Is the future going to be deeply human, and will deeply human businesses be at a premium? Heidrick & Struggles, a leading global advisory firm, partnered with Architech on The Future is Human, an accelerator that gathered leading thinkers and business leaders to explore the relationship between human and machine. Mark Watt, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, hosted and facilitated the two-day session and Adam Pacifico, also a Partner at the firm, delivered the keynote on leading as a human in a world driven by AI.

Watt says, “AI will be at the centre of most things we do, both in business and in our personal lives. The most important thing we can do as leaders is to keep people at the centre of every activity. This economic and social revolution is no different than any that came before it: it exists to serve our means. But how we adapt to it is what’s going to matter the most. Change is happening, whether we as leaders are ready or not – and we need to be ready.”

AI Transformation Specialist and founder of Architech, Amy Fane Hervey adds that nearly every aspect of normal life is being impacted.

“Every industry is being radically re-engineered. AI can do in seconds what used to take your team days. It can analyse vast amounts of data that used to take one person weeks, model scenarios nobody has thought of yet, flag risks before they surface, and act as a personal tutor for every student, ready to teach them in the way they learn best. It doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t travel. It doesn’t need to be in the room to have an opinion.”

The scale of that change leaves leaders with a practical question: how do they turn a technology that can unsettle almost every function in society and the workplace into something their people can understand, trust, and use well?

Leading in AI without losing the human centre

For Watt, AI transformation must be treated as a human operating shift before it becomes a technology rollout. Leaders need to be clear on why they are adopting AI, where human judgement should remain central, which tools belong in the business, and how people will be trained, guided, and measured as new ways of working take hold.

He says a six-part framework developed by Fane Hervey, called the AI Flywheel, gives  leaders a practical model for keeping people at the centre of that transformation:

1. Mindset: The “why” behind the transformation. Leaders need to understand AI as a multiplier of human capability and align the organisation around its purpose.

2. Human set: The “soul” of the business. This focuses on the parts of work that must remain deeply human, including judgement, empathy, vulnerability, and the human-to-human collaboration that machines cannot replace.

3. Machine set: The technology itself. This covers the AI tools being introduced, where they fit into workflows, and how they help people do better work.

4. Skill set: The ability to use those tools well. Access alone does not create adoption, so leaders must upskill themselves and their teams so AI becomes part of how the organisation works.

5. Communication set: The rhythm of communication around the change. Leaders must communicate often and clearly about strategy, progress, failures, and lessons learned.

6. System set: The business model that supports AI transformation. This includes the processes, measures, and feedback loops leaders need to understand what is working, what is failing, and how the organisation must adapt.

To bring about transformation and incorporating the AI Flywheel into corporate structures in ways that matter, rather than adding AI into workflows without intent because it has become something companies are expected to have, Watt insists that CEOs take responsibility for it themselves.

“AI strategy must come directly from the CEO – employees emulate their leaders, and strong leadership can make the AI transition far more successful. That means responsibility for AI cannot sit with the chief technology or chief information officer alone. AI is often spoken about as a technology decision, but because it changes behaviour, work processes, decision-making, team design, and the way people understand their value inside a business, it must be steered at the highest level.”

He says that the AI Flywheel is a practical starting point for leaders to change the way they understand and learn about AI, how they implement it in daily work, and how they introduce it to employees at every level by leading them into efficient AI use rather than simply instructing them on a system they do not fully understand.

Fane Hervey notes, “We must accept that businesses are changing completely – yours probably already has. Business is becoming more of a combined human-machine decision system, where hard data intersects with lived experience, instinct, and judgement, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

“But as AI becomes more deeply embedded in business, leaders may find it increasingly difficult to distinguish their own voice in the noise. The future will consequently not just be shaped by how we build AI, but by how we express our humanness and relate to one another in the presence of machines. In a world where nearly anything can be automated, leaders and businesses that remain deeply and authentically human while using AI well will gain the most.”