AI in the workforce: What today’s leaders need to get right
AI is transforming the workforce at a pace comparable to the internet or the smartphone.Â
In our recent Future Leaders Session, our panel of industry experts opened up about the lessons, tools, and proven approaches that are helping them navigate this shift in the regulatory and medtech space.
This guide pulls those insights together and translates them into actions you can apply with your own team.
Stop fearing replacement
The fear that AI will render human jobs obsolete is natural, but often misplaced. As panelist Maarten ter Mors noted, “the dishwasher did not replace the husband.” Just because a machine can now automate specific “dishwashing” tasks, it doesn’t mean the entire role disappears.
In practice, this means distinguishing between tasks and jobs. AI replaces the loom, not the weaver. The leaders who succeed will be those who stop worrying about being replaced and start focusing on how to use these new tools to out-compete those who refuse to adapt.
Prioritise context over technical execution
As AI becomes capable of executing complex technical tasks, like building intricate Excel formulas or drafting code, technical execution is fast becoming a commodity. The true value of a human professional is shifting toward context.
Leaders need to recognise that while AI can build the formula, it cannot understand the organisational strategy or the desired outcome. The future belongs to those who can explain why a task needs to be done and where the information fits into the bigger picture. Context is the new currency.
Treat AI as a "junior colleague"
The role of the Subject Matter Expert (SME) is evolving from creator to validator. View AI as a “junior colleague” or an intern – it can do the heavy lifting and groundwork, but it requires a senior expert to check the output for accuracy and compliance.
This shift allows experts to leverage their knowledge across a much larger volume of work. Instead of spending days creating a document, an expert can spend hours validating the work of an AI agent, significantly increasing productivity without sacrificing quality.
Learn by doing, not just studying
Where do you learn AI? The same way you learn to play the piano – practice, practice, practice. Unlike traditional skills that can be learned in a classroom, AI evolves too quickly for static curriculums.
Encourage your teams to find immediate, practical use cases in their daily work. Whether it is using NotebookLM to summarise large regulatory files into a podcast or using “vibe coding” to build simple software tools using natural language, the best way to learn is to start building.
Hire for curiosity and adaptability
When building teams for the future, prioritise experience and adaptability over static certifications. While certificates remain necessary for certain regulatory baselines, they do not predict how well a candidate will navigate a shifting technological landscape.
Look for “transverse skills” like curiosity and critical thinking. Use practical assessments that test a candidate’s ability to think on their feet or solve problems using available tools. The most valuable employees will be those who combine their core expertise with the curiosity to augment themselves with new tools.
Prepare to manage a "fleet of agents"
Looking ahead, the nature of our daily work will shift from individual contribution to orchestration. In the near future, professionals will act as project managers for their own “fleet of AI agents” that run background tasks continuously.
This means the ability to delegate, review, and integrate the work of multiple AI agents will become a critical skill. Start preparing your teams now by encouraging them to automate small, repetitive tasks, freeing them up to focus on high-value strategy and innovation.
Final thoughts
Mastering AI isn’t about becoming a coder or a data scientist. It is about understanding that while tasks may be automated, judgment, relationship building, and strategic oversight remain uniquely human.
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The goal is not to preserve the old way of working, but to augment your natural expertise with tools that make you faster, smarter, and more effective.
Our next Future Leaders Session is called Building Quiet Authority and will be focusing on how to turn your expertise into influence, without the hard sell. Want to join our next session? Click here, and we’ll let you know the details shortly.
Host: Elena Kyria, CEO & Founder, elemed
Panelists:
Erik Vollebregt (Partner, Axon Lawyers & Co-founder, Raiana)
Maarten ter Mors (CEO, Raiana)Maarten ter Mors (CEO, Raiana)
Ahmed Salah (Consulting Director, elemed)
