February 24, 2026
Episode 176: Scalable Leadership & Career Coaching in the Age of AI with Michelle Vitus
What could you and your team do with personalized, scalable leadership and career coaching? Michelle Vitus, Founder and CEO of Slate, is here to explain how one bad outplacement experience became the spark for reimagining leadership development.
Michelle shares her journey from commercial banking to clean tech to entrepreneurship – sparked by a frustrating, checkbox-style outplacement experience that fell short when it mattered most. That moment became the foundation for Slate, which now partners with people-first companies to deliver meaningful, scalable leadership coaching.
Michelle also shares how Slate’s AI voice coach, Kai, is augmenting human coaching with high-fidelity, in-the-moment reflection – and how even her 9-year-old son is using AI to build his granola business through experimentation and iteration.
If you’re thinking about leadership development, navigating change, or wondering how AI fits into your organization without compromising your values, this episode is packed with practical insights.
🔗 Connect with Michelle Vitus on LinkedIn
🔗 Learn more about Slate
Scalable Leadership & Career Coaching in the Age of AI with Michelle Vitus
Guest Bio
Michelle Vitus is Founder & CEO of Slate, an AI-enabled leadership and career transition coaching platform delivering measurable impact for both individuals and the organizations that sponsor them. Previously, she led business development at two venture-backed startups and earlier served as a Vice President in Wells Fargo Commercial Banking. Michelle holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BSB in Finance from the University of Minnesota.
Key Takeaways
00:00 Welcome to the Future of Teamwork Podcast
00:45 Meet Michelle Vitas
01:34 From Banking to Slate
03:27 Voice AI Coach Kai
04:46 Always On Coaching
07:30 Bite Sized Breakthroughs
09:45 Showing Up Authentically
12:25 Outplacement Done Right
19:09 Restructure Readiness Plan
21:30 Shift to Leadership Coaching
22:10 Scaled Leadership Coaching
23:41 Coaching After Layoffs
25:40 Overwhelm After Reorgs
27:32 AI Reshapes Teamwork
31:58 Steering AI Outputs
34:16 AI as a Teammate
39:07 Ethan’s Granola Experiment
42:52 Values Aligned Augmentation
44:10 Wrap Up and Disclosures
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