Q54　How Do You Develop the Next Leaders in the AI Era?

The Short Answer

Leaders grow not through knowledge, but through the experience of being entrusted with the future.

Unpacking the Question

How do you develop the next leaders in the AI era?
Talent development until now centered on teaching knowledge and building up experience.
But in an era when AI provides knowledge instantly,
the value of teaching knowledge alone shrinks.
So what should you develop?
I believe there are three things.
The first is the power to ask questions.
The power to find what to think about and what to solve.
The second is the experience of deciding.
However much knowledge you have, without making decisions, you cannot become a leader.
And the third is the power to envision the future.
"I want to make this future real."
That conviction moves people and carries the organization forward.
That is why leaders are not raised in classrooms.
It can be small.
Entrust them with work.
Let them decide for themselves.
Reflect together, failures included.
Through that repetition, both judgment and a sense of responsibility grow.
Future Value Theory holds that leader development is practice in entrusting the future.
The future cannot be created by attending lectures alone.
Only those who have been entrusted with the future,
thought,
decided,
and borne responsibility, over and over, become the leaders of the next era.
Precisely because this is the AI era, the people to develop are not those who know the answers.
They are those you can entrust the future to.

Implications for Management

Leader development in the AI era must shift from education that merely imparts knowledge to education that entrusts the future.
What matters is the power to ask questions, the experience of deciding, and the power to envision the future — these three.
Companies must give young employees not only fail-safe work, but opportunities — however small — to make real decisions.
Future leaders are not completed by training programs; they grow through the experience of responsible challenge.

How Would You Answer?

Right now, are you entrusting someone with the future?
And are you, in turn, becoming someone whom others entrust with the future?