Leadership Assessment in the AI World: What’s Real, What’s Hype, and What Actually Works

Leadership assessment has always been an important activity. Selecting the right person to lead a team, department, or organization can have a lasting impact on performance, culture, and results. For decades, organizations have relied on structured, multi-method approaches, most notably assessment centers, to gain deeper insight into leadership potential.

Assessment centers have historically combined role-plays, simulations, behavioral interviews, group exercises, and other structured methods to evaluate how individuals are likely to perform in leadership roles. These processes require trained human assessors and often significant time and resources, but they also offer something many newer tools struggle to replicate: a nuanced understanding of how a person thinks, interacts, and leads in realistic, job-relevant situations.

Now, with the rise of artificial intelligence and digital assessments, leadership evaluation is entering a new era. AI-powered personality tests, natural language processing tools that score video interviews, and data-driven platforms that promise to predict leadership potential in minutes are increasingly being marketed as modern solutions. These tools offer potential advantages in terms of efficiency, scalability, and consistency, but they also introduce new questions and concerns.

Are these tools valid? Do they measure what they claim to measure? Are they free from bias? And perhaps most importantly, how do they compare to more established human-based approaches when it comes to making confident, accurate decisions about future leaders?

In this webinar, Dr. Mark Smith (organizational psychologist, book author, consultant, and expert in talent assessment) will offer a clear, research-based overview of leadership assessment in today’s AI-influenced world. Dr. Smith will provide a balanced look at how leadership potential has traditionally been assessed, how that’s changing with new technology, and what practitioners need to consider when evaluating or implementing these tools.

This session will take participants on a thoughtful exploration of:

Participants will leave with a grounded understanding of the leadership assessment landscape (both past and present) and practical tools to navigate what’s next. The goal of this session is not to endorse or reject AI-based assessments, but to empower professionals to make informed decisions about how they evaluate leadership potential in a changing world.

This webinar is ideal for HR professionals, talent acquisition specialists, organizational development leaders, and anyone involved in hiring, promoting, or developing leadership talent. Whether you are exploring new technology or continuing to rely on traditional methods, this session will help you sort through the hype and focus on what truly works.

Areas Covered

Who Should Attend    

HR professionals, including: HR directors, Training managers, Company leaders, including: Operations directors, Senior VPs

Why Should You Attend

AI is rapidly reshaping how we assess applicants and employees, including company leaders. Tools that analyze resumes, score personality tests, or interpret video interviews promise faster, smarter evaluations. But these innovations raise important questions: Are these tools valid? Are they fair? Do they really help us choose better leaders?

At the same time, we can’t ignore the long history of leadership assessment through more traditional methods. For decades, assessment centers have served as a rigorous, evidence-based approach. These centers use a combination of exercises, like simulations, role-plays, interviews, and group activities, evaluated by trained assessors to predict real-world leadership performance.

While assessment centers require more time and effort, they have provided deep insights into how individuals lead, collaborate, and problem-solve. In a world focused on speed and automation, what lessons do they still offer? And can AI-based tools live up to that standard?

In this session, Dr. Mark Smith, organizational psychologist and author of A Better Choice, will take a clear-eyed look at leadership assessment today. Drawing from decades of research and practice, he’ll offer a balanced view of both human-led and AI-enabled methods, helping you understand where each fits and where caution is needed.

This is not a sales pitch. It’s a practical conversation for anyone responsible for selecting or developing leaders in a rapidly evolving assessment landscape.

What You’ll Learn:

If you're responsible for selecting or developing leaders and want to stay informed, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

Topic Background

Leaders have a powerful impact on teams and organizations, as many people know from direct experience. For decades, companies have used leadership assessments in two main ways: to inform hiring and promotion decisions, and to support leadership development through targeted feedback.

Now, as AI tools become more common in the workplace, a new question has emerged: Should the way we assess leaders and future leaders change in response?