Between leadership, AI and strategic communication: when relationships are a science

How do you go from theory to practice?

This is the second of the steps I referred to earlier. A paradigm shift is needed, we need to move from the question to the statement. If we recognise that relationships are decisive, then it makes sense to talk about a science of relationships. That is why we have studied and codified a 'hard', engineering approach to soft skills, because today everyone talks about them but they are often treated as a set of vague, fuzzy concepts, without rigour. This means creating methods, techniques and matrices that can be replicated and taught to anyone, so that everyone can use them freely and effectively: it is a systematic model, with a strong psychological component, that rejects the 'guru' on duty. The ultimate goal is to enable real and fruitful connections, emphasise complexity and bring value through concrete actions between people, without limiting ourselves to generic phrases. Our work is measured in the 'goals' of our customers. If they win, we win. We help them create alliances, negotiate, generate agreements. If they do not succeed in this, we have not done our job well.

This approach seems even more urgent today, in an era of great transformation, in the age of AI...

That's right. We are not living in a time of change, but in a change of epoch. This statement, I believe uttered some time ago by Pope Francis, sums up well the period of transformation in which we are. Today there is much talk about artificial intelligence, but often in a trivial way. The debate on AI is oversimplified to the opposition of 'man versus machine', but it is a sterile comparison and a tired narrative. It is much more useful to understand, instead, which tasks and duties we can entrust to AI, namely all the repetitive and recurring activities to free up time and focus our energies on what is really strategic. The key point is not to do less, but to do better. Delegating what is automatable to machines helps us focus on what really matters.

How should we therefore 'relate' to Gen AI? .

The advent of artificial intelligence should not frighten us but see us as protagonists, and it is up to us to ask the right questions that guide our thinking and determine our actions. At the root of it all, the critical human capacity remains: to decide. In the end, AI provides data and summaries, but it cannot (and should not) choose for us: we are the ones who guide strategies and make decisions, we are the ones who have to interpret the data and decide what to do with the information. Those who fear AI, after all, are those who do not recognise the human being's role as a strategic guide and do not want to take responsibility for leading. Technology amplifies and is a multiplier of what we are: if we value zero, even multiplied by infinity, it remains zero.

In the book you propose a relational model based on four relational styles. Can you explain them in brief?  

They are inspired by biology: effective, manipulative, persuasive and strategic. Each person alternates between these styles, just as in DNA we alternate between adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. We are not different because of the elements, but because of the alternation with which we use them. The most evolved is the strategic style, the one that allows us to create lasting relationships and generate value for all, and towards which organisations and leaders should increasingly turn. In short, we must focus on the strategic aspects of our interaction, establish solid partnerships and decision-making that drive innovative projects forward. As a teacher of mine said, 'the greatest power in the world is not in artificial intelligence or the atomic bomb, but it is the meeting of two people who co-design something new'.

Let's take an example.

Think of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, they changed the world. The future is a blank canvas and it is up to us to decide what colours to use, what to draw and what vision to realise. Every relationship can be a creative act, if it arises from the will to build together.