new york — Change is inevitable and embracing younger generations who are comfortable with the latest technology is key to the future success of your business.
That was the message from Angela Ahrendts, chairman of Save the Children International, former CEO of Burberry and senior vice president of Apple Retail.
In a conversation with Moira Forbes, executive vice president of Forbes and president and publisher of ForbesWomen, Ahrendts said she believes 2023 will be the year of transformation. She likened it to the device that changed the world in her 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced his iPhone to Apple.
She believes AI and chatbots will transform society today. “You have to turn around. You have to put a different lens on everything you do,” she said. “In the next five to 10 years, we will look back on 2023 and talk about it exactly the same way we talked about 2007. You have to be flexible.”
As a result, leaders must evolve and develop new skill sets. “Maybe leadership is no longer top-down. Maybe it’s about bottom-up,” she said. So the problem is asking the right questions, not the answers.These are the types of things that get flipped.”
In this new world, she said, it’s the creatives who “have to sit at the table.” Some innovative companies appoint creators as CEOs, or at least have them sit by their side.
“I think this will become essential in any institution,” she said. “Because in the world of AI, people who connect the dots, see the corners, have passion, instinct, empathy, and most importantly, the courage to stand up for what they believe in. I think that will be an important element of future leadership.”
Ahrendts said he is not afraid of the rise of AI, as it has been around for more than 20 years and is now becoming mainstream. “Just like there is a dark web, bad things will happen to AI. The same thing will happen here.”
She also recognizes that there are human talents that even the most sophisticated computer programs cannot replicate.
“It’s a God-given attribute,” she said. “It’s our instincts, it’s our empathy, it’s our creative thinking and our solutions, it’s our passion. AI doesn’t feel it. It takes the data that’s out there, but it doesn’t have the gifts that we have.” So we need to complement it incredibly and bring in new minds and new ways of thinking.”
She said the winner would be able to “amplify” our human attributes “in an artificial world.”
When she was at Burberry, Ahrendts said, the company created an Innovation Council made up of a group of recent college graduates who brainstormed to come up with innovative ideas. So does her Apple, which used 55,000 store employees to “crowdsource” ideas to keep the company relevant.
“Leadership must evolve,” she said. “And you as a leader must evolve too. The next generation you bring in is already smarter than all the seniors you have. You have to unlock the native, unlock the creative.”
And embrace the future so you don’t get left behind, she added. [Silicon] All Valley doing apps and unique things are derived from AI. And it gets so exponential that if you don’t start now you’ll be far behind in the race. ”
