AI can help you analyze a difficult decision. But when the answer depends on judgment, people, and an uncertain future, trusted peers around the table add another dimension.
One of the things we do at The CEO Project is build high-impact peer groups where CEOs can bring the difficult decisions they’re grappling with and work through them with other experienced CEOs.
That raises an interesting question in the age of AI: Do CEOs still need a room full of other CEOs when they can have an intelligent adviser available 24/7?
I believe they do. I use AI myself, and its value is substantial. But access to more analysis doesn’t remove the need for independent challenge, human context, and accountability.
AI Helps You Prepare for the Conversation
AI is useful for gathering information, identifying patterns, and exploring alternatives. Ask it about entering a new market, and it can help you research competitors, identify risks, and build scenarios. Tell it you’re contemplating an organizational change, and it can suggest a framework for managing that change.
It can also generate ideas and challenge your thinking, especially when you ask it to examine your assumptions.
That preparation matters. You can arrive at a peer-group meeting with a clearer understanding of the issue and more thoughtful questions.
The challenge is recognizing what still needs to be tested. A well-organized answer can feel convincing even when important information is missing. The hardest decisions CEOs face often involve several reasonable options, each with consequences that are difficult to predict.
Who Is Challenging Your Assumptions?
Every CEO approaches a problem with assumptions.
“We can’t raise prices.”
“That executive will leave if we make this change.”
“We have to build another facility.”
Feed those assumptions into an AI prompt, and you may get a useful answer built around those constraints. You can ask AI to question them, but first you have to recognize that they need questioning.
A good peer group may stop you before you get that far and ask, “Why are you assuming that?”
CEOs from other industries can be especially helpful because they aren’t operating under the same rules you are. They’ve encountered different situations and solved similar problems in different ways.
Sometimes what you think is a fixed boundary turns out to be an assumption you’ve stopped examining.
The People Behind the Decision Matter
Imagine you’re contemplating a major organizational change. AI can help you think through the process. But what about Frank?
Frank is your VP of Sales. He has been with you for 12 years. He supported the last three changes, but you sense this one may push him too far. Perhaps he feels overlooked. Perhaps there’s history between him and another executive.
You can describe that context to AI. A trusted peer group can also help you unpack it, ask what you may be overlooking, and draw on experience managing people through similar situations.
Over time, those peers get to know you, too. They may recognize when you’re avoiding a difficult conversation or letting loyalty influence a decision.
Better Preparation Can Lead to a Better Discussion
I recently watched this play out with a CEO considering a facility expansion.
He spent hours using AI to research the issue and build his case. He then presented his findings to his peer group.
The AI work was solid, but the CEOs around the table asked different questions. They had experience in real estate, facilities, and alternative arrangements. They surfaced options he hadn’t considered.
AI helped him arrive much better informed. The group helped him make a better decision.
That’s the approach I encourage CEOs to take: use AI to prepare, then bring your thinking to people willing to examine it closely.
Trust Makes Tough Conversations Possible
The best peer groups earn the right to have difficult conversations. You can admit what you don’t know, explain what worries you, and hear feedback you might resist elsewhere.
Sometimes that discussion gives you the confidence to act. Sometimes it reveals a reason to pause.
The value comes from having your thinking tested by people who care about the outcome and will ask what happened when you return to the room.
As AI becomes more capable, CEOs have an opportunity to improve both their preparation and their decision process. A trusted peer group can help them connect that preparation to the realities of leading a business.
Download the Full Whitepaper
How can you put AI and trusted peer judgment to work on your next major decision?
Download The Value of Executive Peer Groups in the Age of AI for supporting research, a practical process for combining AI preparation with peer discussion, and a worksheet to help you examine assumptions, identify unanswered questions, and prepare for a more productive conversation.
