#26 - What Are Human Leaders Actually For? Johan Roos on AI, Human Magic and the Amplification Curve (Part 1)

As AI takes on more of the work once done by people, a fundamental question is emerging for leaders everywhere: what exactly is your role now?

It's a question I've been wrestling with myself. I've spent years teaching and writing about leadership skills - motivation, situational leadership, delegation, team behaviour - and wondering whether any of it still holds. My guest in this episode has been thinking about it far longer than most.

Johan Roos is a management scholar, co-inventor of the globally adopted LEGO Serious Play methodology, Professor and former Chief Academic Officer at Hult International Business School, and Senior Advisor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum. His new book, Human Magic: Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms (Routledge, 2026), makes the case that the real competitive advantage in an age of AI is deeply, irreducibly human.

In this first of two conversations, we explore:

• How Johan came to write Human Magic - and why the moment matters
• The Amplification Curve vs the Erosion Curve: the daily choice every professional now faces
• Why reaching for a quick AI answer might be quietly costing you more than you think
• How to use AI as a sparring partner rather than a shortcut
• Simple, practical ways to protect your human judgement right now

Part 2 continues in the next episode - subscribe so you don't miss it.

My book - The Time Traveller's Guide to Management - can be bought here.