Episode 03 - Gary Lloyd

Episode 03: Gary Lloyd

AI: from mentor to "flight simulator", Gardeners, not Mechanics,
safe spaces and critical thinking

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Gary Lloyd is a change-leadership expert, keynote speaker, and author helping leaders navigate transformation in the age of AI.

Co-chair of Warwick Business School’s Mentoring Program and author of Gardeners Not Mechanics: How to Cultivate Change at Work, Gary reframes “change management” as cultivation—spotting interdependencies, working with uncertainty, and creating conditions for growth. He’s led sustainable change across financial markets and banking, delivering measurable business value.

Gary also builds practical learning tools, including The Leadership Skills Lab, a ChatGPT-powered app for practicing core leadership behaviors. His work equips teams to adapt faster—and leaders to lead change that sticks.

Episode Highlights

AI as a Coaching Partner -- From Mentor to “Flight Simulator”: Gary explains how a late-night experiment with ChatGPT turned into the Leadership Skills Lab—a first-of-its-kind AI coaching simulator. The tool lets learners rehearse feedback, delegation, and conflict scenarios with instant, judgment-free feedback—bringing microlearning to life. “I didn’t want AI to coach me—I wanted to practice my coaching.”

From Warwick to Rice—Measuring the Impact of AI Coaching: A LinkedIn message led Gary’s Skills Lab to a groundbreaking collaboration with Rice University’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders. The pilot uses customized AI role-plays to help undergraduates build feedback and communication skills. “Students can practice, get real-time hints, and reflect ... We’re not evaluating how well they did—we’re evaluating how effective the practice was.”

Gardeners, Not Mechanics: Leading in Complex Systems: Gary’s leadership philosophy challenges mechanical control-based change management. “We need to prepare the soil, sow seeds, and nurture what grows.” In the age of AI, this adaptive, experimental mindset is key. Instead of chasing perfect answers, organizations should “run lots of experiments—nurture the ones that work and weed out the rest.”

Safe Spaces and the Power of Practice: Gaurav and Dan reflect on the psychological safety that AI coaching provides. The Skills Lab’s design—complete with hint buttons and feedback summaries—encourages learning through iteration rather than judgment. “It’s powerful to explore ideas without fear of looking foolish.”

Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: Gary warns that the biggest risk of generative AI isn’t bias—it’s lazy thinking. He argues that AI should augment human reasoning, not replace it. “People ask AI for the answer before thinking it through themselves ... If you don’t practice your critical thinking, you lose it. Teachers can get lazy too.”

The Future of Leadership Development: From Oxford-style Socratic tutorials to voice-based coaching bots, Gary envisions AI as a co-facilitator of reflective learning—a scalable tool for leadership growth worldwide.

His favorite prompt captures that mindset: “What’s the other side of this?”