Love it or loathe it, the advice to “put your airmask on first” has long been used to encourage women to prioritise themselves over the people and tasks in their care.

Now, one leader has applied this mentality to artificial intelligence. 

“You need to strap your AI oxygen mask on first before you can possibly put it on your team, your business, your clients, or your family,” says Makenna Ralston. 

Speaking at the FW Leadership Summit, the CEO of CommBank iQ – a joint venture between CommBank and analytics company Quantium – shares just how passionate she is about this technology and this moment in time. Especially for the female leaders in the room.

“I need to be honest. I lead a team of about 90 data scientists and engineers. And I am not technical,” says Ralston. 

“I do not know the first thing about the work that they can do. I cannot code. I can barely translate some of the terminology that they use, and I’ve worked really hard over the years of my career… to be able to understand them, connect with them, motivate them, lead them.” 

Now, in the early years of the gen AI evolution, Ralston has gained what she calls an “incredible asset” – one that helps her move beyond her experience and capability.  

“For the first time, I don’t need to be technical to connect with sophisticated data, sophisticated technology, to learn on demand and to move outside of the boundaries of my skill lane,” she says. 

“I’m like, finally, it’s the rise of the generalists. Here we go!” 

To demonstrate how she uses AI, Ralston shares a practical use case using Anthropic’s conversational assistant, Claude. 

“I don’t know if you can tell I’m about six feet tall,” she tells the FW Summit. 

“I have zero athletic ability. I will never be a professional athlete – that’s just the way the cookie crumbled, the height does not equal talent. But I do quite like the concept of having a professional coaching staff, like professional athletes would, on demand 24/7, totally tuned to my needs, strengths, development goals and ambitions.”

So, Ralston has built them. She now has a whole range of AI coaches including a technical one, that helps her work with her team members. She also has a media coach, a fitness coach (“that one doesn’t get a lot of love”) and a leadership coach. 

This particular coach has been designed to help Ralston when she’s preparing for negotiations, client meetings and commercial strategies. 

“If you are not using this technology in a way that is far beyond writing an email… You simply just don’t know what’s possible.”

From the Summit stage, Ralston tells it she wants to gain 18 percent growth from her top 10 clients over the next financial year. 

“I’ve asked it to challenge my thinking,” says Ralston. “This coach is not going to be nice to me – I have coaches that are trained a little bit nicer than this one, I did not want that in a commercial coach. I’ve asked it to challenge my assumptions.”

In real time, Ralston’s coach delivers constructive pushback and points for her to consider. 

“It’s an example of how these coaches are not just providing the first base of information, they’re helping you work through that strategy,” she says. “I show up more prepared as a CEO, ready to have a better, more robust conversation.”

To fellow leaders in the room – especially those who are yet to have a suite of AI coaches to hand – Ralston has this message: 

“If you are not using this technology in a way that is far beyond writing an email, or planning a trip, or using it to replace Google… You simply just don’t know what’s possible,” she says. 

“You should not be thinking of AI as a tool. You should be thinking of AI as a team member and using that team member to help you be a better leader.”

Image credit: Vienna Marie Creative