72% of organizations have adopted Gen AI in at least one function, marking a nearly 56% increase from 2021.
In an era characterized by pandemics, elevated inflation, high interest rates, and volatile commodity prices, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a significant opportunity, becoming a cornerstone of corporate strategy.
This shift brings to light the evolving role of leaders, who now have a more critical role to play in shaping both the current landscape and future direction. They will need to navigate decisions that will have a profound impact on their teams, stakeholders, and the organization’s future.
What defines leadership success in the age of AI?
Today’s leaders are challenged not just to sustain current operations but also to pioneer future advancements.
This dual transformation strategy is about refining an organization’s existing core systems to remain competitive, thus enhancing the company’s longevity, while simultaneously exploring new strategic opportunities to secure the future by building value that outpaces the market.
Leaders might find this difficult to navigate as it requires allocation of resources based on anticipated value, which can lead to paradoxical questions if the company is shaping new opportunities that might disrupt the existing business. The rapid pace of Gen AI development can potentially pose a similar question.
This can be resolved by understanding what’s involved in dual transformation:
- Transformation A: Strengthening the Core – Leaders could optimize and boost existing operations through AI, making them more efficient, cost-effective, and customer-centric. AI can automate certain routine tasks, provide insights through data analytics, and enhance decision-making, all to help organizations perform better in their core business areas and stay aggressive in the short term.
- Transformation B: Creating New Growth Engines – At the same time, leaders can look to explore new opportunities with AI by developing innovative business models. It can involve identifying and capitalizing on AI-driven technologies to create entirely new products, services, or markets.
Dual transformation often creates difficult choices, underscoring its significance as a leadership quality and not merely a strategy. It is driven by ambidexterity, a distinct skill that enables leaders to effectively manage seemingly contradictory activities, and agile tenacity, which is the determination to pursue innovation relentlessly despite uncertainties.
Together, these qualities together embody the agility required in today’s AI-driven world.
How to define agility?
Agility, as a leadership quality, refers to the ability to adapt quickly and effectively to any changing circumstances. It involves being flexible, responsive, and open to innovation, allowing leaders to guide their organizations through uncertainty and rapid shifts in the market.
Agile leaders today are those who anticipate rapid technological changes, especially given how the rise of technology like Generative AI has dramatically increased the speed and scale of disruption. These leaders prefer to see change as an opportunity to innovate and grow, not a threat.
Furthermore, while traditional agility was associated with process transformation, modern agility involves the ability to pivot, experiment with new ideas, and empower teams to make decisions in real-time. This proactive and malleable attitude helps organizations remain at the forefront and capitalize on the potential of emerging technologies.
The agile leader Toolkit
Leadership can be a solitary endeavor, as leaders often bear the weight of countless daily decisions that impact others. Yet, there are strategic steps that you can take to adopt agility in this era of Generative AI:
- Embrace change: This is the genuine basis of agility, where leaders must learn to accept uncertainty while developing a culture of improvement and experimentation. It encourages teams to test out new technologies and learn from failures
,while viewing AI developments as opportunities for growth. - Keep updated: Stay informed about emerging trends, technologies, and disruptive advancements in AI to understand how they can impact your organization and industry.
- Identify gaps: Assess your company’s existing capabilities, whether technological or skill-based, to identify any deficiencies that must be addressed for the successful implementation of AI.
- Understand the needs (and fears) of your employees: Engage with your team to recognize their concerns, requirements, and aspirations regarding AI. This helps in creating a transparent environment that encourages buy-in and reduces resistance to change.
- Empower leaders: Mentor and develop emerging leaders by understanding their viewpoints and ideas on AI, preparing them for future leadership roles while employing their suggestions. A level of decentralization in decision-making can also build a culture of accountability and innovation.
- Exercise caution: Avoid the urge to hastily adopt AI tools without thorough planning or comprehension of the copyright and ethical risks. Allow sufficient time to make informed decisions, ensuring that AI is deployed strategically and effectively.
- Iterate your approach: Implement AI gradually through pilot projects and incremental improvements. This allows for testing, learning, and refining of the technology for optimal outcomes. Agile leaders should also be driven by a clear sense of purpose that aligns their actions with that of the organization.
- Invest in reskilling and change management: Provide comprehensive training and support to help your employees adapt to emerging AI technologies while fostering a culture of continuous learning and adaptability.
Leadership paradigms have evolved from the command-and-control style made famous by CEOs such as General Electric’s Jack Welch or Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer. It has shifted towards a more collaborative and empathetic approach, which can be facilitated by embracing dual transformation and agile tenacity.
Developing this tenacity involves cultivating a growth mindset that embraces failure as a learning opportunity, while building strong support networks and engaging in regular self-reflection. And as the landscape of Generative AI evolves, leaders who can effectively balance this will be the ones to thrive.
Explore how we work with our global clients on their dual transformation journeys and learn how you can also succeed.
