For decades, success in technology came with an unwritten trade-off. The higher you climbed, the less time you spent building. Engineers became managers. Managers became executives. Eventually, your calendar filled with strategy meetings instead of code reviews.
A recent Business Insider report suggests artificial intelligence is beginning to reverse that pattern. Some tech leaders are now spending more time building products again, arguing that staying close to the work makes them better decision-makers.
Not everyone agrees. But together, their views offer a glimpse into how AI is changing what leadership looks like inside software companies.
Treasure Ayanfe Adetula
"I couldn't see the game anymore"
Jean-Michel Lemieux didn't leave coding because he stopped enjoying it. Leadership simply demanded something different. As Shopify's former chief technology officer, his days became filled with meetings, planning sessions, and executive responsibilities.
"I'm in these board meetings, and it feels like I'm a coach of a pro team, but I can't see them play the game," he told Business Insider.
Today, Lemieux works at AI legal startup Spellbook as what the company calls an executive individual contributor, dividing his time between leadership and product development.
"I love that adrenaline," he said, describing what it feels like to get back to "hands on keyboard."
For Lemieux, AI has made it easier for executives to prototype ideas and understand technical problems firsthand, making product development feel less distant than it once did.
"If I stay out of the weeds, the company might die"
Motion chief executive Reza Khadjavi reached a similar conclusion, although for a different reason. After nearly a decade away from coding, he began experimenting with AI because he believed software development was changing too quickly to observe from the sidelines.
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