AI Is Becoming a Leadership Tool for Young Managers
Younger leaders are striving to use this technology to enhance their management chops and make a bigger impact on their companies.
BY SARAH LYNCH
Young managers aren’t just using AI to boost efficiency — they see it as a tool to become better leaders. A new report from Google Workspace, conducted by the Harris Poll, surveyed more than 1,000 “knowledge workers ages 22 to 39 who are employed or self-employed full time and currently hold or aspire to hold a leadership position.” Of these workers, 86 percent believe that AI “can help current leaders become better managers,” per the report, and 79 percent are interested in using it to become a better manager themselves.
How, specifically? Forty-seven percent say the technology can “enhance communication to improve problem solving and facilitate better relationships,” and half say it can give them more time for “strategic work” so they can make a bigger impact at the company.
It’s clear, then, that younger workers aren’t just leveraging AI to get work done faster, said Yulie Kwon Kim, vice president of product at Google Workspace, in a press release. They see the technology as “a catalyst to help grow their careers,” Kwon Kim says.
This is notable, as younger workers — including Gen-Zers — are moving into more and more manager roles. In 2023, employers “promoted Gen-Z workers into management 1.2 times faster” than they did in 2019, according to a recent report from the ADP Research Institute.
The impacts of these younger managers’ AI-powered approach to leadership could therefore be widespread, Kristina Behr, VP of product management for collaboration apps at Google Workspace, told Inc. over email, “as their workforces can spend more time on more strategic, higher-value tasks.”
And yet, many younger workers are reluctant to make the leap into management, as Inc. previously reported. According to recent data from Robert Walters, a global recruitment company, 57 percent of Gen-Z workers reported disinterest in becoming middle managers, roles that many of them deemed “high stress with low reward.”
Perhaps that’s why younger workers seem eager to use new tools to strive to make management more accessible and effective. “Rising leaders are not only advocating for AI—they’re deploying this technology in meaningful ways,” Kwon Kim said, adding: “The future of work is here—and it’s AI-powered.”
Photo: Getty Images.
