Artificial intelligence and keeping leadership real
- HO Seng Chee
- Dec 28, 2024
- 4 min read
Recently, I took to asking some friends in leadership positions this question: “When I say ‘AI and Leadership,’ what important things come to your mind?” Here are some of their immediate replies:
“Routine and repetitive work will be automated.”
“AI is more accurate, more efficient and cheaper than humans with some tasks.”
“Change management is critical, because many people will lose their jobs to AI.”
No surprises above. Some things are just better automated.
When I asked whether AI could replace humans, all friends replied with an instant and emphatic “No.” One of them (let’s call him K) argued that AI could never, for example, replicate Warren Buffet’s investment prowess. In K’s view, AI is good with past data, whereas successful investors know how to account for future unknowns and new events. K doubted that any AI algorithm would be able to capture all of Buffet’s acumen.
I suppose K is right. It is impossible for AI to intentionally mimic Warren Buffet. By the same token, no human successor of Buffet’s – not even his best understudy – can be expected to behave 100 percent Buffet-like.
This then raises an interesting question: What exactly are we after should we desire to clone Buffet? If it is to achieve financial returns, AI could probably do as well as the Sage of Omaha, if not better. Because if Buffet’s edge is his judgment as regards future unknowns and events, that judgment can be AI-coded, including by assigning weights and probabilities to the unforeseeable. Who is to say that Buffet’s judgment will always be better than a machine’s when it comes to pondering imponderables?
If judgment is indeed our human edge, this edge will gradually be eroded with improvements in AI technology, especially for getting to tangible outcomes like financial returns. Thankfully, life is not all about tangibles. While we need food and shelter, we also have feelings and crave social connection. These are things which AI cannot provide (at least not fully, yet). What then should leaders focus on in the AI-enabled future? My friends’ suggestions included the following:
“Emotional intelligence, because you need that to lead teams.”
“Human authenticity, because who wants to talk to a chatbot all the time?”
“Feelings, because AI cannot feel.”
“Moral compass, because AI cannot tell right from wrong.”
Again, these answers feel instinctively right. My gut tells me so. However, under what circumstances might these answers be wrong or, if not wrong, at least irrelevant? For example, is EQ needed if your team is fully-staffed by AI machines which can collaborate autonomously with each other? As for chatbots, I have used some darn good ones that will put any customer service human to shame. And we know there are circumstances in which you would not want feelings to interfere with what needs to be done.
Indeed, at a dinner party a few weeks ago, P, a highly intelligent professional who delights in being contrarian, joined me in questioning the limits that we tend to assume for AI. Not one to be satisfied with bromides, P kept poking at the common suppositions about what AI could or could not do. Other friends at dinner pushed back. Before long, intangibles like “feelings,” “values,” and “keeping things human” were resurfacing as areas that were exclusively human and which AI could not reach.
As I listened to my friends, I asked rhetorically why we even needed the intangibles, e.g., Why do we need to feel? Why are values important? I did not get far with my amateur philosophising, for my guests were keener on the baser nourishments of food and wine. That is how it is with old friends – they know they can dismiss your BS without offence. AI would certainly struggle to replicate that type of interpersonal chemistry.
There is something magical about the connection between people who click with each other. Here, I am reminded of another story from M, a renowned economist friend whose advice is often sought by public and private sector leaders. Each year, a wealthy client would invite M and a few other thinkers to a day of brainstorming about economics and investment. M said that most times, the views of each invitee could already be predicted through their published writings. Yet, that one day of brainstorming always produced new insights and changed prior opinions. I asked M to elaborate on the magic behind those outcomes. He put it down to the creative process – intense debate, egos pitched against egos, heightened emotions, challenging others and being challenged in return. M described the annual debates as exhausting and fulfilling. “AI cannot give you the same,” he concluded.
You may be wondering what point I am trying to make with all the above. As an AI newbie, I know little about this technology. But I know that AI has changed our lives and will continue to do so. And after two months of thinking and reflecting about AI’s transformational power, the one theme that keeps speaking to me is this: It is not about what AI can do, but what we choose to let it do.
AI will beat humans at many tasks. As the technology improves, it will get easier to hand over more and more work to AI. On the other hand, many things which bring personal fulfillment require struggle and effort. Technical expertise is never built easily; exerting effort brings personal satisfaction. Every inventor tussles with pain before getting to joy; overcoming challenges connects us with our feelings. Managing our feelings is central to relationship-building; social connection defines the human experience. It is all inter-related. Handing over a piece here or there to AI will affect other pieces in this web, including in unforeseeable ways.
AI is already a powerful partner in our lives. That partnership is primed to grow in ways we cannot imagine. As people, we have agency over how to work with technology. That agency must be exercised thoughtfully, for AI will transform how we relate with ourselves and with others.
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As a leadership consultant and coach, I help organisations and individuals use good leadership practices to succeed. Email me to discuss how we can work together.
