The Best Leaders Can't Be Replaced by AI
By Mostafa Sayyadi | Chartered Managers Canada
Executive leadership training begins with your own personal mission and vision. Self-leadership is built upon the premise that you lay a solid foundation - one that is filled with the necessary tools to help you build the foundation for personal excellence. This article helps you build a better leadership presence and authentic leadership in the coming age of artificial intelligence. To do this, the leadership competencies and the four steps of authenticity must be effectively applied.
Management has been highlighted as an authority relationship to maintain the status quo through coordinating and controlling subordinate activities. This is where scholars part ways. Once the status quo is mentioned, it appears that management is stagnant and overly consuming in nature. It is not, management and leadership are one and the same and to be a good manager a person has also to be a good leader. Although the current definitions of the concept of leadership and management are somewhat different, these idealized definitions provide various viewpoints about leadership that could positively contribute to defining the concept of leadership. Let us now define this thing called leadership as influenced interactions with groups of followers to implement changes and achieve the determined goals. That definition sounds a lot like management and it should be because as mentioned earlier, leadership is a function of management. This controversy among academics has taken on a new form. Scholars are experts in management and leadership but very few take pride in being scholars of both except for Fayol who would fall into the category of a management historian.
In many instances, there is no direct connection between leadership theories and models and the new requirements new era of AI, with the exception of one leadership theoretical model - authentic leadership - which has had an impact upon today’s changing situations of AI. Authentic leaders truly perceive their own values and beliefs and are highly recognized by other people as being aware of their own and followers’ values, strengths, and weaknesses. These leaders are most knowledgeable about themselves and the context in which they lead. The key takeaway for executives is that authentic leadership has increasingly become one of the most dominant paradigms today and will be used by many companies around the globe. However, Companies, in the AI age, confront more challenging situations in which they need to proactively respond to every environmental demand, a more comprehensive authentic leadership model can be a basis for understanding and perhaps more effectively anticipating these emerging issues. Let us look at post-AI authentic leaders and determine their competencies aimed at answering the question of " What Does an Authentic Leadership Model Look Like in the Post-AI World?".
A New Model for Authentic Leadership in the AI Age
AI leads to new ways of conducting business and creating a new paradigm for workplaces. Executives must find a new way to build teams as they change to more remote work. People also rely on the home network to conduct business for organizations; some expand their bandwidth while others are equipped. The AI also leads to new ways of educating executives, managing talent, and developing entrepreneurs.
The AI-driven economy is also going through an unprecedented level of disruption. The surprise result of this emerging and complex technology, increased uncertainty over security, and fears about a downturn in the economy have left many business leaders concerned about where their organizations should go next and how best they can prepare for it. The only solution is to embrace this new technology. Making AI-driven decisions can create a business platform that embraces an uncertain world and gives organizations the resilience not to bounce back.
In a post-AI business world, leaders must come to grips with their motivational mindset before they can use their leadership competencies to motivate others. Given the post-AI economy, many people have embraced electronic communications. This article inspires a new wave of thinking in the fields of leadership and organizational studies. It helps you to achieve your plans and goals as you embrace AI technology. The most important aspect of the AI is YOU as a leader. I recommend trying to be an authentic leader to embrace social capital and make the right decisions for your followers. In an interview, James Clawson, professor emeritus at Darden School University, says that “good leaders are organizational architects because they know how to organize and mobilize followers so that their energies are focused on the strategic mission.” Having a healthy, positive relationship with your followers is key to your success, and knowing if you are being authentic when dealing and communicating with them will improve your effectiveness when influencing behavior. This is what you and all executives need to do in the post-AI era.
The complex technology of artificial intelligence has set new standards and there is a need to be responsive. Developing authentic leadership is a major milestone in your work and personal life. Authentic leaders rely on discernment on not only others but also, and more importantly, themselves. Four simple steps are recommended to develop an effective authentic leadership model in the AI era:
- Self-understanding of oneself: Jim Clawson discovered VABEs, which are values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations of how we see the world. Understanding your VABEs places life more like a journey rather than a destination. Think of what you value based on what you prefer and do not prefer. Assumptions we accept without questioning. Beliefs are based upon what we feel deep inside about yourself and the world. In both our life and work, we simply expect things. Based on this knowledge, consider your VABEs now.
- Evaluating your desirable and undesirable self-aspects: We truly need to know what we see in ourselves, what we think others see in us, and what people see in us that we do not see in ourselves. Therefore, discover your undesirable self-aspects and try to reverse them.
- Actions for oneself: A plan or goal will put you in the right direction of AI. Goals are based on two tenets that Randall Dunham discovered. First, goals need to have direction and the other component is intensity. Both must be consistent to achieve a goal. Ponder your goals now and remember to plan your day today and then plan your tomorrow today TOO!
- Developing interpersonal relationships: Being an authentic leader in the AI age means being not in touch with yourself but also being in touch with others. Communication is key. Too much is not welcomed and too little is neglecting others.
The following figure depicts the new model of authentic leadership in the age of AI.
Figure 1: The Authentic Leadership Model for the Age of AI
In Conclusion
The key for executives is that the four steps of authentic leadership development represent how an effective leader working in today’s post-AI world can lead people in corporations throughout the UK, North America, and the rest of the developed countries. This article offers novel insights into how managers can become more effective authentic leaders in the post-AI era. Being an authentic leader would help you consider the difference and how you would lead more effectively. Particularly, a leader’s ability to develop authentic leadership can be significantly affected by using the four steps of authentic leadership. Take some time to combine your knowledge of yourself with these ideas to develop your ability to engage in authentic leadership. Remember to use your strengths first, then your opportunities, next, if possible.
About the Author: .jpg)
Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies, and helps companies - from start-ups to the Fortune 100 - succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications and his work has been featured in top-flight business publications.
