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Chicago Executive Coaching presents
Eleven years have passed since I published Why Can’t My People Think for Themselves? The message addressed how leaders with the best intentions can stifle critical thinking in their teams. I explored the habit of giving answers vs. guiding critical thinking for problem-solving.
Today, AI chatbots offer a new source for answers. And a potential new barrier to creativity and innovation.
In the earlier article, the problem was the leader who knew the answer and readily provided it. This was usually done with good intentions. Giving the answer was faster. It kept work moving. It also reinforced the leader’s value as the resident expert. Unfortunately, it deprived the employee of the opportunity to think through the problem.
AI can now play the same role more quickly, more confidently, and without needing to attend the meeting.
Suppose an employee encounters a problem and immediately asks an AI chatbot what to do. Within seconds, it produces a clear, well-organized response. The answer sounds reasonable. It may even be right.
But what thinking occurred before the prompt was entered?
Or did the apparent quality of the answer bring the thinking process to a premature end?
A 2025 study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research examined 936 examples of AI use reported by 319 knowledge workers. The researchers found that greater confidence in AI was associated with less critical thinking, while greater confidence in one’s own abilities was associated with more. They also found that AI often shifts our mental work from creating and analyzing to verifying and integrating what the technology produces. (Microsoft Research)
Verification matters. But it is not the same as beginning with a blank page, wrestling with uncertainty, and developing a point of view.
AI does not inevitably diminish critical thinking. It can also challenge assumptions, identify missing information, suggest alternatives, and introduce perspectives we might not have considered.
The difference may lie in when and how it enters the process.
Consider the difference between these two requests:
Vs…
The first request asks AI to do the thinking. The second uses AI to challenge thinking that has already begun.
That distinction applies to leaders as well as their teams. If I use AI to produce the answer and then hand that answer to my people, I may be repeating the same leadership mistake I wrote about eleven years ago. The source has changed. The effect has not.
Leaders do not need to discourage AI use. They need to become more curious about the thinking surrounding it. Before reviewing an AI-generated recommendation, you might ask:
These questions do more than test whether the employee used AI well. They help the employee develop judgment.
There may also be situations in which the team should think together before anyone consults AI. Once an answer is introduced, particularly a polished and confident one, it can influence everything that follows. Creativity sometimes needs a little room before efficiency enters the conversation.
AI can help people work faster. It can expose them to ideas they might never have encountered. It can be a valuable thinking partner. But a thinking partner should challenge our thinking. Not relieve us of the responsibility to think.
The next time someone brings you an AI-assisted recommendation, will you evaluate only the answer? Or will you discover how they arrived at it?
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