More human than ever: leading in the age of AI

For the first time in history, we live with an intelligence that is not human. What happens when machines not only think, but decide? And what place is left for us in that future?

One thing we are sure of, AI does not represent the end of human intelligence, but rather its turning point. A unique opportunity to revalue what makes us human and build a future in which human talent and technology enhance each other.

The World Economic Forum estimates that AI will create 170 million jobs and eliminate 92 million, with a net positive balance. It also projects an increase of up to 5 percentage points in global GDP growth. But beyond the numbers, what is important is how we integrate this technology in the service of authentic and inclusive progress.

AI cannot experience emotions, intuit, philosophize, or lead from purpose. You cannot attribute meaning or understand the impact of your decisions on a community, team, or culture. Carl Gustav Jung spoke of four essential functions of the human psyche: thinking, sensation, feeling and intuition. Capacities that, far from being replaced, become more necessary than ever.

The great advances in history—from the theory of relativity to penicillin—did not arise only from rational analysis, but from the human ability to imagine and connect dots that did not yet exist.

From this perspective, AI does not compete with us: it forces us to evolve. To develop skills such as empathy, ethics, strategic vision and creativity. This new paradigm forces humans to do things.

Organizations are already integrating AI into multiple processes: customer service, predictive analytics, offer personalization, security improvement. But this integration requires more than technology: it needs vision, culture and leadership.

Today, the CEO and a new collaborator access the same AI tools. Companies have the opportunity to ensure that this AI collaborator empowers people and their leadership, in line with the defined vision. The difference will be in who manages to maximize their potential with optimal integration with people. And this means forming teams that know how to guide it, feed it with purpose and evaluate its results with human criteria.

This requires:

• Empower teams. Collaborators must develop new skills to work with AI tools. This implies not only efficiency, but also the ability to formulate your needs well, interpret the results and detect errors or biases.
• Decide with human criteria. Critical analysis of results to ensure decision-making with those capabilities that AI does not possess, such as deep creativity, emotional understanding, intuition or long-term strategic thinking.
• Design safe experiences. The integration between people and AIs requires experiences and interfaces designed with a human focus. This includes control, traceability and security mechanisms that guarantee a fluid and reliable link.
• Transmit culture through AI. It is key that AIs reflect the identity and values ​​of the company. Their design, training and supervision must ensure that they act with the "spirit" of the organization, reinforcing the culture in each interaction.

If we do not manage this transformation, we run the risk of delegating critical decisions to AI algorithms that can “freak out,” dehumanize processes, or lose judgment in key decisions.

As the World Economic Forum warned, the misuse of AI is one of the main global risks. And faced with that, we need a new organizational culture: more conscious, collaborative and human.

Going back to Jung, he defined the collective unconscious as a universal memory that influences the way we think, feel and act, and that shapes our societies. AIs have no history, no unconscious, no values. Whether we want to or not, defining the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of the Era—or of an Organization, why not—of our relationship with AIs in the near future is in our hands.