AI is also changing management careers

When companies talk about artificial intelligence, they’re usually referring to jobs being eliminated within the workforce. This is a misconception that can prove costly: When AI downsized or consolidated entire business units, the corresponding management level often disappeared along with them. Dr. Daniel Detambel, managing director of Vogel & Detambel, has been supporting top executives with positioning and career decisions for more than 25 years. For his latest analysis, he evaluated approximately 21,500 profiles, career inquiries, and job transition processes involving German-speaking executives from 2021 to 2026. His conclusion: For the first time, AI is transforming not only operational jobs but also management careers.

For the first time, AI is also changing management careers

It is striking that AI is now perceived as a risk across all industries—even at the executive level. About 22 percent of executives stated that technological changes driven by AI could limit their professional development and career prospects. This is less about AI directly replacing individual executives and more about structural changes within companies.

Detambel is increasingly observing that automation, efficiency initiatives, and AI-driven processes are leading to the downsizing, consolidation, or reorganization of entire business units. Where departments are eliminated or merged, management levels are often reduced as well. The challenging economic situation further exacerbates this trend: Many companies are currently using transformation and AI simultaneously as cost-cutting measures. This is changing not only operational work but also, increasingly, the demand for certain leadership roles. Those who view AI solely as an operational issue underestimate their own vulnerability—leaders who do not actively engage with this development are particularly at risk.

Less Expertise, More Attitude: How the Role of a Leader Is Changing

AI will not only streamline individual areas; it will also change the way many companies are managed. The technology is increasingly taking over detailed technical questions, analyses, and decision preparation. What remains—and is becoming more important—is decisiveness: the ability to actually derive a course of action from data and recommendations and to stand by that decision.

At the same time, the need for genuine humanity is growing. Advice, perspective, and opinions from people are still needed even in a highly automated workplace—precisely because they cannot be replaced by machines. Leaders who believe their role consists primarily of technical expertise will have to reposition themselves. Those who want to lead in the future will need to bring less technical knowledge and more personal integrity to the table. Decision-making strength, sound judgment, and the ability to interact directly with people will become the key distinguishing factors.

Taking Employees' Fears Seriously

One of the most important leadership tasks in the coming years will be to alleviate employees’ fears of job loss—regardless of whether those fears are objectively justified in individual cases. Uncertainty paralyzes teams, reduces their willingness to embrace change, and leads the very best employees, in particular, to start looking for alternatives early on.

This is no easy task. Blank reassurances quickly lose credibility, while open honesty about possible consequences can, conversely, intensify fears. Leaders must therefore strike a balance: they need to provide transparency about the direction of the transformation while simultaneously adopting a clear, compassionate approach when addressing their teams’ concerns. Those who ignore or downplay uncertainty lose trust. Those who address it openly, without making false promises, are the leaders needed during the transformation—by their own teams and by the company.

How Top Executives Can Protect Themselves

Even though it’s difficult to make accurate predictions about future developments, Vogel & Detambel identify clear strategies that top managers can use to strengthen their own positions. The key is to position oneself as a decision-maker rather than as a subject matter expert: Those who demonstrate that they make sound decisions based on AI-driven analyses make themselves less replaceable than those who primarily offer detailed technical knowledge.

Human leadership skills such as empathy, conflict resolution, and strong communication skills should be clearly reflected in one’s resume, self-presentation, and professional demeanor. In addition, Detambel recommends regularly reviewing one’s position within the company and actively monitoring the market: Those who know their options before they are urgently needed negotiate from a position of strength. Finally, a substantive understanding of the technology is crucial—leaders who understand AI can help shape its use rather than simply being affected by it.

Forecast: Fewer leadership positions, but not less leadership

It is difficult to make a reliable prediction about exactly how AI will change management careers in the coming years. Too many factors come into play: the economic situation, the pace of technological development, industry-specific differences, and regulatory interventions. Sooner or later, lawmakers will also impose stricter regulations on the use of AI in companies, which is likely to further influence this development.

However, based on the available data, one assessment can already be made with some certainty: There will be fewer managers in the future than there have been in the past. Not because leadership will become obsolete, but because companies using AI-supported processes will be able to operate with fewer hierarchical levels and leaner structures. Those who wish to remain in management will need to deliver clearly recognizable added value that goes beyond purely technical oversight. The crucial question, therefore, is not whether leadership is changing, but how quickly individual leaders are willing to reposition themselves.

Source: www.vogel-detambel.de