How To Avoid Losing Your Job To AI

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• AI Expert, Dr. MUSTBE .C. HART Explains

The conversation about artificial intelligence is no longer centred on whether it will change the workplace. The real question now is who will adapt quickly enough to thrive alongside it.

Addressing these realities, Dr. Mustbe C. Hart, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ventry Consultants, delivered a presentation titled “Leading And Thriving In The Age Of AI: Preparing For The Future Of Work” at a seminar organised by The Great Men of The Family Fellowship.

During the session, he challenged participants to see AI not as a replacement for human potential but as a tool that every leader and professional must learn to leverage. He also highlighted the mindset, leadership qualities, and practical skills needed to remain relevant in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Below are some insights from his presentation:

I’ll say this. You guys are lucky to have AI now. When I started my education, I had my first degree in Computer Science. Instead of programming with BASIC, Control C, C++, and languages like Java, now AI is based on natural language. No one has an excuse. If you can read, and you can write.. evenIf you can’t write, you can speak to your AI chatbox. It’s a natural language. Of course, it can also take mathematical languages and all kinds of languages. It also has the ability and accountability to achieve goals.

So leadership is important. Leadership has a vision. If you don’t have a vision, it becomes difficult. Vision is very important.

So we just saw a video. It was done by AI. What I’m able to do in artificial intelligence is based on what you call cognitive learning. You actually have to send prompts to the AI model and ask it to do what you want it to do. I was able to prompt what I wanted using my picture and achieve the results I wanted.

First of all, human intelligence is the ability to participate, the ability to communicate, and the ability to solve complex problems. That’s why we’re able to use human neurons to produce artificial neural intelligence from natural intelligence.

The human brain is divided into two major areas. So, the neural brain… like when you pick up a picture of a person and process it. The response of a person is an executor that helps us balance between logical thinking, which is the left part of our brain, and the emotional part of our brain, which is the right part. The ability to balance these two parts is important. Sometimes we are too emotional and lack logic. Sometimes we are too logical and not emotional. Balancing these two together is important, and this is one of the things AI has come to support, though not completely, because AI doesn’t have emotions.

Researchers are working hard to train AI models to understand emotions. There’s something called conceptual analysis and data mining, where AI reads data through code, synchronizes information, combines data, predicts how people feel, understands how communities are doing, and much more.

In non-linear situations, there’s constant change. It’s important that we understand the times. If you don’t adapt, you’ll be left behind. So, if you’re a first-generation leader, you need to prepare for tomorrow by using AI.

Now, when we talk about digital leadership, it is the ability to lead organisations effectively in this age. It begins with strategic thinking. We started by talking about A leader. A leader has to be strategic. What is strategy? It is a long-term plan.

Most young leaders today don’t believe in delayed gratification. They want results immediately. That’s not being strategic. We need to learn to look at the bigger picture, balancing short-term goals with long-term plans. Strategy is tied to long-term thinking.

We need strategic-thinking leaders. Where do I want to be? Vision requires strategic thinking. We must also consider cultural adaptation. For example, the audience here includes different generations—baby boomers, millennials, and younger generations. We need to understand that there are cultural differences and conflicts between these generations.

Working effectively with baby boomers requires understanding certain things. Likewise, baby boomers also need to understand how to work with millennials and younger generations to gain skills such as IT and AI. Sometimes they feel discouraged. Many baby boomers tell me they think it’s impossible, but I’d like to change that mindset today. We need to embrace technology because it’s now part of life.

That’s cultural adaptation, we need to adapt and empower people. Leaders don’t work alone; they work with people. Emotional intelligence is about managing yourself and managing others. Leaders need to empower people through strategic thinking. You need to think like a leader to survive because leaders anticipate change, understand demographics, and manage conflict. You need people by your side.

Transformational leadership is about leading digital transformation. You need to set a clear vision because without a clear vision, people won’t know where they’re going. Clarity is essential when building a mission. Even if things aren’t perfectly clear at the beginning, clarity helps everyone move in the same direction.

People also need capability. If people don’t train themselves, they’re missing out because there are countless learning materials available online. You can upskill and also unlearn. One of the biggest challenges facing 21st-century leaders, especially those from older generations, is learning how to unlearn before they relearn. We must learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Unlearning is often the hardest part because it’s difficult to let go of what has worked for you in the past. When you enter a new era, there’s always the temptation to return to old ways. That’s why unlearning must become part of digital leadership.

Leadership also requires continuous improvement. You must keep improving from where you stopped because growth never stops.

The new leadership mandate includes decision-making. I always say the quality of the results you want is determined by the quality of the decisions you make. In this age of technology, we can’t make decisions carelessly. We have tools such as data analysis that provide insights for better decision-making.

I once studied a course in England called Decision Support Systems. It’s executive software that helps CEOs analyse data and make informed decisions. This existed even before AI became popular. The quality of your results depends on the quality of your decisions. We must balance logic and emotion, and now AI makes that process easier.

Decision-making is very people-centred. Ethical stewardship is also important. There must be regulations and standards governing the digital environment. Ethics define what should and shouldn’t be done within digital leadership.

governance is equally important. Technology alone doesn’t drive transformation. We need governance and proper frameworks.

I’d like to talk to you about the human dimension of leadership. Our sister here spoke about empathy, which is one of the most important qualities of human intelligence. Computers don’t naturally possess empathy. AI requires continuous training before it can support certain decisions, but the human element remains essential.

What makes people unique? When you meet someone like our leader here, you naturally like him. He has Persona. You can see it in the way he carries himself. He has social capability. You’re not afraid to approach him because he’s approachable. One of the key elements of leadership is being flexible and approachable.

These are the human aspects of leadership. We’ve talked about vision, trust, time, ethics, adaptation, and resilience. We must learn to lead through uncertainty and change.

These are difficult times. Let’s not pretend otherwise. But this is the time to build resilience, withstand pressure, and keep moving forward. It’s also a time to take advantage of collaborative opportunities. This is a collaborative platform where you can network and build relationships.

I visited San Francisco and Meta in Silicon Valley to understand how their corporate culture works and to build networks. You need to build strong AI knowledge. You need platforms that help you network. You need to be in the right places and invest in your skills.

Leading human-AI collaboration means understanding what AI brings. AI provides speed in data processing. You can ask AI to perform calculations that humans would struggle to complete at the same speed.

AI also recognises patterns across large datasets. It can predict outcomes. We have predictive AI and generative AI. AI is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While humans need rest, technology remains available.

AI also supports predictive and prescriptive analysis. It automates repetitive tasks.

Humans, on the other hand, bring creative problem-solving and innovation. Of all these qualities, this is one I strongly agree with. Humans contribute emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, and creativity.

Creative problem-solving and innovation are like two sides of the same coin. Creative problem-solving uses the logical part of the brain and relies on explicit knowledge. Innovation comes from applying ideas to solve real-life problems and being inspired to create solutions.

There are inventors, disruptive technologies, and AI technologies. You must continue learning and reading because information keeps changing.

According to McKinsey, 72% of employees say their leaders’ attitudes toward technology directly shape their own beliefs. Leaders influence how employees embrace AI. In the past, AI was difficult because it required programming and learning many coding languages. Today, AI uses natural language. You can write to it or simply speak to it.

As leaders become more comfortable with AI, employees also become more willing to adopt it and improve their work. Organisations that embrace this see significantly higher engagement.

In many organisations, one of the challenges is the relationship between older and younger employees. Because of fear of the unknown, some experienced workers refuse to transfer knowledge to younger colleagues because they fear losing their jobs. That’s organisational politics.

I’ve experienced it myself. I had to become a very social person to learn from others. If people don’t want to share knowledge with you, you’ll simply have to do your own research.