AI can generate answers: Leaders still need judgement

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JEREMY MAGGS: Artificial intelligence [AI] is changing not only how businesses operate, but what leaders are expected to know. As AI and automation take over more technical work, business schools are being forced to rethink whether the traditional MBA [Master of Business Administration] still prepares executives for the world they are entering now.

Gibs, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, says the modern MBA needs to put greater emphasis on judgment, on ethics, adaptability and decision making in complexity, alongside technological fluency.

In this conversation, I’m joined now by Professor Manoj Chiba, who is MBA director at Gibs. Manoj, welcome to you. What’s the thesis of the argument here? Is AI making the traditional MBA outdated?

MANOJ CHIBA: Jeremy, thanks. I think this is a very interesting question that’s being debated locally, regionally, continentally and globally. The reality is the answer is no. Let me start there.

When we think about the MBA, we think about emerging technologies. We think about what does the future of the world look like? Technology has always been at the underpinning of it. The reality of what it has changed is the shape of work.

When I say shape, Jeremy, what type of work do senior managers, executives, future businesses need to look at? What does the future of countries look like in an AI automated world?

The reality is we’ve still got a lot to navigate.

I think a key piece of this is how do we need it, number one. Number two, how do we put the guardrails around it? Number three, what does that shape and change really look like when we think about jobs, when we think about business models and so on.

Gibs technology has always been underpinning this even before AI. That’s the reality. All of our MBA courses have always had an underpinning of technology.

We recognised very early on that a CIO [chief information officer] coming out with an MBA and taking up the position of a CIO, needed a depth of understanding of what role does technology play in a business, and what does it mean to lead in a technologically-driven world. Over the last decade, that has changed.

I’m a huge AI fan, Jeremy, let me put that out there, and I’ve got a depth of experience in it. Is it going to replace humans? The unfortunate answer is no.

Why do I say unfortunate? I think there’s been a narrative around it. How do you govern this thing, Jeremy? A few years ago, when we were doing the elections, I was asked to sit on a panel and I said, how do you govern technology? Well, you don’t govern the technology. You govern the developers of the technology. What does that mean? How do we still take ethics into consideration?

The reality of the matter is we’re always going to be behind the curve. Regulation is going to be behind the curve. Let’s not forget about South Africa’s own AI policy that was generated by AI.

But we must understand what it can do and what he can’t do. I think the key takeaway here for me, Jeremy, is very simple. How do we make sure that the future shape of the way our jobs will look like, our organisations, is relevant.

So that’s what we’re doing. We are equipping leaders to understand it, not technically; the technology will change.

What we’re doing is how do you govern something that you don’t fully understand yet, and very few people fully understand it, and that’s the reality, Jeremy.

JEREMY MAGGS: You use the word govern, I guess, judgment, and that obviously becomes more important as the technology improves. But here’s my question, can judgment actually be taught in a classroom?

MANOJ CHIBA: One hundred percent, I think it can be. If you spend time just reading these outputs, they sound extremely elegant. They sound extremely well put together, they sound knowledgeable and so on.

But the critical thinking and problem-solving skills – and let’s just think about the critical thinking skills here: the moment you read anything generated by an AI, you know it sounds good, but actually, Jeremy, at the core of it, no matter how good the models become, is hogwash.

I think what we’ve got to be careful about here is that it can fool a lot of people, but we’ve got to teach the ability to say, how do you know when something has been generated [by AI] or not?

Gibs, let’s be clear, Jeremy, we’ve decided to work with the technology, not against the technology.

On all our programmes, depending on the type of module, we’d rather focus on the core skills that make us human. How do you lead properly? When we say use it, how do you use it ethically? What are the boundaries of using it? As the technology improves, obviously we’ll change that as well.

I think, Jeremy, what we often forget to say out there in the public is Gibs – I’ll never forget in 2022, when ChatGPT launched, the dean phoned me and said to me, Chiba, what do we do?

And I said to him, boss, the most important thing we can do is actually embrace it, otherwise it just goes underground.

In January 2023, we had a policy and a policy that we keep updating. I think this year alone we’ve updated our AI usage policy. I think we should be able to be clear – how do we use it?

Let me ask you this, Jeremy, which is an important piece, the value of AI is what? The fact that we can get become more productive, more efficient. That’s great, but that’s not value.

Value is what do you do with the additional time that you’ve managed to save because you’ve got an assistant called artificial intelligence that helps you. So what are you actually doing with that additional time?

That’s what we’re unlocking; is what does that actually allow you to do as a knowledge worker, in a premium position in leadership, executive leadership and so on, around that?

And then how do you bring your people along with you?

Jeremy, we’re forgetting one thing, I think, is AI literacy still has to become a core component, like digital literacy.

I think sometimes we have this fallacy that it’s an endpoint. This is a continuous journey with no endpoint. So how do we build that resilience into our individuals from a technological perspective is critical. And how do we embrace it? Jeremy, we have to embrace it. If we are going to catch up to the world, we have to embrace it.

My personal view, because I’ve been very fortunate, Jeremy, I’ve been to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe this year, and in South Africa, the way we’re using it, our executives seem to be at least, I’m going to call it 100 metres ahead, Jeremy.

This is an honest view, which I think is interesting.

JEREMY MAGGS: Let me ask you this then. South Africa, I don’t need to tell you or anyone else, offers an unusually volatile business environment. Do you think, given what you’ve just built on, that’s an advantage when training leaders, rather than an obstacle to doing business?

MANOJ CHIBA: Jeremy, show me stability in the world right now.

JEREMY MAGGS: Yeah, good point.

MANOJ CHIBA: That’s the reality. I do quite a bit of work in the Middle East, and we can see what’s happened and it doesn’t seem to be stopping. So I think it’s an advantage.

How do you deal with volatility? I was actually reflecting on this a few times this year. We often talk about the ‘Vuca’ [volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity] world, and Jeremy, you and I, as South Africans, as Africans, we are used to it.

It takes me back to the load shedding days. Do you remember those days, Jeremy? If it’s load shedding, we know how to make a plan. So I think we’ve built an inherent resilience.

I’m not saying it’s the right thing, let’s just be clear. But I think we’ve built an inherent resilience which allows us to operate in hyper complex, hyper uncertain worlds.

Will the world become stable? I’m sure there will be some sort of stability, but I think the instability will remain in some shape or form, whether it’s driven by wars, whether it’s driven by technological disruptions.

So I think actually, as Africans, we’ve got a huge advantage, to be honest with you.

It’s not the thesis that business operates on, let’s just be clear. But here our advantage is that if you put a leader from the African continent into any of the other countries where there is hyper volatility, they know how to navigate it. It’s part of our DNA. I want to use the Rassie [Erasmus] word, but it’s our DNA.

JEREMY MAGGS: And that’s where I am going to leave it. What a fascinating conversation. Professor Manoj Chiba, MBA director at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Brought to you by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs).

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