The combination of automation and artificial intelligence is a powerful one and is taking over nearly every industry in the world. Since the advent of AI, there has been a huge disruption in the way organizations function. Decision makers in the past have spent a lot of time on administrative tasks, which can now be easily automated with the deployment of AI. There are many advantages of artificial intelligence that can be leveraged by organizations to get better results.
Business leaders must figure out how to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence while overcoming people’ challenges and any ethical issues that may arise with AI deployment.
In the age of AI, business leaders need to adopt slightly different skill sets than traditional ones. The advantages of artificial intelligence will definitely bring with them certain short-term challenges as well. However, with the right leadership skills, it is possible to manage both the intelligent machine side and the human side as well.
Here are the top 10 leadership skills that are vital to leverage the advantages of artificial intelligence.
Agility
- It is crucial for business leaders to keep pace with the rapidly changing technologies in the world of AI.
- They should embrace the new technologies in automation and artificial intelligence, and motivate the teams to learn and implement the same to grow and innovate, both at an individual and organizational level.
Emotional intelligence
- In today’s dynamic work environment in organizations, leaders require emotional intelligence skills.
- With emotional intelligence, leaders will be able to recognize and manage their own emotions as well as others’.
- Having emotional intelligence skills will minimize human conflicts in an organization and result in improved human interactions.
Empathy
- It is the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes and see the world from their perspective.
- Empathy is a leadership skill that will help leaders understand things from the point of view of others.
- Being empathetic towards everyone will help build trust, confidence, and strong relationships with everyone in the team, resulting in higher productivity in organizations.
Humility
- For a great leader, it is vital to strike the right balance between confidence and humility.
- They need to view themselves as effective collaborators and a part of the team, rather than looking at themselves as the main factor in the success of the organization.
- A good leader is one who remains humble at all times and does not overestimate himself/herself even when a certain challenge is about to be surpassed.
Critical and creative thinking
- One of the biggest advantages of artificial intelligence is that it can take decisions based on existing data faster than humans.
- However, one of the limitations of AI at present is that it cannot apply critical and creative thinking to analyze challenges from various perspectives using data, facts, knowledge, and previous knowledge.
- Both creative and critical thinking skills are vital for leaders to see the various patterns and trends.
- Critical thinking can help identify challenges, evaluate them, and find the right solutions to overcome them.
Accountability
- Business leaders need to be accountable for the decisions taken by the teams in their organizations.
- Accountability refers to taking ownership of work that is supposed to be done, and motivating others to work towards it.
- It is vital for leaders to align themselves with the organizational goals and objectives.
Intuition
- One of the advantages of artificial intelligence is that it can make data-driven decisions in the short term.
- However, what AI powered machines will fail to do is evaluate long-term patterns and match the intuition possessed by leaders with years of work experience.
- It is impossible for AI to match the intuition possessed by a human being.
- The intuition of leaders is crucial to make the right decisions.
Cultural intelligence
- Compared to today, the workplaces of the future will be even more diverse and global.
- Leaders need to understand that people with different backgrounds and viewpoints will be a part of the team.
- Cultural intelligence is vital to respecting every individual that is a part of the organization, and is related to different cultures.
Courage
- Courage is a key leadership skill that will help leaders to identify their weaknesses or gaps and overcome them by learning and correcting themselves.
- Leaders must have the courage to let go of things learned in the past and relearn new things.
Focus
A leader needs to focus on the strategic objectives of an organization, and how the use of various technologies and initiatives will help organizations achieve their goals.
Making the decision process easy on tasks that can be automated is one of the major advantages of artificial intelligence for businesses. However, automation and artificial intelligence cannot replace human leadership skills. The present and future generations of leaders need to have the necessary skills to survive in the age of AI.
