What Makes Leadership Human in an Age of AI?
In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Valerie Jackson — Harvard College and Georgetown Law alum, former securities lawyer turned C-suite people leader — to explore what it really takes to scale companies without breaking leaders or culture. Valerie traces her journey from advising public companies and serving at the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to building one of the first law-firm diversity departments and leading people operations across VC-backed rockets, public SaaS, and PE-owned businesses. Together they unpack human-centered leadership, the mechanics of burnout (as recognized by the WHO), and why self-work is often the hardest part of scaling. Valerie shares practical tools — from 360s, “powerful partnerships,” and time audits to managing brain chemistry — and makes a compelling case that AI should elevate people, not erase them, because nothing can replace a leader’s “energetic signature.” The conversation closes with hard-won lessons on IPO vs. going private, PE vs. VC risk appetites, and Valerie’s mantra: “Know your ripple.”
Takeaways
Great leadership starts with self-awareness. Learn yourself to lead others.
Build “powerful partnerships”: pair visionary thinkers with linear operators.
Align culture: what we say (cognitive) with how we behave (emotional).
Use 360 feedback to surface blind spots with curiosity and humility.
Burnout = exhaustion + inefficacy + cynicism. Address all three to recover.
Run time audits to find your “golden ratio” of energizing vs draining work.
Support brain chemistry intentionally: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins.
Keep AI human-centric. Technology should amplify people, not replace them.
Design for tool obsolescence and misuse while protecting the humans.
IPOs bring capital and scrutiny; going private can restore flexibility.
PE and VC differ on time horizons, risk, and control expectations.
Leader’s billboard: “Know your ripple.” Be intentional about your impact.
Chapters
00:00 Intro and why human-centered leadership matters
01:28 Meet Valerie Jackson: law to people leadership across stages
03:25 Early diversity work and career inflection points
05:10 Patterns across org models: partnership, VC, public, PE
06:59 Visionary vs linear strengths and “powerful partnerships”
08:51 Self-work as a prerequisite to leading others
12:20 Culture alignment: words, behaviors, and trust
17:29 Feedback that works: curiosity, humility, and 360s
25:00 Burnout explained: exhaustion, inefficacy, cynicism
32:31 Time audits and defining your “golden ratio”
34:23 Brain chemistry levers for sustainable performance
37:03 Delegate to elevate: designing roles around energy
40:04 Keeping people at the center of AI
43:11 The “energetic signature”: what AI cannot replace
52:49 IPO tradeoffs and why some companies go private
56:13 PE vs VC: incentives, timelines, and control
1:03:09 Tools and books leaders actually use
1:05:22 10X vs 2X: optimization vs transformation
1:08:52 Billboard for leaders: “Know your ripple”
1:11:19 Closing and take-home actions
Valerie Jackson’s Social Media Link:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadjackson/
Resources and Links:
