HOW TO LEAD THE CRITICAL INTERPLAY BETWEEN AI AND BEING HUMAN
During my corporate career, when I was the General Manager of Strategy & Architecture at a major telecommunications company, we underwent a major IT & network technology reorganisation. The result of which was that many roles would be outsourced.
I remember a mentor said to me at the time, “Don’t ever outsource strategy and architecture because this is where you control your future. This is where the thinking, the visioning, and the creation happen.”
So, as I now ponder the implications of the AI era and the role of leadership, I wonder how we will keep control of our future when the opportunity presents itself to outsource to AI.
Where is the boundary?
At which point do you potentially lose control of creating the future? Of no longer having self-determination.
This is just one dilemma of leadership in the AI era.
I am a thinker. I enjoy the process of thinking, of gathering information, of getting different perspectives, of researching, of seeing the patterns and the themes, and making meaning out of what might be on the surface unrelated information.
This is a big part of my role as the thought leader in my business. I enjoy the process of turning that meaning into insights and applying these insights so others gain value, have options, and have opportunities. I also enjoy sharing it all with the world, as daunting as that may be at times.
Now this does not mean that I never get stuck for ideas or that I don’t procrastinate. I do, but this is part of the creative process for me. So, I feel a sense of achievement and progress, satisfaction and, yes sometimes joy, by leading this process for myself from beginning to end.
But of course, not everybody is like me. Other thinkers and creatives choose support and help with their process, and AI is one amazing source of this support and help. Idea and thought prompting, gathering information, articulation of themes and sharing this information too.
Both approaches are valid, yet they are different.
Using this as just one example of different approaches in the same space, I have been reflecting on how leaders leverage AI in a way that is good for the human condition.
As artificial intelligence evolves, we must remember that its power lies not in replacing human intelligence, but in augmenting it. The true potential of AI lies in its ability to amplify human creativity and ingenuity.
Ginni Rometty, Former Executive Chairman at IBM
For me, I choose to keep the end-to-end creative process, because not only am I good at it, but this is what brings me energy. If I no longer did this, I would miss much of the joy in the work I do. There would be less meaning, and my opportunity to contribute would feel compromised.
Without this, I wonder if I would feel on purpose for the big global difference that I want to make, the legacy I want to leave.
Yet for others, the automation and the streamlining of their process remove friction and create options and opportunity. They improve their creative process by relieving themselves of parts of it.
Again, both valid approaches.
In recent weeks, though, I have noticed more people reflecting ‘out loud’ that since they started to use AI to support some aspects of their work over the past, let’s say 12 months or so, they now feel less confident in their own ability. They are not sure they can still do what they used to be able to do on their own. They are wondering if they did not have the support of AI and other technology tools, whether they would still be able to contribute at the same level.
Our abilities and capabilities are like muscles. If you do not use them regularly, they may no longer support you as well. They will not be as strong as they once were.
Individuals have a set of abilities, capabilities and experiences they can use comfortably. This is what creates their personal comfort zone. Generally accepted leadership thinking is that you want your people to spend time in their comfort zone, and to occasionally stretch beyond their comfort zone, so they continue to grow in themselves as humans and in their ability to contribute.
Yet imagine if people on an ongoing basis were using less of their abilities and capabilities and were not ever expanding to the edges of their comfort zone. Over time, their comfort zone begins to shrink as they become less able to contribute.
Now I understand that as we begin to leverage AI more and more, we will also build new and different skills and capabilities in our people, perhaps in some of the more human spaces.
Yet the implications of this transition are worthy of consideration.
This is a leadership dilemma.
How do we balance giving up some of our work contribution and perhaps not exercising existing skill and capability, so it begins to atrophy, versus developing new skill and contribution?
Will this new skill and contribution give us the same feeling of being able to make a difference, of having purpose and self-determination, of having a life of meaning or not?
These are the questions I believe leaders need to postulate. We need leadership with a broad perspective. AI is not just about making life easier. We need to be smart, because if in making life easier we take away people’s sense of meaning, purpose and joy in their work, their sense of achievement and progress, then are we making the right choices?
Responsible AI is not just about liability — it’s about ensuring what you are building is enabling human flourishing.
Rumman Chowdhury, CEO at Parity AI, Bangladeshi American data scientist
I am not saying don’t use AI. I am asking you to consider how.
How do you keep the right level of tension between your people, feeling capable and well equipped to contribute, while their roles may change, and their skill set and capability may alter?
With the premise that to be human is to aspire to a life of meaning, I believe it is important in the era of AI to keep the human condition in mind.
Leaders have this big responsibility.
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Novotel on Stevens
28 Stevens Road, Orchard District, Singapore
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