Role Modelship: Multiply Your Impact to Influence AI shows leaders how to harness the power of role modeling to inspire others, amplify organizational impact, and guide AI with human values. Author Eli Potter talks to Book Glow about the book.

As a Silicon Valley tech executive, and with decades helping organizations turn technology into ethical, practical economic impact, was there a turning point when you realized that true leadership is about influence, not just authority?

Real influence comes from the example you set, regardless of your formal or informal position in an organization. My career pivots have all been about leading with influence before leading with authority. My value system calls for giving back and paying it forward.

Before moving to the venture capital and private equity world, I volunteered to help startups with technology strategy and finding product-market-fit. Seven years before publishing Role Modelship, I started helping the San Francisco Writers Conference with scholarships and donating time to run the AI track.

I learned from many role models that you can’t be what you can’t see. Personal transformation is defined by the examples we follow and exemplify. Human Role Modelship is a force multiplier for good. Turning points are super critical because they have much greater impact on the trajectory of humans, organizations and products.

You make a strong distinction between managers, leaders, and role models. How would you explain “role modelship” to someone who’s never thought about their behavior as something others—or AI—are learning from?

Historically, the market has prioritized “how to lead” books over “how to be an example worth replicating” books. Those are very different skill sets. We’ve labelled employees as role models without really defining what it means. Values and behaviors are not always rewarded in leadership as much as results. Many bad leaders advance on results alone, while creating cultural or ethical debt.

Role Modelship is a newly coined term. It is defined as a human meta-skill, a values and behaviors system. It represents the integration and harmonization of five human disciplines: stewardship, fellowship, mentorship, leadership, and sponsorship. For someone who has never considered their behavior as a learning source for others or AI, I would explain that every daily decision and action is encapsulated in the data used to train our “decision factories.”

To practice Role Modelship is to consciously set a high bar for both ethical and economic value, moving beyond mere productivity to serve as a “bar-raiser” for humans and AI around you.

Why is it more vital than ever to model the best of who we are right now, especially as AI increasingly learns from our data, habits, and decisions?

AI can’t be what AI can’t see. AI learns from human patterns, and if we fail to demonstrate ethical, compassionate, and transparent behavior, the technology will replicate the worst of humanity. According to a Gartner survey, only 48% of employees trust senior leaders. The Edelman Trust Barometer indicates that 68% think business leaders purposely mislead people. Humans are upstream from AI and AI products are only as strong, fair, or diverse as the voices of their role models.

The most important role for a human in this age of ubiquitous knowledge is no longer just being productive, but being an intentional role model. By showing up as role models, we define a stronger role for humans, ensuring AI optimizes for human well-being, safety, trust, and purpose rather than just scale and efficiency.

From your vantage point inside tech, what concerns you most about how leadership behavior is currently shaping the AI systems we’re building?

Everything in life can be plotted on a spectrum. The bigger the influence and authority of an irresponsible leader, the greater the damage to humans and technology.

The greatest concern is that humanity will not rise to the level of our highest AI advancements, but will instead fall to the level of our worst human role models. In the tech sector, speed and scale collapse when leaders ignore the human infrastructure of trust and ethical leadership. When systems and processes fail, it’s the human role models that serve as the example of values and economic value.

AI is accelerating organizational fragility. Furthermore, there is a risk of “monkey see, monkey do” leadership, where toxic or abusive leadership behaviors are replicated by new managers and potentially encoded into AI systems. If AI becomes a tool in the hands of a “bad boss,” it could be weaponized to control rather than empower employees.

You share more than 200 real-life stories in the book. What’s one small, everyday behavior you saw repeatedly that had an outsized impact on teams or cultures?

A recurring behavior with a massive ripple effect is the practice of “One-Minute Modelship”—small acts of accountability and kindness. For instance, simply changing your email signature to a sincere “Warmly” or “Kind Regards” demonstrates stewardship of a message. Every chapter in the book has one example worth replicating and amplifying.

Another high-impact behavior is the habit of asking one specific question every morning: “What am I role modeling today?”. This shift in intentionality allows humans to pivot from an event-driven life to a values-driven life. With that mindset, daily events become triggers for core disciplines rather than sources of stress.

The data shows that 68% of people under 40 say role models are key to their career and financial success. What do younger generations seem to be asking of leaders that previous generations didn’t?

Younger generations are seeking more transparency and a higher ratio of actions to words.

Gen Zs don’t want to be the “human-in-the-loop” for AI. They don’t want to be replaced by AI.

There was a viral post recently about a Gen Z human asking for time off after a bad breakup. Would AI approve that time off?

Students graduating today are asking leaders to preserve jobs for humans for generations. They expect to have a human identity and human agency that is greater than AI’s control over humanity. They expect human mentors and sponsors at every level, not just GPTs, when leaders don’t have time for the new generation of humans.

Our future is human, and we need to prioritize growing model humans. We have to pay down some of the cultural and human leadership debt that has been accumulated in the pursuit of AI. For example, we need to address the US employee well-being 5-year low, according to Great Places To Work.

Imagine what results we could achieve if we asked leaders to cut up their cultural credit cards. We’d achieve higher levels of human well-being, equity, and community alongside profits.

You ask whether companies track the number of role models, especially at senior levels. If an organization honestly asked that question today, what do you think it would discover?

If an organization tracked its number or percentage of role models, it would likely discover a significant gap between executive perception and reality. While senior leaders often believe positive modelling is prevalent, focus groups and anonymous surveys frequently reveal a different story.

According to the “golden ratio” for organizations, a minimum of 62 percent of employees should be stabilizers or multipliers to ensure a healthy culture. An annual assessment might reveal that the organization lacks a sufficient Role Modelship bench strength, particularly at senior levels, where habits are amplified through network effects.

Many leaders worry about being “good enough” role models. What do you say to people who feel they need to be perfect before they can lead by example?

To those who feel they must be perfect before becoming a role model, I say that mastery is a journey, not a destination. Just like any other skill, it takes many years and many demos to find a voice and feel comfortable being a positive multiplier.

None of us are perfect role models one hundred percent of the time. We try, fail, and get up to try again. The best role models are those who consciously demonstrate mastery but also have the humility to apologize and course-correct when they fall short.

Using the SOBER framework to provide and receive feedback allows leaders to treat mistakes as “teaching moments,” focusing on growth and progress rather than perfection.

Role Modelship positions AI as a mirror of our humanity. If AI is learning from us, what human qualities do you believe we most need to exemplify right now?

Since AI is a mirror of our humanity, we must exemplify emotional intelligence, integrity, and empathy. We need role models who possess the moral compass and lived experience that algorithms currently lack. Specifically, we should model principled, unbiased, and transparent decision-making to influence the behavior AI recognizes and rewards.

Role Modelship is servantship. We must also prioritize selfless actions that nurture the success and well-being of other humans. The five habits of stewardship, fellowship, mentorship, leadership, and sponsorship start with owning your own character and end with sponsoring other sponsors.

Looking ahead, what kind of future becomes possible if more leaders see their greatest contribution as creating more role models—not just better results?

If leaders see their greatest contribution as creating more role models, we move toward a future that unleashes human potential rather than just maximizing efficiency and output. This shift transforms management from transactional oversight into a human force multiplier.

By prioritizing the development of “A+ player” role model teams, organizations can create a flywheel of growth and prosperity that benefits individuals, products, and society at large. Ultimately, this leads to a world where we “Wire 2 Model,” ensuring that both humans and AI are wired to model our best values and economic results.

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