For decades, we’ve celebrated leaders for their intuition. In the military, we call it “battleground awareness” – a commander’s almost sixth sense about the battlefield, sharpened through years of training and mistakes (mistakes they hopefully lived through). In business, we call it “gut feeling”.

But here’s the truth: “gut feeling” is being repriced.

When I served as a Captain in the Hellenic Armed Forces, I learned a simple rule: the best outcomes come when human judgment is paired with the best intelligence available. Courage is vital – but courage without clarity is just a gamble. And today, in the corporate world, “best intelligence” increasingly means …AI.

We are entering the era of the Augmented Executive. This is not about replacing the leader. It’s about building a partnership between human experience and machine intelligence – turning hunches and “gut feelings” into strategic bets with real odds behind them.

Redefining Leadership: From Gut Feeling to Augmented Command

In the army, everything begins with a clear Commander’s Intent – what success looks like and why it matters. You then trust your people to adapt on the ground. But to define that intent, you need the clearest picture of the terrain.

In the field, we sent out patrols (and now drones) for reconnaissance. In business, the equivalent is AI.

AI can scan thousands of data points – supply chain signals, competitor moves, market or consumer sentiment – try different scenarios and discover patterns we’d never see on our own.

The point isn’t to let the machine make decisions or give the orders. It’s to give the leader the clearest map possible, the best info available so they can make the hard call, rally the team, and move decisively.

AI won’t take the hill for you — but it will make sure you’re charging in the right direction.

And just like a good commander always knows the morale of their troops, an augmented executive can sense the “health” of their organization – spotting burnout risks or communication breakdowns before they turn into crises. That’s not cold or mechanical; it’s leadership with better radar.

But beware! Radars need calibration. Leaders must watch for AI blind spots and biases the same way they’d question faulty intel in the field. Good data discipline becomes a command responsibility.

Redefining Performance: A Live After-Action Review

One of the most powerful habits in the military is the After-Action Review. After every mission comes the “debrief”. We sat down and said: what was supposed to happen, what actually happened, and why?

AI now lets us run that process in real time. No more waiting for quarterly reviews. No more guessing which behaviors really drive success. AI can show which actions separate top-performing teams from the rest – right now, while you can still adjust. A sales manager can see which call patterns lead to wins this week; a factory head can catch productivity drops by shift before they spiral.

This turns performance management from a rear-view-mirror exercise into a live coaching loop. Managers can fine-tune skills and behaviors the same way a sergeant sharpens a soldier’s drills. It creates a culture where learning is continuous, not just a yearly formality.

Redefining Potential: Finding Your Corporate Special Forces

In the military, great commanders can spot future leaders before they wear the stripes. In big companies, this is harder – we fall back on job titles, CVs, or alma maters.

AI blows that open. It can detect the quiet analyst who shows a pattern of creative problem-solving, the marketer who intuitively bridges data and storytelling, the engineer who is a natural mentor.

It shifts the question from “Who has done it before?” to “Who can learn and adapt fastest?” -arguably the most important skill in a world that changes …. monthly.

This is mission command for the corporate world: trust your people, but make sure you’ve put the right ones on the right missions!

The Bottom Line

In the military, we call technology that makes your people dramatically more effective a force multiplier. That’s the right way to think about AI.

AI doesn’t make leaders less human – it makes them more human, by freeing them from the “noise” and letting them focus on what only people can do: set vision, inspire, take risks, and lead with courage.

But courage without clarity is still a gamble – and AI is the tool that gives you clarity at scale.

This is not the end of leadership. It’s leadership with a better map, better scouts, and better odds. It’s leadership, leveled up.