The Future of Work Is Human: Insights From Workday and Deloitte Leaders

In this article we discuss:

• The Evolving Definition of Leadership

• Cultivating Human Potential in an AI-Driven World

• The Ethical Imperative: Leading with Responsibility

• Looking Ahead: Predictions for the Future of Work with AI

You can listen to this episode as audio only on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence are reshaping the modern workplace, prompting essential conversations about the future of human potential. Far from being a threat, AI, when approached thoughtfully, can become a powerful partner in making work more human and impactful.

Workday CMO Emma Chalwin and Jannine Zucker, Deloitte's global Workday practice leader and Chief Commercial Officer, explore the evolving landscape of AI, its transformative role in the future of work, and its ability to empower people and support their growth potential while performing their roles with greater efficiency, speed, and clarity.

The Evolving Definition of Leadership

The discussion began with a look back at how technology has shifted the way work is done. Zucker recalled her early career from using transparency sheets on a projector to now when "you feed in the information and it generates itself."

Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report explores how this affects leadership during the evolution into an AI-supported world. It analyzes the human factor in a boundaryless world while addressing the necessity of bridging the knowing-doing gap. From Zucker's perspective, leaders today not only need to be "curious and continuously learning", but they also have the responsibility to create that environment for their workforce. She highlighted a significant metric: 49% of the workforce fear that their capabilities are going to be outdated if they're not working with AI right now.

And it's not just in the professional world, the potential for AI to be leveraged more in personal lives is huge. As Chalwin states, "If we can leverage the power of technology and AI to amplify human potential, the opportunities are endless."

Key ways leadership styles need to evolve in an AI-driven environment include recognizing and navigating the various tensions right now in the workplace. People are energized by learning AI capabilities but also nervous about what this will mean for their business. There's a desire for more personalization, balanced with concerns about the ethics and risks around it. Leaders must understand these tensions to build capabilities for both human and AI workforces, empowering them to embrace AI without fear of bias or data risk. Data trust is crucial to business success.

Key takeaways for evolving leadership in an AI-driven world:

• Curiosity and Continuous Learning: Leaders must embody and foster these traits within their teams.

• Navigating Tensions: Acknowledge and manage the fear and excitement surrounding AI integration.

• Balancing Personalization and Privacy: Address ethical considerations, risk, and data privacy when implementing AI

• Building Trust in Data: Emphasize and ensure the reliability and ethical use of data

49% of the workforce fear that their capabilities are going to be outdated if they're not working with AI right now.

Cultivating Human Potential with AI

The two also discussed cultivating human potential in the AI era, as highlighted by the Deloitte report, which emphasizes the importance of sparking uniquely human capabilities, like curiosity and imagination. While AI can do many things, Chalwin acknowledges, "it can't replace, especially as a leader, that collaboration with your team, ethical decision making, creativity and strategic thinking." But what it can do is free up time from more manual tasks, allowing people to focus on more impactful work.

When asked about shifting focus from traditional training to creating opportunities for adaptation and innovation, Zucker emphasized the value of determining the balance of empowering people and giving them time and access to new capabilities to develop new skills. She noted, "People need to feel comfortable with trying things." This requires helping the workforce understand how to make decisions, be creative, and trust the integrity of the tools and data.

"It's important to get comfortable getting it wrong at first. Iteration is key with AI,", Zucker says. "We're all on a path of continuous learning." She remembers leadership development class where participants were encouraged to "try it, and try it again" with AI tools. This environment fosters understanding and challenges individuals to apply AI in their daily work, enabling the workforce to evolve and continually bolster skills.

Chalwin points out that the workforce dynamics are constantly changing, with a mix of human and machine collaboration altering each leader's role. Leaders must ensure that they have the right people focusing on the right things and leveraging the power of technology to do some, but not all of the work.

Zucker pointed out that while some jobs may change, new jobs, such as AI product engineers and data scientists, will continue to emerge. Skills that once lasted seven years now evolve much faster-from three years to six months -necessitating agility. The continuous feeding of information to AI agents will make them smarter, enabling recommendations and tasks, while humans focus on decision-making, negotiation, and influence. That trusted advisor role is increasingly important. And demonstrating the impact AI technology can have in driving valuable business outcomes is critical.

It's not about machines doing our jobs for us, but rather, machines helping us do our jobs better.

The Ethical Imperative: Leading with Responsibility

The ethical imperative of leading responsibly in the age of AI was also a thought-provoking focus. Data acumen has been "the number one topic", according to Zucker. And she emphasized the need to find answers on how we should use the data, and how much trust we have in it. Clean data is essential, and this need for trust and understanding of data privacy laws and global policies is imperative as organizations shift and roles change.

Predictions for the Future of Work with AI

Looking into the future, Zucker is excited by the AI possibilities. "I want to continue learning. I feel like if I'm not learning every day, I get bored." The excitement around continuous learning and the willingness to try new things, even if they fail, is crucial.

• Zucker predicted roles will continue to adapt with growing AI innovation. With this shift, uniquely human skills like empathy, decision-making, and influence will come to the forefront,

For Zucker, this is about "sparking progress with AI" and enabling companies to take advantage of all of the innovation that's coming. She believes the companies that will continue to thrive are those that continuously focus on the investments that they're making in their people, technology, and innovation.

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