# More from Sophie: leadership in an AI world

- **Episode:** [192](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/192.md) (2025-04-29)
- **Type:** news-roundup
- **Tags:** ai, leadership, future-of-work
- **Time:** 28:30–31:37 (start 1710s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/192?t=1710](https://truthliesandwork.com/192?t=1710)

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[28:30] Leanne Elliott: That is a fantastic Sophie Wade. I will leave a link back to an episode that she did right in the early days of the podcast and shared some wisdom there, and probably some predictions that have now come true. The key thing is, you know, Gen Z have grown up in a completely different way in terms of the world of work. Their expectations have been just shattered and crushed in, and not even Formed. You know, it is— work is more flexible, it is more technology-led, it is less hierarchical. So it's not necessarily about a poor work ethic, it's about workplaces being slow to adapt. If you're a tech native, you're not going to tolerate an organization who has clunky tech that slows them down. That is going to make them frustrated and make them appear entitled. The fact is you need to invest in in these things, not only for your business, not only to attract the best talent, um, but also to have a chance of surviving in a world of AI. And let's not forget about MAP, who were on episode 127, who have built an entire organization by just recruiting Gen Z
[29:36] Al Elliott: Yeah, definitely go and listen to that episode, 127. I think you'll, you'll really like it. This is, this is your bag. The other thing which I think was quite interesting and we need to consider as managers or business owners is that we're no longer the source of power in, in terms of information. Like, in terms of thinking or actual data or whatever, AI can make a junior employee just as good as us because they can have access to the same information. They can plonk the same information into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever and come up with the same strategies that we would've come up with. Because, Alex, we've kind of shot ourselves in the foot because my generation has been writing online to become thought leaders. So we've basically put all our thinking out there, which AI has consumed
[30:14] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[30:15] Al Elliott: Like me at a buffet, all-you-can-eat buffet, consumed it all. And so now they know how to think like us. So this does break down like the hierarchy. No longer it's like seniority or title. It's just you need to basically earn your place as a leader with influence, like we talked about before, trust, collaboration, and of course, recognition
[30:32] Leanne Elliott: Yes. And I think this is the key now. If leadership isn't about holding the knowledge, then it is about the relationship building. It's about the listening. It's about the flexibility. It's all those really essential parts of good management that have been overlooked For so long, and I want to shift from soft skills to core skills because I think it's just fundamental human-led leadership in an AI world. It's the only thing that makes sense to me. And I think as well, what managers are going to be grateful. Yes, AI has the information. We still need somebody who's going to help us connect the dots, and that's going to come from somebody who has experience, who has emotional intelligence, who understands the strategy that is needed in the organisation and what what needs to be achieved. So I think yeah, this leading with empathy and adapting to the individual, as we've talked about again with recognition, isn't just going to be. good for Gen Z, it's going to be good for everybody. All of us are in no doubt that work isn't what it used to be, and pretending otherwise ain't gonna help. Um, and actually, Sophie put it really nicely. Um, she said, we're not waiting for the future to happen, we're already living it
[31:32] Al Elliott: That woman can talk. She's got some lovely, uh, lovely turns of phrase