This article looks at what human leadership in times of artificial intelligence means. The key skills are identified and elaborated, and scientific references given.
As AI enters more and more work environments, have you been left wondering what leadership means in times of AI? Spending a large amount of my time in human focussed activities, I suspect AI has not found its way into my working routine as much as for others. Even so, even while working directly with humans:
there are things AI can support with in order to save time and be able to focus on what matters.
The same counts for leadership. As artificial intelligence transforms how we work, one question my customers keep asking is: will we still need human leaders? The answer is a resounding yes.
Now more so than before, human leadership has become more critical than before.
This counts for human and AI teams. Recent work by the Harvard Kennedy School reveals compelling evidence. In a laboratory-based experiment with 249 participants, leaders who worked effectively with AI agents also demonstrated superior performance leading human teams. The correlation here was strong with ρ=0.81 between the two contexts (Weidmann & Deming, 2025).
This suggests that leadership fundamentals transcend the nature of the team—AI or human. An interesting point to be watched, as AI has been created by humans and inherently will show some action-reaction patterns common in human behaviour and interactions.
What is it that has become critical in human leadership?
Gone are the days where leaders spend their time and energy laboring over operational tasks like producing data overviews, filling excel sheets , making presentations slick.
It’s the human in human leadership that is critical now.
Research has shown three core human leadership qualities that stand out: awareness, wisdom, and compassion (Potential Project, 2024).
- Awareness is the perceptual capability of the mind to perceive what is being experienced, internally and externally. Awareness as in sensing what is going on in the team, where support may be needed. Feeling the pulse of the team as it were, being able to tell when conflict may be swelling, meeting your team human to human. In times of AI it can provide a framework or context for AI work.
- Wisdom involves using your experience and empathy as a human to guide the team in an environment that enables them to do their best, be it an AI, human or human-AI team. It is the capability to make sound judgements and be able to question decision based on experience. Your team and work will benefit from your unique experiences as well as your intuition for guidance towards the future.
- Compassion is all about creating real connections, transcending the what AI can provide and leading with the heart. AI can provide the bones or exoskeleton, and humans provide the heart.
All of these skills have to do with emotional intelligence, empathy and human interactions.
One might say its the human connection that counts and can excel while AI provides structural support.
While AI excels at processing data and identifying patterns, it cannot replicate emotional intelligence, ethical judgment, or the capacity to hold competing perspectives simultaneously.
Leading in the era of AI is all about being able to access inherently human skills and honing them.
It needs humans to strengthen integrative thinking in the ability to connects dots across functions and generate new pathways forward. During all this it is key to make sure that your teams understand the leadership approach and you as a leader are clear about technology being there to amplify human performance, and not replace human connection.
One could say that the bottom line is that AI handles what can be measured. Leaders handle what matters.
That’s why investing in leadership skills in times of AI in order for leaders to make most use of the human and AI capital in your business is key.
If you want to know more about how I can support you as a business coach and trainer, get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you!
References
Hougaard, R., & Carter, J. (2024). AI and human leadership: The three
core qualities. The Potential Project. Weidmann, B., Xu, Y., & Deming, D. J. (2025). Measuring human leadership
skills with AI agents (NBER Working Paper No. 33662). National Bureau
of Economic Research.
