How AI is Transforming the Manager’s Role – Cécile Dejoux

AI Demystified: Four Technological Building Blocks

Cécile begins by clarifying what artificial intelligence truly is, omnipresent yet often misunderstood. AI is broken down into four distinct technologies:

Visual: facial and object recognition, as in 100% digital stores without cashiers or department managers.

Voice: real-time automatic translation and transcription, enabling automatic meeting minutes.

Robotics: from cobots in Amazon warehouses to reception robots, including RPAs (virtual robots) that automate invoicing.

Knowledge: the most disruptive domain with generative AIs like ChatGPT, which create structured knowledge rather than linear search results.

Three Levels of Impact on Managerial Roles

AI transforms management in three ways:

• Replace: Repetitive tasks disappear (website creation, database management, meeting scheduling). These automations involve routine, learning-based activities.
• Assist: AI becomes a co-pilot for project management and creativity. Beware of the trap: asking ChatGPT the wrong questions generates 50% false information, and conversing too much reveals confidential data.
• Augment: AI enables previously impossible activities. Example: digital twins allow managers to virtually test scenarios, saving time and multiplying possibilities.

Trust and Responsibility: the Two Pillars of the AI Manager

Trust is established through a company charter defining three levels:

Sources: do we accept unsourced proposals? ChatGPT treats the opinion of “Madame Michu” and a scientific publication identically.

Transparency: obligation to mention the use of AI to avoid confusion with human work.

Performance: evaluate hidden costs, especially energy costs, in the face of sustainable development challenges.

Managerial responsibility revolves around three missions: deciding (with more data and speed), motivating (beware of tracking tools that can cause stress), developing talent (thanks to personalized AI recommendations).

Being “AI-compatible”: Four Essential Skills

Cécile identifies four levels of skills to collaborate effectively with AI:

• Mastering the vocabulary and environment: Understanding that we are evolving in a probabilistic world (like weather) and no longer a binary true/false one.
• Identifying biases and pitfalls: Knowing the specific risks of each technology to prevent misuse.
• Learning to control: Knowing how to disconnect a system that goes astray and developing critical thinking in the face of potential manipulation.
• Guiding leadership: AI moves faster than human thought; humans must guide political and contextual decisions that machines cannot integrate.

Centering Skills: Staying Human in an AI World

In the face of technological acceleration, managers must develop centering skills:

Reclaiming power over time, priorities, and attention that AI wants to capture (like social media that keeps us connected).

Developing memory and managing energy to compensate for what technology makes us lose.

Practicing CARE management: self-care (taking care of oneself), team-care (taking care of one’s team), planet-care (taking care of the planet).

Working with AI Professions

Managers must learn to collaborate with new professions: data engineers, data scientists, UX designers. This collaboration requires understanding their mental models, vocabulary, and risks to ask the right questions.

The goal: to create optimized solutions through co-construction rather than enduring imposed tools without training or support.

In a nutshell…

Here are the three major lessons to remember from this Masterclass with Cécile Dejoux:

• Develop a balanced approach: Being “AI-compatible” while strengthening centering skills to remain human.

• Establish clear governance: Create an AI usage charter based on trust (sources, transparency, performance) and managerial responsibility.

• Cultivate critical thinking: In a probabilistic world, maintaining one’s discernment capacity in the face of fake news and manipulation becomes crucial.

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• “AI cannot substitute managers.” – an exclusive expert interview