Artificial intelligence and leadership: how AI is revolutionising the organisation and the role of CEOs

Many organisations are entering a new phase in their digital transformation journey: after years in which the focus was on experimenting with the most innovative technologies, artificial intelligence now represents a new, broader and more complex challenge, which features prominently on the agenda of senior management and has a direct impact on leadership and the organisation of work. The report “2026 View from the C-Suite”, based on a sample of over 2,500 companies worldwide and produced by LHH, an Adecco Group company specialising in HR consultancy services, reveals that almost one in two executives (49 per cent, to be precise) cite AI and generative tools as their top professional development priority (and the main skills gap to be addressed), and that defining responsibilities regarding artificial intelligence, effective decision-making and strategic clarity feature among managerial priorities for the coming years. The challenge for business leaders therefore lies not only in adopting new technological solutions but also (if not above all) in the ability to convert the operational efficiency generated by increased automation into added value for people and for the business.

This is by no means a foregone conclusion, even if it is a view shared by many, and Deborah Buttignol, Managing Partner at LHH Executive Search, also subscribes to this line of thinking, who argues that the real issue surrounding the pervasive use of AI is, in fact, organisational in nature and linked to companies’ ability to rethink the way they work.

The impact of artificial intelligence varies significantly depending on the business function: customer service, administrative back-office functions, reporting activities, as well as software development and, more generally, repetitive processes are among the areas where automation powered by algorithms and LLM models is producing the most noticeable results. And although several international studies suggest that up to 40 per cent of tasks could be automated in the coming years, freeing up time and resources is not (often) synonymous with generating greater value or launching new initiatives on skills or talent development. ‘We have more scope for interaction with both candidates and clients, and more time is devoted to building relationships and decision-making because it is no longer necessary to manually analyse large amounts of data. The point, however – Buttignol continues – is to understand how this time is reinvested within the organisation: if processes are not redesigned, there is a risk that the workload will simply increase.”

There are less obvious effects brought about by digital transformation and by AI in particular, and one of these is a substantial increase in the volume of information that needs to be interpreted. ‘Artificial intelligence,’ the manager points out, ‘generates a huge volume of data and insights that need to be processed by people. We need to consider that not only are we doing more, thereby increasing productivity, but we are also doing more by thinking more, which places a much greater cognitive burden on us.’ There is also an often underestimated but increasingly significant psychological dimension, linked to constant access to systems capable of generating answers and to the sense of inadequacy felt by those who perceive themselves as not being up to the task of dealing with new technologies. ‘It creates – as Buttignol points out – almost a form of competition and rivalry with artificial intelligence, because there is a feeling that it knows more than we do, and this dynamic can generate frustration, pressure and a sense of inadequacy, especially among those who are more performance-oriented.’

Another important issue to focus on, according to the manager, is the cross-functional nature of artificial intelligence, given that we are dealing with a technology that can no longer be regarded as a matter confined solely to IT departments. Responsibility for this transformation is, in fact, inevitably extending to senior management, and this trend is also reflected in the evolution of organisational structures, with the Chief Information Officer now a permanent fixture in the C-suite and in the strategic decision-making processes of many companies, reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer. In turn, the role of the organisation’s top executive is undergoing a major transformation. “The CEO,” Buttignol emphasises, “is called upon daily to make decisions concerning the reorganisation of the company and must understand which tools to use and how to integrate them. Today, there is increasing talk of leaders as system architects – figures tasked with designing hybrid architectures and steering the transformation in a balanced way.” The challenge, in other words, is to prevent innovation from creating new inefficiencies: if the acceleration of one business function leaves the rest of the organisation stagnant, there is a risk of simply shifting the bottleneck elsewhere.