The Now, New, and Next of Digital Leadership: How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Take Over and Change Leadership as We Know It

Abstract

There is an emerging consensus that traditional management roles could—and maybe should—be performed by machines infused with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Yet, “true” leadership—that is, motivating and enabling people so that they can and will contribute to the collective goals of an organization—is still predominantly viewed as the prerogative of humans. With our opinion piece, we challenge this perspective. Our essay aims to be a wake-up call for large parts of academia and practice that romanticize human leadership and think that this bastion can never be overtaken by AI. We delineate why algorithms will not (need to) come to a halt before core characteristics of leadership and potentially cater better to employees’ psychological needs than human leaders. Against this background, conscious choices need to be made about what role humans are to play in the future of leadership. These considerations hold significant implications for the future of not only leadership research but also leadership education and development.