My Boss is a Robot – Help!

There is much talk today of the ‘new normal’ for business that is bound to follow the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, huge changes to the way we work are already underway due to the fast-emerging technologies derived from artificial intelligence—changes now to be accelerated by the crisis.

In this first podcast in Henley Business School’s Leading Edge series, Professor Ben Laker talks to BBC reporter Thomas Mason about leadership and employment in the coming AI-enhanced, robot-inhabited, workplace.

Ben Laker predicts that leadership in its current form will be becoming obsolete because we will not need it, and asks: will we see the rise in the importance of management?

“The age of a ‘job description’ is dying because once it’s written down, it’s out of date. And we don’t necessarily want people to just repeat the same job.” 

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Leading Edge is a new series of podcasts from Henley Business School. Thomas Mason, business journalist, is joined by some of Henley’s leading academics to explore and challenge their approaches and perceptions of what successful leadership should and could look like. 

Podcasts in the series, released between now and 2 June, will be available here: www.henley.ac.uk/leading-edge and from the usual podcast providers:

5 May – Thinking differently about diversity

12 May – What can leaders learn from jazz musicians?

19 May – How many companies are facing up to problems they already know they have?

26 May – How do you fit within your organisation, and does this change over time?

2 June – What is gig leadership?