Columnist

Bots don't beat personal business coaching

I understand. You’re growing your business. 

Margins are fine. Time is priceless.

You consider coaching to help scale the summit.

But now there’s artificial intelligence, and it feels like a cheat code.

It is cheaper, quicker and available 24/7.

But is it really the answer?

Over the past year, there has been a notable rise in business leaders using bots as their mentors and coaches.

It seems like a no-brainer. After all, artificial intelligence is breathtaking, and the coaching advice it offers has improved noticeably in a very short period.

But it can’t – nor will it ever – replicate the human touch.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve coached hundreds of business leaders, and as a European Business Coach of the Year winner, I’ve spent countless hours in rooms (and on the end of a telephone) where the real work happens. 

Unlike artificial intelligence bots, that work doesn’t come solely from theory.

Instead, I tap into decades of lived experience from the deepest, thickest, muddiest trenches of growing my own businesses.

No artificial intelligence bot has ever had a sleepless night worrying about payroll or redundancies, or felt the crippling weight of responsibility that employing dozens of people brings.

It doesn't understand the mental toll of scaling that can drive entrepreneurs into some very dark and lonely places.

Yes, artificial intelligence has very quickly learned to talk the talk – but it will never be able to say it has walked the walk.

An artificial intelligence coach can advise on best practice, but the results are often painfully generic.

Good coaching goes way beyond theory.

It understands each client’s unique quirks and personality traits, what motivates them and what doesn’t, and the things that make us human.

And there is something else missing too: skin in the game.

When I work with clients, my reputation lives or dies by their results.

If they grow, I grow. If they stumble, I feel it too. 

Coaches are ultimately businesses, and our success comes from our clients’ success.

That shared accountability sharpens focus. 

It ensures I’m not just offering advice, but challenging assumptions and pushing for results.

Not only does artificial intelligence not have that investment, it ultimately doesn’t care.

It won’t follow up with you or check in with you, and it won’t hold you accountable when tough decisions need making.

That’s not coaching.

That’s not to say artificial intelligence doesn’t have a place.

It can be an asset in all walks of life, and is here to stay.

It can generate ideas, speed up preparation and do the heavy lifting.

But there is definitely a ceiling when it comes to its use as a coach to unlock the full potential of you and your business.

Ultimately, as the poet Benjamin Zephaniah said, people need people.

For coaching, this will forever be the case.

Real progress comes from working with someone who has navigated the same choppy waters you'll face on your scaling journey.

It doesn’t come from a bot.

Ian Kinnery is a business coach and founder of eponymous support firm Kinnery

Want your business, product or service to be seen regionally and nationally? Bdaily helps you get your story in front of the right audience, every day. Find out how Bdaily can help →

Join more than 55,000 subscribers by signing up to our daily bulletin each morning here.