Will ChatGPT Replace CEOs? Not So Fast
Originally published at Forbes.com
Like most of us, I’ve been trying to learn more about artificial intelligence in recent weeks. Given that the fear of AI wiping out large categories of jobs now dominates the world of talking heads, it’s a valid question: How disruptive is something like ChatGPT?
It’s not easy to answer the question, since the technology is still quite new. But it occurred to me that, while I’m still trying to understand ChatGPT, I do know a lot about one category of jobs: Chief Executive Officers. Perhaps the answer to this headline question may give people hints about the other job types and skills that will be better positioned to withstand the AI tsunami.
And so, with full credit to a speech that the coach for Team USA’s International Mathematics Olympiad squad has given around the country (the coach being Po-Shen Loh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University), let’s start with the upside of AI. In his words: “This machine is the world’s most powerful tool at repeating things that have been done many times before.” That seems exactly right.
But the CEO job is something else entirely. I actually wrote a book about what the market demands in terms of chief executive skills, combing through the research on actual CEO searches conducted by one of the country’s top executive recruiting firms. Here are the six qualities that all CEOs must have:
Ability to think strategically. This means you see a future that doesn’t yet exist and figure out how to solve the new problems it will bring.
Ability to connect with and motivate people. This requires relating to the emotional side of people that makes them more willing to pursue change and common interests.
Ability to communicate a vision. This is the EQ factor, along with describing a future that doesn’t yet exist.
Fit with the company culture. All of the above needs to be done with a set of shared values and behavior protocols unique to each company.
Demonstrated record of getting results. The proof of these skills is in the pudding of making positive and valuable changes in the past.
Leadership experience in a comparable industry setting. One size does not fit all: The rules of the game and the lessons of history are unique to each sector of the economy.
The non-replaceable CEO skills are creativity and innovation, in addition to recognizing where human emotion, fear, and aspiration come together in a particular setting and in a way that motivates people. Cue the spot-on statement from Loh: “The role of the GPT is to always say the most obvious next word. But what is invention? What is creativity and innovation? Is it to say the most obvious thing? No.”
Therein lies the CEO’s unique value-add. Chief executives are tasked to think and say the “non-obvious” words, and then take action by building human coalitions that enact change. The job itself is highly unpredictable and hardly repeatable, at least on a basic level—while there are best practices, CEOs cannot go on autopilot. Knowing that, private-sector CEO jobs are most likely safe from AI, unless human beings make foolish mistakes and give ChatGPT chief executive powers in the months ahead.
But what about other careers? Like in the C-suite now, the jobs on the safer “high ground” will demand creativity, discovery, and innovation, moving human emotion in the right direction. In the arts as well as business, true leadership will disrupt by tapping into the unknown—what is unknown to repetitive machines like ChatGPT.
Leadership will also require actually fixing issues—both physical and organizational—that have fixes based on a set of local particulars. Problem-solvers are on the “high ground,” especially those who understand how to work well with people. This covers a lot of bases, including artists, tradespeople, scientists, inventors, parents, friends, and many more in between.
On the other hand, jobs that follow strict, repetitive rules based on past experience (think call centers) are the most replaceable. Bureaucracy tends to be replaceable. But the bureaucracies at risk will inevitably fight back, as they pick up on the AI threat more and more.
Let’s be clear: We still have much to learn about the likes of ChatGPT. There will certainly be a war between mankind and artificial intelligence, even if it isn’t fought on the ground and doesn’t become a Terminator sequel.
But the real war is here already. Today’s battle is to not allow people who benefit from AI disruption to deprive us all of human values and advantages. Disruption does not have to mean the death of the human spirit.