Driving change together in 2024: AI’s impact and the need for responsible leadership
Florian Hoffmann
Founder The DO, Author, WEF YGL, Count Us In, Board member and investor
Where should we focus our attention in another year of multi-crises - from geopolitical instability, to the AI revolution, to the challenging business environment, upskilling and reskilling efforts and ongoing need to accelerate green transformation?
We know that 2024 is rife with geopolitical challenges - and it will also be one of the biggest election years in the history of democracy. Some 4.2 billion people will vote in over 60 elections that will have profound implications for democratic systems. At the same time, there’s considerable hype around the topic of artificial intelligence and how it will change our world. Many people look at this issue with trepidation. But recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, I saw amazing use cases for AI, especially in education and healthcare.
The speed of AI adoption - coming at a time of societal friction and ongoing business transformation (also while inflation remains high) - means that businesses need to focus on the urgency of reskilling / upskilling their workforce and engaging them differently, starting with their leadership teams. The DO School has been building responsible AI leadership programs with our partners in the last year. Our experience here shows us that there’s a need for AI programs that:
equip leaders with the ability to assess the risks and opportunities of AI use cases in their business whilst enabling them to implement use cases quickly across divides.
engage in regenerative learning that strengthens the skill sets needed during this transformation
recognise and deal with any AI-induced anxiety in their workforce
Despite the big changes on the horizon, at Davos I was encouraged to see that most business leaders are actually more optimistic about the year ahead than the general public. Some of the new and courageous efforts in organizations around the world give me a high level of motivation to keep driving change together with you all and make 2024 count. Please feel free to reach out or comment on the themes above.
Stay healthy and best wishes,
Florian