Leading in the Age of AI

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is rewriting the playbook for what effective leadership looks like around the world. As more companies implement next-generation AI tools to create new efficiencies, reduce costs, or boost productivity, leaders increasingly find they’re managing automated systems as often as they’re overseeing human workers.

That momentous shift means leaders need to develop new types of technical acumen as well as become more proficient in human-centric skills. The age of AI, leadership experts say, demands an entirely new breed of leader, a perspective some organizations are overlooking.

“Too often companies are focused on building the technical skills to use AI tools but don’t pay enough attention to the leadership side of the equation,” says Kevin Tamanini, vice president of professional services and customer success for Development Dimensions International, a global leadership development firm headquartered in Pennsylvania. “AI transformation isn’t just a technical shift, it’s a people shift too.”

The Impact of AI

Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest-growing technologies in recent history. Research from global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that 88% of organizations were using AI in at least one business function in 2025, and 62% were scaling or experimenting with AI agents, the newest form of “agentic” AI. In this type of system, autonomous agents can execute tasks and projects from start to finish—creating websites, for example—with minimal involvement from humans.

Leaders from the front lines to the executive suite require new technical literacy in how AI tools work and best fit into redesigned workflows. Additionally, experts say, leaders also need to become fluent in skills like change-management and creating psychological safety for workers, to prevent their fear of being replaced by AI from impacting morale, productivity, or innovation.

As managers use AI tools to conduct tasks like creating drafts of documents, making employee schedules, collecting data for performance evaluations, or reviewing vendor contracts, it frees up capacity for them to focus on other tasks. But as the time required for such transactional work diminishes, leaders must place a renewed emphasis on human-centric skills, like the ability to coach employees, handle conflicts and problems AI isn’t equipped to address (such as aberrations with particular customers), and provide reassurance as AI changes the nature of employee jobs and career paths.

Senior leaders also need to learn how to build a framework of rules required to minimize the ethical, legal, and financial risks associated with AI, leadership experts say. That includes ensuring employees develop the necessary critical thinking skills, because they’ll need to make sure the outputs created by AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini are accurate, bias-free, and not overly generic or simplified.

“In a new world where autonomous AI systems make real-time decisions, leaders need to ensure that the right humans are in the loop at the right time, and then need to foster a culture that does not tolerate AI slop,” says Sarah Maris, senior manager of technical learning content for Udacity, a provider of e-learning solutions. The term “AI slop” refers to low-quality or inaccurate content produced by AI tools.

In the Middle

The role of middle manager also is shifting from executor to “orchestrator” as AI becomes more prominent in the workplace, says Michael Yaziji, a professor of strategy and leadership at the International Institute for Management Development, in Lausanne, Switzerland, who specializes in AI.

“As AI handles more of the routine management tasks, managers will shift into becoming curators of AI-generated insights and the bridge between data-driven outputs and human judgment,” Yaziji says.

For example, marketing managers have historically spent much of their time manually gathering market intelligence on competitor pricing, product positioning, and related issues. With AI tools now at their disposal, their time has shifted from the gathering process to evaluating information that those tools automatically gather and synthesize overnight, Yaziji says.

“That requires a different kind of critical thinking,” he says. “It’s no longer ‘Can I find the answer?’ but rather it has become ‘Is this AI-generated answer actually right, and does it fit our strategic context?’”

Front-line managers are also seeing their responsibilities shift more toward “exception handling” and human connection, as AI either replaces employees or takes over aspects of their jobs, Yaziji says.

“They’ll increasingly be managing the ‘boundary cases’ that AI can’t resolve,” he notes. “That includes cases like the angry customer whose situation doesn’t fit the algorithm and the production line anomaly that requires judgment rather than mere pattern matching.”

New Premium on Interpersonal Skills

Maris, of the e-learning company Udacity, says that what once were considered nice-to-have skills have become imperative for leadership success in the age of AI. The ability to be a strong communicator is pivotal.

“In this new environment, human-centric skills aren’t ‘soft’ extras—they become the core of the job,” she says. “Leaders must double down on creating authentic connection with people, because AI isn’t able to navigate things like political standoffs or rebuilding team morale after a tough financial quarter.”

Yaziji agrees that leaders need to adapt to a changing work landscape.

“Managers’ primary value in the past was their cognitive and operational acumen, but AI is rapidly commoditizing those technical skills,” he says. “They now need to provide what AI can’t, and that’s advanced people skills.”

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