Nitin Nohria: AI brings another decentralizing moment

Nohria's view is grounded in observation rather than speculation. He spent a decade as dean of Harvard Business School and taught his first workshop for new CEOs there in 1997, and he rejects the idea that today's technological and geopolitical upheavals have changed what companies need from their leaders. The demands of the job have been "more constant than different," he says. That historical perspective shapes his argument that AI is a familiar kind of event — a pendulum swing — rather than a rupture.

As chairman of Thrive Capital, he applies a teacher's method: asking the right questions rather than claiming the right answers. He worked with the leadership team through Thrive's discussions with FIFA, and he points to Josh Kushner's willingness to acknowledge that things had not worked out as hoped and move forward. That same discipline, he argues, is what CEOs need most when adopting AI.

The stake is whether companies can absorb a genuine restructuring of power without letting friction stall adoption. Nohria is not sure AI makes the CEO less powerful — but he thinks the corporate infrastructure that leaders have usually surrounded themselves with will feel more threatened. Meanwhile, his own research finds that CEOs already spend 30% of their time with their top management team and less than 5% with the front lines; the decentralization he forecasts may depend on whether leaders can stay connected to reality long enough to guide it.