Human-First in the Age of AI: Arika Pierce Williams on Rebranding Leadership for a New Era

In this episode of Catalysts, I sit down with Arika Pierce Williams, CEO and Founder of Piercing Strategies, to talk about what it really means to lead in the AI era—without losing what makes us human.

Arika isn’t just rethinking leadership—she’s rebranding it. Through her Human-First Leadership™ framework, she’s helping organizations develop leaders who are self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and equipped to guide teams through rapid change, without burning out.

We dive into:

• Why Gen Z is reshaping how leadership is defined—and what they want from it
• What “conscious unbossing” is, and why some emerging leaders are opting out of promotions
• How AI is freeing up time—but also eroding connection, unless we’re intentional
• The five elements of the HUMAN method: Hear, Understand, Motivate, Amplify, Navigate
• Why reflection, habits, and vulnerability are key to lasting behavior change
• What L&D teams must do now to remain strategic partners in cultural transformation
• The importance of relationship-based learning in creating real, lasting impact
• How Arika balances thought leadership with grounded, client-driven insights

If you’ve been wondering how to build the next generation of leaders—and how to help people managers lead with empathy, resilience, and authenticity—this episode is your roadmap.

🔗 Connect with Arika on LinkedIn or at piercingstrategies.com

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• Connect on with me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-ratliff
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Transcript

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Hey there and welcome back to Catalysts, the leaders shaping the future of learning and growth. I'm your host, Jacob Ratliff, and this is the show where we spotlight the bold thinkers, builders, and leaders who aren't just responding to change in our industry. They're the ones driving it. And today I'm joined by Erica Pierce Williams, who is the CEO and founder of Piercing Strategies. Erica is the force behind human first leadership, a philosophy and a framework that helps organizations thrive in the era of AI by putting really authentic human connection at the heart of performance. Her work helps turn task managers into transformational leaders, turn disconnected teams into cohesive cultures, and turn stagnant potential into scalable. growth. So today we're going to chat about the future of learning, the evolution of leadership, and what it takes to create a lasting impact. Erica, thank you so much for joining me here today. I'm really excited to have you on. Thank you, Jacob. I'm happy to be here and really like the intro. need you to send it to me so I can use it going forward. also send you an invoice for the ghost writing fee there. No, of course. So let's go ahead and dive in with a question specifically around your firm piercing strategy. what inspired you to start your own firm and what specifically was the gap in the leadership development space that you were aiming to fill? Sure, so people are oftentimes surprised that I do not come from an HR background. I'm actually a lawyer by training and I worked in corporate for many, many years, primarily in growth and strategy roles. And in my last role, I was the Senior Vice President of Growth and Strategy um for a healthcare technology company. And so my job was to create the strategic plan for the future. And so when you're doing that, you're looking across the industry, you're looking at what can we do differently, what can we do better, and what people do we need to do these types of things? ah What do our leaders look like? Are they ready for the next challenge? Are they ready for uh the next opportunity? And I'll be honest, we had um some gaps, I would say, in terms of where we wanted to be as a company and where our people were. I did not at that time work at a company that really prioritized development and learning and leadership from kind of a uh curriculum standpoint, right? It was all about just learn on the job, which to some degree, of course, you do learn a lot by doing. But I think especially when it comes to leadership and management and all of those things, there's so much that you can learn. um through other people, uh learning about different pathways, things like giving feedback. That doesn't come naturally to everyone, but it is critical for every organization. So as a result of this gap that I saw, I started creating some learning paths for my own team. um so that they could oh have opportunities to stretch themselves outside of their day-to-day, to learn some of those soft skills that I knew were so critically important for growth and for building teams and staying motivated. And really fast forward during COVID, um my job was very intense. I traveled almost every single week for it. And during COVID, I started to have a lot of time to think like lot of people. And I said, you know what? The best parts of my job that I think I really love are the people development piece, kind of seeing what gaps are there and trying to figure out, you know, how do you, you know, help someone grow and develop and have them, you know, really just increase their capacity through learning and development. And so I'll be honest, I quit my job and I decided to go all in on creating solutions primarily for corporate organizations that are people focused, that are really helping them make the investment in their most important asset, which are their people. So very long answer, but that's how it all came about. That's perfect. Thank you so much. And I heard you mentioned that, you know, your favorite parts of that job you were in were around the people development place and really helping organizations, you know, what you're doing now, identify those gaps and develop solutions. I'm curious, what are the most prevalent gaps you're seeing now in the organizations that you're working with? Wow, um so I see a couple of things. So number one, the workplace has evolved quite a bit, right? Especially in the last five years. And I think when it comes especially to um leaders, people leaders specifically, they're being asked to do a lot of different things, right? They're being asked to do things they were not asked to do 10 years ago. So, be a coach, give feedback, also manage... um the create psychological safety, build trust, see the person who they are, not just at work, but also at home, all different types of things. And it can be overwhelming, plus do their quote unquote job. um So I think there's a lot of overwhelm that's happening by leaders. I think there's also a lot of change that's happening in every industry, every workplace. So we're seeing also a lot of change fatigue, right? Gartner recently released some research saying that the average worker experiences eight times more change, you know, right now than they did 10 years ago. So, and we see it, right? I mean, we see it all the time. Like systems are changing. It could be your system that you have to submit your expenses through. It could be your reorganizations, know, reorganizational charts are changing. Just, you know, the way you're... company does, business is changing, like that all takes a toll. And so, you know, those two things really, really come to head. And to be honest, the impact of both of those things are leading people to not want to be, you know, in leadership positions, right? They look at it and say, do I want to sit in meetings all day? Do I want to, you know, take on all of this responsibility? um And so I think we're seeing where when I was kind of coming up, it's like you couldn't wait to be the boss, right? That was like really, really like where you were trying to go. And I think that we're seeing now, you know, a new generation of leaders that when they kind of see all everything that you have to take on as a leader, you know, plus all of the change that happens that you have to manage as a leader. um And then, you know, trying to figure all of that out. It just doesn't look as exciting, I think, anymore to a lot of people. Yeah, and speaking of this kind of rapid uh pace of change that's happening, obviously we have artificial intelligence, which is driving a huge amount of change. And I know that you're helping organizations lead in what I've heard you call the AI era. But at the same time, really doubling down on these distinctly human leadership capabilities. So I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that. intersection and frankly why it's important. Absolutely. So really as a firm, we are really leaning in on human first leadership. I think AI has unbelievable capabilities. I use AI every single day in my business. So this, am not anti AI by any stretch of the imagination. But what I think about in terms of the future um is that when you think about your most effective leaders that you've probably encountered through all your walks of life, their ability to kind of punch out or to produce really quick outputs is probably not what comes top of mind when you think about why you respected them as a leader, why they were so great as a leader, right? And so I think for a lot of organizations, or I would say 99 % of the organizations across every industry, they're all focused on how to use AI to make whatever they do more uh efficient, right? And I think that's important. But what we are seeing is that as a result of this somewhat over reliance, I think on AI, leaders are forgetting how to stay connected with their teams, and they're forgetting how to just show up right just as as humans. And that's why human first leadership is so important, because that connection is really what creates loyalty, right? That's what creates trust and that's what it creates innovation, all these things that we want, right? That organizations want. And so really reminding leaders that while your time may be freed up now, right? By all the automations of AI, what you should be doing now is leaning into those human qualities that AI just cannot do. um So I really, really believe that leaders should take a pause and really think about, um how do I listen to my team? How do I understand my team? How do I motivate my team? How do I amplify my team? And how do I navigate? And that actually spells human. So we call it the human method. And we're really, really focused on helping leaders upskill, re-skill in those human firsts. skills. AI can't do any of those things. At least right not right now right? not right now, you know, hopefully in some respects, arguably ever, there are certain pieces that are probably uniquely human and unlikely to be fully replicated. Hopefully. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'll give you a quick example. was with um another business owner that I was having a conversation with last week. And he was sharing that he had just had a client call. um And he's like, I could just hear some hesitation in their voice, right? That there was something that they weren't saying in the call. And so he said, I sent a note and said, you know, let's have a follow-up call because I want to dig a little bit deeper. Now in that scenario, AI, for example, if you're on Zoom, AI can take the notes from the call. It can send you a quick summary right afterwards. um It can tell you what the action steps of the call. But it cannot, at least yet, pick up on that hesitation that you may be hearing. Those are things that are uniquely human, picking up on someone's body language to see that they're burnt out. But those are the types of things that are so important. that um we can't just kind of say, well, I'll just punch it into the chat GPT and see what comes out. that, and I said to him, I said, is again, that is what human first leadership is, not just taking the output and just keeping it going forward, but actually picking up using your human skills, which was picking up on this hesitation that actually went back. that person, that client said to him, I'm so glad that you, I do have some hesitation and I'm glad that you called it out and we're having an opportunity to talk through it. So, again, that's what we really are focused on when we say human first leadership. Absolutely. we've talked, I want to flesh out this picture a little bit. So we've talked about this aspect of distinctly human leadership capabilities. We've talked about kind of the role that AI plays and can play, can't yet play. The oh other piece of this picture I'm interested in fleshing out a little is around specifically Gen Z, which has become a significant part of the workforce. And so I'm curious, what are the trends that you're seeing? in relation to Gen Z entering the workforce with AI and with this question of uh distinctly human leadership capabilities. Yes, so what's interesting is that while um Gen Z, of course, I think about I'm in the era where the internet and the ability to Google, that's something I, for the most part, have known all of my workforce. I still had to go to a computer lab to send email in college, but by the time I had my first job, we were pretty much using, well, not Google, that would have been probably more Yahoo at that time. but I've known the computer in terms of working most of my career. Now Gen Z, when you think about it, they, of course, they've kind of come out the room with cell phones in their hands, but the ability to leverage AI and work is something that that's gonna be, they will not really know a lot of working without it, right? Especially depending on where they fall on the timeline of Gen Zers. That said, what's really interesting from our research um is that they are really the ones that are kind of leaning into the human part oh of work. They're wanting that additional, for example, human feedback from their bosses. They're wanting to um be coached. They're wanting to be engaged and connected. So you would think that it would be less of since they just They're technology people. um But what we're seeing is that they're actually wanting more kind of touch points from a human perspective. What we're also seeing, because we recently ran a couple of focus groups with some Gen Z-ers, um is that they just, know, their attitudes around work and work-life balance and all of those things are very different from older generations. They're turning down, you know, promotions, it's called conscious unbossing is the name of the trend, where they're saying, no, thank you, I'll just continue down this path where I know what's expected of me, what's very, you know, I don't wanna be in those meetings, I don't wanna have to check in while I'm on vacation, I don't wanna do the things that my leadership is doing, right? Because I think in many ways, senior leaders in a lot of organizations are kind of setting like. don't want to call them bad examples, but they're not role modeling leadership in a way that looks like that's what I want to be doing. So I think it'll be interesting to see because we're now in a place where there are more Gen Zers in many organizations than there are boomers. And so that shift is definitely happening. So the things that the Gen Zers are saying in terms of their wants and their needs, we just can't ignore anymore because they are becoming really the major part of the workforce. They're not the kids coming out of college anymore. They're now the ones who are becoming those first frontline managers and leaders if they want the jobs. Yeah, so they're demonstrating this need for connection. They're setting some boundaries. They're clear on kind of what they want. This trend of, like you said, I think it was conscious unbossing was the phrase you used. I like that. I need to remember that. So what challenges are these things posing for organizations and how are you seeing organizations navigating that? Sure. So I think the number one challenge, right, is that the way I would say 99 % of organizations are set up is they, you know, there's, there's a hierarchy, right? There are layers. Some are flatter than others, of course, but you know, there has to be some level of accountability. Someone has to kind of be managing certain parts, you know, of the, of the business. it can't just kind of be a free for all or, know, just come and do your job and you don't know when reports into anyone. And so I think the challenge that we're seeing is that if you don't have your, especially with the Gen Zers kind of feeding into those middle management roles, your middle management cannot then go into those more senior roles. m And so then you start to have a succession planning issue, right? Where you just don't have kind of your leaders kind of ready to go when you need them. I think also just from a cultural standpoint, um it really drives the question of, do we have an environment that people want to work at, that they're going to feel motivated to work at, that they're going to go the extra mile to be in? And when you don't have that type of environment, we know that that impacts productivity, that impacts engagement, that impacts hitting your goals and growth and all of those things. So I really do think there is somewhat of, I don't want to say quite a crisis, but I do think in terms of really rebranding leadership and rebranding leadership culture, I think it's time for many organizations to really take a look at that. Sometimes we find some organizations are very much kind of check the box when it comes to these types of things. And then we have others who are really clear on We have to understand m the environment that we're asking people to work in um from a number of vantage points and really ensure that we have people that are excited to be here, that are on board for what we're doing at all levels of the organization, including those Gen Zers that are coming up, but also your baby boomers that are retiring. They need to be doing that knowledge transfers and all of those things. you know, I think looking at your leadership culture from every level is really critical and there's a lot of risk if you are ignoring that right now. Yeah, and you mentioned you wouldn't quite call it a crisis. The word that came to my mind was a little bit of a reckoning, right? We've got to be really real and honest with ourselves. if, you know, organizations are engaging in this process of really trying to figure out how do we want to define our leadership culture? I'm curious, what is the, what's the role of learning and development in that process? And How can we as learning and development practitioners show up as strategic business partners throughout that process? So, you know, I think the number one thing to do is really talking to the employees. You know, when we do work for any of our clients, sometimes we'll have learning and development call us or the, you know, head of HR call us. um And they're like, we have this problem. Can you do, you know, a workshop or a program that's on this? And we can, you know, do it that way. But our preference is always to have some level of conversation or connection with those who are going to be going through whatever the training the program is. We also really like when we can talk to the senior leaders to better understand what their expectations are so that you can really truly understand the gaps. What is it that people feel that they're not getting in terms of development? Of course, they're getting something that's on the job, but you know, what are they, what's missing? And a lot of that, you know, it can get lost in translation or assumptions can be made. So I think from a learning and development standpoint, like running focus groups, engagement surveys and things like that, you can, you know, get some feedback there, but there's nothing, you know, better than when someone can give you some specific examples of where they see the gaps are and where they would like the learning and development to focus. The other thing too, you know, I see happen is, you know, learning and development will spend a lot of time on leadership competencies, right? Or, you know, leadership success profiles. Companies all call it something different, but it's usually the list of like, you know, six to eight things that we want to see in our leaders. And I think those are great initiatives. um But I think that a lot of times they hire a consultant and they come up with a bunch of fancy words and they're tied to the values. But I think a lost opportunity for learning and development is to help connect those dots, right? You can say, yes, all of our leaders are to be strategic, right? And to execute with excellence and things like that. What does that mean? What does that mean for middle manager Erica? um And what types of programs do you offering um learning and development to actually help me um really stretch myself and to upskill myself in those specific areas as opposed to it just being words on a paper. So those are a couple of things that I think are really important. And then the last thing I will add though to, um I think learning and development a lot of times You know, we see programs, traditional programs, right, that are like workshops and things of that nature. You know, maybe there's an LMS system they can go in, know, employees can go in and watch different trainings and things like that. I think there's a big opportunity right now um for relationship-based learning. That is really what we are now becoming 100 % focused on. So, you know, when we do a program, it's either going to be a cohort program, there's going to usually be some type of learning circle that's going to be in addition to any workshops, mentorship programs, sponsorship programs, we're really focused on relationship-based learning. So it's not just that kind of one-to-one um watch the module and take the quiz, but you know, it's, you know, learn here and discuss here. you know, learn, um apply and reflect, right? We're big on that as well. But I think the learning, the relationship piece is really key. So for learning and development to always take a step back at their programs and say, okay, you know, how can I um involve, you know, others in this so that it's not just this one-to-one piece, but there's a relationship-based piece of the learning. I think that's also helps with your stickiness factor and the forgetting curve. Absolutely. One of the, it sounds like one of the big questions you're asking, um going back a few seconds to speak about these leadership competencies is, what do these behaviors actually look like? What are the concrete behaviors? um So my question is, um in working with organizations, and you mentioned the stickiness factor, the importance of relationships, but generally speaking, What have you learned about what actually creates this lasting behavior change, specifically across different levels of leadership even? So typically in order for to be lasting, it has to be a change of mindset and habits, right? um So, you know, it's one thing to learn something, but it's also another thing to really kind of have that aha moment, that switch that goes off in your mind where you're like, you know what? I get it now. I now see how I can do this in a different way. And then also building in the habits that follow with that. So much like any type of thing that's new that you have to learn to exercise that muscle, really um having an opportunity to practice it. And that's where I think the reflection part is really key, is when we do programs, we call it go do work. So we don't do homework, it's go do work. So take what you've learned and now go and do it. And then we're gonna come back and talk about it. And to me, doesn't what we've seen in terms of our survey results, that does increase the stickiness, that does decrease the forgetting curve, because it's just, again, that repetition and that really shift in the mindset and the habits in terms of what's really going to work. I also think that sometimes we're asking people in in learning and development programs to do a lot. So I always really emphasize, like, take what you need and leave the rest right now. So let's, you know, take what you need from this workshop and identify the one or two things that you want to focus on as opposed to the 10 that you may have, you know, written down or that were the takeaways at the end. So, you know, don't feel as though you have to do everything. But, you know, for example, if it's a feedback, pick a framework and stick with it, right? And just every time you have a conversation, Think about how you can use that framework for giving feedback. And then ask people too. I think there's nothing better than the vulnerability of a leader to say, I'm working on this. Are you seeing a difference? Are you seeing a change? So that feedback loop, think, should always continue. And the more feedback you get, right, and receive, that's going to help with that stickiness as well. And it's actually so helpful hearing you say that around kind of encouraging leaders to say, hey, this is something that I'm working on, asking for feedback about it. Because oftentimes I see people might be a little bit hesitant to experiment with a framework, try it out, because they know it's going to feel awkward. And they're afraid it's going to come across as cheesy or corny or whatever. But if you kind of go in and say, Hey, just a heads up, this is something I'm working on. It kind of gives you permission to maybe mess up. It creates a little more of a safer space for sure. So that's really helpful. And I think also, again, it's so, it's a really great quality of a leader to lean into that vulnerability, you know, even the senior most leaders to say, I'm still trying to, you know, be a better leader, right? I'm still trying different things out. So I think that that's really important to share. You know, when we do 360s of leaders, we always tell them, you know, afterwards, go back and tell your people, especially the ones who rated you, what you were surprised about, what you're working on. Just don't do the, you know, thank you and move on because again, that really shows them how you want to show up as So in our last few minutes together, I want to shift gears a little bit because you're doing a lot of influential work, right? I mean, just looking through your Instagram, LinkedIn, your website, you're speaking, you're leading, you're doing some really amazing stuff. So I'm curious, how have you thought about sharing your ideas publicly? This idea of... outward and external visibility. How have you thought about that and approached it? What role has that played in your own journey as a leader? Yeah, no, great, great question. You know, I think a couple of things. Number one, you know, especially when you're leading a company and you're going into different situations, right? And people who, you know, are at senior most levels, right? I mean, a lot of times we may be in a conversation with a Fortune 500 CEO. Actually, I had a conversation, our meeting, I should say a couple of weeks ago with a Fortune 500 CEO who was also just named to the Times 100, right? And so it's like, wow, I got never talked to anyone who's on the Times 100 list. so I think even everyone at some point, you can have that doubt of like, em am I really smart enough to be in this conversation or am I ideas different enough? so I think that the piece of it is, especially right now, It's really, really important to share your perspective and to share your insights. We work with a lot of different types of organizations, both large and small. And so I know being the ability to synthesize all of the things that I'm hearing and the conversations and what we see in the trainings and in the coaching, there's a lot of value in that. And so that's where I have to say, okay, that's my unique perspective that I'm able to bring into these conversations and to do thought leadership around. I think people kind of like that perspective. We don't do a ton of, I would say, more of your philosophy type of leadership focus. The things that we're sharing, that we're doing. are really grounded in kind of the real world that we're living in. And I think people appreciate that perspective. There's certainly a place for leadership theories and for that part of leadership, but that's not, you know, that's just not who Piercing Strategies is. That's not who our brand is. So, you know, we're bringing a lot of what's happening in real time, in real life. We're having a lot of conversations. We're constantly. having conversations, we hold virtual conversations with leaders every month where we're bringing them into small groups to talk about common challenges. We're at conferences, we're talking to clients. So I think that really helps in terms of that perspective. um But we're all human, right? So we all, of course, have those moments, myself included, where I have to kind of give myself my own pep talk. I've written a couple of books, and I think writing a book is... you're kind of like you're excited about it, but you're like, what if nobody wants to read it? Or what if people don't think that this is a value? I remember in my last book, in my first book, when my editor was going through it, she was like, you say, think way too many times. Like by the time if someone has your book, they have it because they want to know what you think. So you don't need to continuously remind them these are your thoughts, right? But that kind of seems softer to say than to be like, this is, you know, the case. So, um, so I just think it's, you know, I think the great thing is leadership is such an interesting topic and a lot of people have interest in it. It intersects everybody in some level, right? It doesn't matter where you work, what you do. Um, we have to lead at home. I'm a new mom, somewhat new mom. So I'm learning how to lead, you know, a one year old and not let her lead me. You you know, it's important to be thinking about these things and talking about these things. So that I think that's what really helps me make sure that I'm, you know, continuing to share in this journey. Yeah, thank you so much. going back to the idea of having a lot of different feedback loops, there's something really great about building your presence online where it's such a tight feedback loop, you immediately get that signal about whether something's resonating. I'm often surprised uh at what that signal tells me uh versus kind of writing a book, which is also very important, but has a much longer feedback. Yeah, yeah. Now you can tell on LinkedIn whether or not people care what you're talking about very quickly. m Well, Erica, thank you so much for joining me here today. I've really appreciated you coming in and sharing your perspective about some of the really great work you're doing. thank you. This was a fun conversation. I'm a little bit of a leadership junkie, so I love to just have, you know, these types of dialogue. So thank you for the invitation. It was wonderful. Absolutely, and if you're listening and you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next and connect with me on LinkedIn. will put those links in the show notes um as well as links to Erica's LinkedIn profile and website. And if today's conversation got you thinking about how your own online presence could better reflect your expertise and help attract the kinds of opportunities you're ready for. Feel free to reach out to me as well. That's exactly the kind of work I help leaders with. So thank you for listening and I'll see you next time on Catalysts.