit to a deadline. With a new attention to detail, you have the mental space to ask: "I noticed you hesitated there; what's the part of this plan you're most afraid of?"
Radical eye contact & connection: The "Administrative Shadow" often forces coaches to look down at their notebooks or screens. Without the need to "document" the GROW model steps in real-time, you can maintain consistent, empathetic eye contact. This creates a "holding environment" where the client feels truly seen. Trust is built in these uninterrupted moments of human-to-human connection.
Leveraging the power of strategic silence: AI is built to fill gaps with data. A master coach uses silence as a tool. When you aren't rushing to the next "structured framework reminder," you can allow a difficult truth to hang in the air. You gain the patience to wait for the client to break the silence. Often, the most profound realizations happen in the 10 seconds of "uncomfortable" quiet that an automated system would try to "fix.”

Pillar 3: Sharpen the Saw (Coveyism)

Drawing from Stephen Covey’s classic principle, persistent relevance requires daily practice and the constant exercise of judgment. The moment you stop challenging your own perspectives and stop refining your intuition is the moment you become replaceable by a machine. Here are five diagnostic questions an executive coach or Chair can ask themselves to ensure they remain "Distinctly Human":

"If I were replaced by a highly sophisticated script today, how much of my last session would have remained exactly the same?"
"How comfortable am I letting a client sit in silence for more than 10 seconds without reaching for a tool or a leading question?"
"When was the last time I consciously abandoned my planned agenda or framework because I sensed the 'room' needed something entirely different?"
"Am I leaning on my credentials and past successes, or am I building fresh 'presence' in every single interaction?"
"Am I reacting to the client's ego, fear, or grief with my own 'expert' persona, or am I navigating it with them as a peer?"

The Main Takeaway

AI won't replace coaches and Chairs today, but it is redefining the floor of the coaching market. The "middle" is disappearing, and you must decide if you will be a facilitator of processes or a catalyst for human transformation. One is being automated; the other is more valuable than ever.