When Ted Williams finished the 1941 baseball season with a .406 batting average, he became a legend. Since then, no Major League player has managed to surpass that mark. But Williams wasn't just talented; he was systematic. In his book, "The Science of Hitting," he meticulously mapped out his strike zone and knew exactly which pitches to swing at and which to let pass to maintain peak performance. This approach inspired Will Hodges of PwC to ask whether leaders, too, should map their own zones of success using modern technology.
Most managers have a folder on their computer full of results from various tests and assessments, such as DiSC, Myers-Briggs, or 360-degree feedback. The problem is that this data often gathers dust after the first read. However, Will Hodges, PwC's Interdisciplinary Commercial Communications Leader, has developed a method to use artificial intelligence not just to increase work speed, but as a tool to deepen self-awareness and uncover true leadership strengths.
Artificial intelligence can help leaders identify areas where they create disproportionately high value relative to the effort expended.
Analyzing Forgotten Data
The foundation of Hodges' method is collecting existing evidence. Instead of seeking new tests, he recommends uploading all available feedback from managers, observations from colleagues, and results from older leadership assessments into AI tools. The goal is not to get another personality label, but to find recurring patterns of behavior and skills that remain consistent over time. If colleagues consistently describe you as "good with people," it's not just a courtesy; it's a key data point.
The next step is to move from mere summary to active questioning. Hodges used AI in the role of a coach, instructing it to analyze uploaded feedback and then ask questions to verify identified patterns. This interaction helps uncover connections that the human eye might easily miss in dozens of pages of text. Here, AI doesn't tell the manager who they are, but rather compels them to reflect on information they already possessed but couldn't connect.
Within this process, answering these specific questions proved most effective:
- Energy Contribution — What specific work recharges you with new energy?
- Exceptional Results — Which activity, when performed by you, consistently yields above-average outputs?
- Hidden Exhaustion — What drains you internally, even if you are competent in it?
- Trust of Others — Which tasks do others entrust to you with complete confidence?
Translating Soft Skills into Useful Tools
A significant problem with leader evaluations tends to be vagueness. Terms like empathetic, curious, or calm under pressure sound positive but are difficult to grasp for career advancement. Hodges therefore began using artificial intelligence to "translate" these soft skills into concrete benefits for the company. For example, the ability to be "good with people" can actually mean a talent for building alignment between departments that naturally disagree.
This transformation process allows managers to create their own "circle of competence," much like investor Warren Buffett speaks of it. Identifying what specific personality traits enable one to do better in terms of skills is, according to Hodges, the most important part of the entire exercise. Instead of a general personality description, the leader arrives at a description of their differentiated value in the job market.
Being reliable can paradoxically lead a capable manager to bear the burden of tasks that divert them from their main zone of excellence.
Using Your Own Custom GPT in Practice
The culmination of the experiment was the creation of a custom GPT model that Hodges uses as a thought partner during the workday. He utilized all the collected data about himself as the knowledge base for this model. He now applies the same principle when coaching his team. Instead of starting development conversations with weaknesses and shortcomings, he asks where the individual is unusually strong and whether that strength has enough room to manifest.
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This approach changes how important projects are staffed at PwC. Instead of asking who currently has free capacity, leadership asks whose "zone" the project best fits. This leads to more effective team composition and more targeted career discussions. Instead of vague advice like "work on your presentation skills," managers can precisely define where an employee creates maximum value.
Human Judgment as a Safeguard
Although artificial intelligence can find forgotten connections in data, Hodges warns against uncritically accepting its conclusions. AI can find patterns where none exist or merely reinforce biases contained in the original feedback. The final say and interpretation of results must always remain with human judgment. Technology serves only as a mirror, helping leaders see their strengths, which they often take for granted.
Just as Ted Williams achieved a record by not swinging at every pitch, modern leaders must know when to engage and when to delegate. Artificial intelligence now provides them with a tool to put this strategic discipline into practice in everyday corporate life. The future of management may not lie in learning new things, but in better understanding what is already within people.