The engineering director stared at the quarterly productivity report with growing frustration. Three months after implementing AI coding assistants across the team, delivery times had actually increased. Despite executive pressure to "embrace the AI revolution," the reality felt like expensive disappointment.
This scenario plays out everywhere. Research from METR reveals that when experienced developers use AI tools, they take 19% longer to complete tasks. The gap between AI adoption pressure and practical results creates confusion for leaders caught between boardroom expectations and team reality.
The solution isn't abandoning AI or forcing adoption. It's developing "superagency" - the strategic ability to leverage AI to amplify human potential rather than replace human judgment. For technical leaders, this represents a fundamental shift from viewing AI as threat to understanding it as a tool for enhancing leadership effectiveness.
Understanding Superagency vs. AI Replacement
Most technical leaders feel trapped by a false choice: embrace AI completely or resist technological change. This binary thinking misses the strategic opportunity. According to McKinsey's 2025 AI workplace report, almost 90 percent of leaders anticipate that deploying AI will drive revenue growth in the next three years. But this growth comes from strategic integration, not wholesale replacement.
"Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we'll augment our intelligence." —
Superagency transforms how technical leaders allocate cognitive resources. Instead of spending time on routine analysis, status compilation, or information synthesis, AI handles these tasks whilst leaders focus on strategic thinking, team development, and complex problem-solving.
Research from St. Louis Federal Reserve demonstrates this shift. Workers are 33% more productive in each hour they use generative AI, translating to 1.1% increase in aggregate productivity. For technical leaders, this means leveraging AI to enhance decision-making quality rather than simply increasing output speed.
The Leadership Skills That Matter More
AI excels at processing information but struggles with contextual meaning. Technical leaders must develop enhanced systems thinking to translate AI insights into actionable decisions considering team dynamics, business objectives, and long-term consequences.
Take team performance analysis. Your BI tool uses AI to identify that productivity drops every Thursday afternoon. The data is clear, but understanding requires human judgment. Is this due to meeting schedules, weekly sprint pressure, or team members struggling with complex problems? AI provides the pattern; leaders provide interpretation and solutions.
Leading teams through AI adoption requires sophisticated emotional intelligence. Team members experience anxiety about AI replacing their skills or changing their role value. Technical leaders must navigate these concerns whilst building psychological safety for experimentation.
This includes managing the balance between efficiency gains and human connection. When AI handles routine communication, leaders must ensure teams don't lose informal interactions that build trust and collaboration. (For deeper exploration of this challenge, see "When AI Writes Your Emails But Erases Your Voice".)
Robert Half's 2025 Salary Guide reveals that 54% of hiring managers now seek completely new skill combinations linked to AI. Technical leaders must make strategic decisions about which AI tools to adopt, how to integrate them with existing workflows, and when to trust AI recommendations versus human intuition.
This requires understanding AI limitations and knowing when human judgment trumps algorithmic suggestions. AI recruitment tools can identify candidates matching technical requirements, but human judgment remains essential for assessing cultural fit and growth potential. (For more on this challenge, see "Where Human Judgment Still Matters in AI Recruitment".)
Building Your Superagency Practice
Start by identifying leadership tasks where AI can handle routine cognitive load, freeing mental bandwidth for high-value human activities. Examples include AI-assisted meeting preparation, automated project status compilation, and AI-enhanced code review summaries highlighting architectural concerns.
Create safe spaces for AI experimentation without performance pressure. Model curiosity and learning rather than expertise. Focus on AI applications that enhance team collaboration rather than individual productivity metrics.
"We're not just building products; we're shaping the experiences of real people. Engineers should approach AI responsibly, ensuring their creations are innovative and just." — Charlie Clark, founder at Liinks, in
Use AI insights as input rather than replacement for leadership judgment. According to PwC's AI Jobs Barometer, wage premiums for AI skills increased from 25% to 56% year-over-year, reflecting enhanced human capability, not human replacement.
Making Superagency Work
Building superagency requires acknowledging that AI adoption isn't just technology but leadership and cultural transition. Frame AI as augmentation rather than replacement, celebrating examples where AI enhances human contribution.
Measure success through both efficiency metrics and human-centered outcomes. Track how AI frees time for strategic work and team development, not just task completion speed. Monitor team satisfaction, innovation velocity, and decision quality alongside productivity measures.
Superagency leadership isn't about mastering AI technology but strategically leveraging it to amplify human potential. Start with one AI tool handling routine cognitive tasks, invest freed time in high-value leadership activities, and build team AI literacy through experimentation.
Leaders who master superagency create competitive advantage through enhanced human capability rather than technology replacement. In an AI-first world, the most valuable leaders will be those who use artificial intelligence to become more human, not less.