Leadership's impact on AI discussed by Intel, Palantir, and Ally.

• The key to a thriving enterprise is strong leadership, but what defines a great leader can change from year to year.
• As AI drives faster changes in the workplace, leadership is also being updated.
• With increasing flexibility, individuals can concentrate on their main tasks while leaders can concentrate on fostering creativity to achieve collective goals.

Effective businesses share a common trait: strong leadership. However, leadership is constantly evolving, and what made a great leader yesterday may not be relevant tomorrow. In the past, managing employees was straightforward, such as simply visiting the office and checking in, according to Christy Pambianchi, the chief people officer at . She emphasized, "Workplaces have changed significantly."

As technology advances, leadership is also being updated.

Research by BetterUp and Stanford Social Media Lab has identified the concept of AI pilots and AI passengers as a potential game-changer in organizations. According to the study, which involved over 10,000 workers across 18 industries, the pilot mindset is contagious. Managers who adopt a pilot mindset are three times more likely to have reports who also have a pilot mindset. Pilots are considered AI drivers, and when present, workplaces are 3.6 times more productive and workers are three times more loyal to the business. However, currently, only 28% of the workplace are AI pilots, while their passenger counterparts are more passive in the workplace.

"According to Ted Mabrey, the global head of commercial business, the human-computer interface is becoming increasingly efficient. He stated that a significant portion of workers' daily tasks involve battling the inflexibility of the software systems they use, resulting in a substantial amount of manual labor."

Management systems are becoming more flexible, allowing humans to concentrate on their core responsibilities and leaders to focus on creativity to achieve organizational goals. Mabrey explains that traditional management systems were designed to hold individuals accountable for performing routine tasks and managing quality control. However, he believes that the focus is now shifting to how quickly leaders can think of new ways to improve the customer experience and restructure operations.

Built-in AI coaching

Pambianchi stated that AI is assisting leaders in the workplace by providing them with a built-in coach that offers insights about their team and the tasks they have undertaken. This could help managers lead their teams more effectively, but it may not be applicable to all teams and is highly dependent on the job function.

AI is becoming a valuable tool for leaders to improve their performance in the workplace, according to Mabrey.

The improvement of AI systems has led to a rise in the skill level of human players in games like Chess. However, an AI coach generates more ideas, which may not always be accurate, but it encourages novel thought, according to Mabrey.

Sathish Muthukrishnan, the chief information, data and digital officer at , believes that it is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that their employees become AI literate. This enables both employees and leaders to possess true domain expertise, allowing them to tackle more complex problems and focus on their core responsibilities. Muthukrishnan stated, "As a domain expert, you can focus on bigger, more complicated problems to solve, rather than the routine tasks of the day."

Recent research from Zero to Mastery shows that nearly a third (27.9%) of team leads are either mandating or motivating their team members to use AI tools. While this is not yet a majority, it represents a significant step forward and aligns with the findings from BetterUp, lending more credibility to the trend.

Experts suggest that while AI in the workplace may require leaders to make more daring technological choices, the fundamental expectations of leaders remain the same. As Pambianchi stated, "Empathy, support, connectivity, psychological safety, and commitment to the enterprise are all things that only a manager and leader can create, and co-workers can create for each other."

Muthukrishnan emphasized that as technology advances, leaders must anticipate future changes and help their workforce adapt to new skill requirements.

While some research suggests that senior workers may not benefit as much from AI as their junior counterparts due to their less task-based work, leaders can still leverage AI to their advantage. For instance, Intel has updated its job architecture to allow all employees to access their career database, development plans, and self-nominate for roles. On the other hand, AI can assist managers in providing feedback to their staff on performance, development plans, and career trajectory, helping to guide workers in the right direction.

Pambianchi emphasizes that leaders must apply values and ethics to the use of AI, even as technology continues to improve.