In an article for Duke Corporate Education, Dr. Sharmla Chetty and UNU Rector Tshilidzi Marwala discuss "the need for a new kind of leadership, where executives understand AI’s capabilities, mitigate its risks and integrate it ethically into organizational strategy."
"Humans bring creativity, ethics and emotional intelligence, while AI offers precision, efficiency and automation. The challenge is not whether AI should be adopted, but how leaders can bridge the gap between human and machine intelligence to drive innovation, productivity and ethical decisions."
The authors point to Gartner research predicting that by 2026, "75% of organizations will shift from AI pilot projects to full-scale AI operations — and research shows that the companies achieving the highest ROI from AI are those that emphasize human-AI collaboration. Leaders must proactively prepare for this transformation — and executive education must urgently evolve too."
The article then outlines eight key areas for leaders to focus on as they develop hybrid skillsets, such as AI literacy, ethical governance and fostering collaboration between humans and AI.
To read the full article, visit the Duke Corporate Education website.
Suggested citation: Sharmla Chetty, Marwala Tshilidzi. "The Hybrid Imperative," United Nations University, UNU Centre, 2025-04-07, https://unu.edu/article/hybrid-imperative.
