Die Führungsstil-Transformation in der Ära der Künstlichen Intelligenz könnte heftiger ausfallen als alle früheren Revolutionen.

In 2025, global enterprises are undergoing an AI-driven "leadership test."

Microsoft is reconstructing the productivity ecosystem with Copilot. Huawei has achieved a revenue of over one trillion yuan against the odds under the computing power blockade. ByteDance is revolutionizing the content industry with its algorithm leadership.

When large models like DeepSeek become employees' "first advisors" and when Generation Z managers naturally embrace human-machine collaboration, the walls of traditional leadership are collapsing.

As artificial intelligence integrates deeply with human intelligence, the transformation from traditional organizations to intelligent ones has become an inevitable trend. Leaders will face a new form of organization that combines humans and machines.

Leadership has never been more crucial, nor has it faced such profound changes. The common pain points faced by current corporate leaders are: How can leaders navigate the changing situation? How can traditional leadership be upgraded?

82% of young leaders have started to "coexist"

Let's first look at a set of data.

A survey by Google Workplace in November 2024 showed that 82% of young leaders use AI in their work, and 93% of Generation Z use more than two AI tools per week. Even more surprisingly, 98% of the respondents believe that AI will completely transform their industries in the next five years.

What does this mean? It means that your young subordinates may already have a "advisor" smarter than you.

A continuous follow-up study on EMBA students at Fudan University School of Management is even more thought-provoking. In August 2024, 17.81% of corporate executives said they "never use" AI. Just eight months later, this figure dropped to 8.89%.

Figure 1: Survey on the frequency of corporate executives using AI at work in August 2024 (Sample: 73)

Figure 2: Survey on the frequency of corporate executives using AI at work from August 2024 to May 2025 (Sample: 416)

Behind the numbers is a silent power shift.

A survey by Oracle and Future Workplace directly exposed this issue: 25% of employees would rather ask AI than their leaders. The reason is simple - AI doesn't get angry, has no biases, and will never assign urgent tasks at 4:59 pm on Friday.

For the first time, the traditional logic of "you should listen to me because I'm the leader" is challenged by algorithms.

Three new challenges for leadership in the AI era

1. Challenges in the leadership environment

Let me tell you a real story first.

In May 2025, at an investment institution in Lujiazui, Shanghai, a newly recruited post-2000 analyst said at a project review meeting in front of all the partners, "I used Claude to analyze the financial model of this project and found three fatal flaws."

The meeting room fell into silence. You know, this financial model was personally reviewed by an investment director with 20 years of experience.

What's more embarrassing is that Claude was right.

This scenario is a microcosm of the current drastic changes in the leadership environment. In the past, information and experience were the moats of leaders. Now, a fresh graduate can, with the help of AI, achieve or even surpass the judgment of senior experts in some fields.

The basis of authority is shifting from 'I know more than you' to 'I know better how to drive collective wisdom.'

A deeper change lies in the generational gap in work styles. Our research found an interesting phenomenon:

• Executives born in the 1960s and 1970s regard AI as a "tool" - they only use it when necessary.

• Middle - level managers born in the 1980s and 1990s regard AI as an "assistant" - they will refer to it for important decisions.

• Newcomers born in the 1995s and 2000s regard AI as a "partner" - they are almost inseparable from it.

What does this difference bring? It brings a "digital generation gap" within the organization.

For example, the sales director of a large manufacturing enterprise told me that he recently found that the way his team held meetings had completely changed. In the past, he spoke and everyone listened. Now, young employees will use AI to verify his views in real - time and even say, "This is what GPT - 4 suggests."

"I feel like an ancient person," he said with a bitter smile, "even though I'm only 45 years old."

This is the first characteristic of the new leadership environment: Hierarchical obedience is giving way to networked collaboration.

The second characteristic is more subtle: The pressure caused by decision - making transparency is increasing sharply.

In the past, the decision - making process of leaders was a black box. Subordinates could only see the results, not the process. Now? AI can review every decision - making logic of yours and even point out a better solution.

In June 2025, an internal survey of a large Internet company showed that 73% of middle - level managers said they "were worried that their decisions would be proven sub - optimal by AI tools." This worry is not unfounded - some companies have started to use AI to audit the decision - making quality of management.

When every decision may be "scored" by algorithms, the pressure on leaders can be imagined.

The third characteristic is the most profound: From managing "people" to managing "human - machine hybrids."

Traditional team management theories are all designed for pure human teams. But now, there is one or more AI assistants standing behind each employee. A team of 10 people may actually be a hybrid of "10 people + 30 AIs."

Since the object of management has changed, the management methods must change accordingly.

Finally, let's go back to the survey data of Fudan EMBA students. On the surface, it seems that executives have learned to use AI from 17.81% to 8.89%. But the deeper meaning is that they also realize that they will be eliminated if they don't change.

This reminds me of the situation when the Ford Model T was launched in 1908. At that time, carriage manufacturers also faced a similar choice: continue to optimize carriages or embrace cars?

History tells us that those who chose to optimize carriages can now only be seen in museums.

Leaders in 2025 are facing the same choice: continue to manage 21st - century teams with 20th - century methods or bravely step into the new era of human - machine coexistence?

The answer lies in the 82% who have already taken action.

2. Challenges in leadership functions

In the context of AI, leaders need to re - reflect on and think about the scope of leadership roles:

(1) Which tasks can be automated by AI technology?

(2) Which tasks require joint collaboration between humans and machines?

(3) Which tasks still require full - time supervision and participation of humans?

Only when leaders clarify their role scope can they fully utilize the advantages of AI technology, free themselves from mechanical and time - consuming tasks, and have more time to perform key leadership functions, truly giving play to the complementary advantages of "human - technology."

3. Challenges in the leadership foundation

With the use of AI technology in work, its relatively rational, objective, rigorous, and scientific functions will make employees more dependent on and trust AI, and instead question the rationality and scientific nature of leaders in decision - making and their ability to solve problems, thus triggering a leadership trust crisis.

The AI era calls for symbiotic leadership

Leadership has many characteristics, and the most crucial one is the era characteristic. The times make heroes, and successful leaders are often the favorites of the era. Similarly, successful organizations often keep pace with the times.

In our book "Leadership in the AI Era: Concepts and Practices," we put forward a new view: in the historical period from 2025 to 2050, the leadership in the AI era is "symbiotic leadership."

From the three dimensions of economic background, organizational behavior, and practical path, symbiotic leadership is specifically manifested in the following three aspects:

1. The integrated coexistence of traditional economy and digital economy: Navigating the transformation of old and new driving forces

The current economy is neither a pure traditional economy nor a pure digital economy. We are in a transition period, which reflects the integrated coexistence of the two economic forms.

Leaders must keep up with the times. They need to coexist in an integrated way with AI, team members, the internal and external of the organization, and even the entire social ecosystem.

2. The integrated coexistence of enterprise individuals and the ecosystem: Creating value in the collaborative network

Many enterprises are still operating independently. But research shows that in the past 20 years, successful enterprises have all done one thing right - integrating resources through platforms and developing enterprises through ecosystems.

Ecologicalization is a process, and integrated coexistence is a bridge. Enterprises move towards coexistence through co - creation in the collaborative network.

The case of the EMBA student we mentioned in the book is very representative: she is engaged in the operation of traditional industrial parks. Through the transformation of symbiotic thinking, she connected the green and low - carbon park ecosystem with the co - construction model of large parks. Her "CDI Green and Low - Carbon Hundred - Park Plan" has expanded its influence to the international stage.

3. The integrated coexistence of the human brain and the machine brain: Giving play to the multiplier effect of human - machine collaboration

The human brain provides innovation, emotion, and moral guidance, while the machine brain provides data processing, calculation, and pattern recognition. Through collaborative decision - making, the two are effectively integrated, producing a multiplier effect.

Six pain points and solutions for leadership - Building a leadership operating system for the AI era

1. Six pain points

After surveying nearly 10,000 MBA and EMBA students, we summarized six pain points of corporate leadership:

① Unclear strategic positioning;

② Inconsistent team consensus;

③ Unclear organizational development path;

④ Insufficient innovation motivation;

⑤ Poor operation of mechanisms;

⑥ Bottlenecks in leadership cognition.

What are the corresponding solutions?

A leadership operating system based on the "Five - Star Leadership Model" covers six core scenarios: efficient decision - making, team communication, resource allocation, leadership innovation, organizational guarantee, and mental leap.

Does it sound academic? Let me give you an example.

Jetour Automobile introduced the Doubao large model to create an AI customer service named "Xiaojie." The reason is simple: 3,000 employees need to serve 150,000 car owners, with an average of 50 customers per person. Even Superman can't handle it.

After the introduction of AI? It's online 24/7, providing personalized services for thousands of people, and the user satisfaction has actually increased. This is the power of human - machine collaboration: let AI do what it is good at and let humans do what they are good at.

Seres has gone a step further. It uses the VOC platform (Voice of Customers) of Volcengine to analyze user feedback through the Doubao large model, accurately infer user emotions, and improve decision - making efficiency.

When AI can understand that "it's a bit hot" means "please turn down the air - conditioning temperature," the traditional boundary of human - machine interaction has been broken.

2. Three - in - one empowerment

This operating system can empower leaders at three levels:

Cognitive unity: Breaking through the underlying logic and reshaping the cognitive framework of leadership in the AI era

• The "anchor" for decision - making behavior = Firm organizational belief + Growth - integrated thinking + Dynamic strategic adjustment

• The "communication magic weapon" for communication behavior = Empathy + Win - win altruism + "Do - not list"

• The "ecological map" for ecological behavior = Value creation + Network connection + Empowerment and collaboration + Win - win sharing

• The "innovation pattern" for innovation behavior = Systematic thinking + Corporate culture + Fault - tolerant mechanism

• The "efficient mechanism" for guarantee behavior = Core values culture + Self - criticism mechanism + Value creation cycle

• The "super - ego realm" for mental leap = Self - awakening + Unity of knowledge and action

Behavioral guidance: Providing clear operating procedures to guide specific leadership actions

Operational optimization: Designing an operating mechanism integrating AI to achieve continuous iterative evolution

3. Innovative implementation carriers

The leadership operating system needs a carrier that keeps up with the times. The intelligent agent is an important carrier.

The "leadership digital human" realized through the intelligent agent can provide intelligent support and feedback for leaders. This makes human - machine integrated coexistence possible.

The portrait of leaders in 2050

Let's look ahead 25 years.

What will leaders in 2050 be like?

They are no longer high - handed decision - makers but coordinators of human - machine collaboration. Their core competitiveness is not being smarter than AI, but knowing how to make AI serve humans.

They understand data, but they understand human nature better. They believe in algorithms, but they also believe in intuition. They embrace change, but they also safeguard the unchanging underlying logic.

As we repeatedly emphasized in the book: 'The future does not belong to AI, but to leaders who are the first to use AI scientifically.'

This reminds me of a story in 1995.

At that time, Bill Gates wrote a book called "The Road Ahead," predicting that the Internet would change everything. Many people thought he was exaggerating.

Thirty years later, our lives are inseparable from the Internet. Those enterprises that embraced the Internet earliest have become today's giants. Those enterprises that remained complacent have been crushed by the wheels of history.

The leadership transformation in the AI era may be more intense than the Internet revolution. Because this time, what is being changed is not just tools, but decision - making itself.

When your subordinates start discussing problems with AI, when your decisions start to be evaluated by algorithms, and when your experience starts to be challenged by data - are you ready?

The wheels of the times are rolling forward, and no one can stop them.