I often get asked what it means to lead in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), writes Lee Naik, CEO of TransUnion Africa.
My answer is this: it feels both fascinating and unsettling at the same time.
Fascinating, because suddenly we have tools like ChatGPT or Copilot that can do in minutes what once took weeks, writing reports, analysing markets, drafting strategies. Unsettling, because it forces each of us to ask: if the machine can do all of that, what’s left for me?
That tension between awe and anxiety is where leadership now lives. My job is not just to run a business that’s more than 125 years old, serving 70 000 businesses and 43-million consumers in South Africa. My job is also to help people see beyond the mysticism of AI and start choosing how to lead in this new world.
It’s a message I emphasised at the recent Leaderex Conference, where I delivered a keynote on Leadership in the Age of AI. The conversation is no longer about whether AI will change leadership, but how leaders themselves choose to remain relevant as it does.
And the first thing to understand is this: AI is not tomorrow. It is already here.
The 47% and the 53%
In 2013, Oxford researchers estimated that nearly half of all jobs could be at risk of automation by 2030. That figure isn’t just theoretical; it carries profound implications for every profession. The real question each of us must ask is: am I among the 47% of roles most vulnerable to automation, or the 53% where uniquely human skills remain essential?
In my own organisation, many roles have been reshaped over the past nine years. Tasks that were once manual or repetitive are now automated, and our people have been redeployed and upskilled into areas where they can add more value, roles that demand judgment, empathy, and creativity.
That’s the real divide. Technology takes over repetitive and transactional work. Humans remain essential for the thing’s machines cannot do:
- Creativity: imagining new possibilities.
- Orchestration: combining people, systems, and ideas into something greater.
- Social intelligence: building trust, relationships, and empathy.
These are not “soft skills.” They are the skills of the future.
The new leadership currency
Whenever technology advances, the question people ask is: can we trust it?
Trust has become the new leadership currency. It determines whether people will embrace the systems we build or reject them.
Take credit scoring. Millions of South Africans’ hopes of owning a home, starting a business, or funding education rise and fall on an algorithm. The decision may be right, but if it is not explainable, it will never be trusted.
That’s why transparency matters. As leaders, our role is not only to harness AI but to humanise it, to make sure people understand the “why” behind the “what.”
Without trust, even the best technology fails. With trust, technology can unlock opportunity at scale.
From competitor to partner
There’s a misconception that technology exists to replace us. But my own experience has shown me that AI can be a powerful co-worker.
When I worked at Accenture years ago, building a market entry strategy for a client could take four weeks of analysis and cost over a million dollars. Recently, I built a similar strategy for African expansion in just three hours, not because AI did the work for me, but because it partnered with me. I asked the questions, tested the assumptions, and validated the findings.
That’s the point: the human leader is still the only one who can decide whether the answer makes sense. AI can do heavy lifting, but it needs human courage and judgment to turn outputs into strategy.
So, the real leadership question isn’t “will technology take my job?” It’s “how do I move up the value chain, from ingredient to recipe, from executor to orchestrator?”
Anchoring in purpose
Skills alone aren’t enough. Relevance without purpose risks becoming transactional.
The reason I chose to lead TransUnion Africa is because I believe in solving a bigger problem: Financial Inclusion. Today, there are 500 million Africans1 excluded from the financial system. Sixteen million1 of them are here in South Africa.
With the right use of data and technology, we’ve already identified 2-million people who were previously invisible to banks but who can now access credit simply through mobile phone data. That’s the power of technology when it’s directed at human challenges.
Purpose is what keeps us grounded. It’s what makes us wake up every day with optimism despite South Africa’s tough realities: the highest unemployment rate in our region, one of the slowest growth rates, and the highest inequality in the world. Purpose reminds us that we’re not just working for revenue and profit, we’re working to move the needle for society.
My message to leaders
So, what does it mean to lead in the age of AI? For me, it comes down to three things:
- Relevance is a choice. Decide today whether you will be in the 47% or the 53%. Choose to move up the value chain, to become the recipe maker, not just an ingredient.
- Trust is the new currency. Without it, technology is meaningless. With it, technology can transform economies.
- Purpose is your anchor. Without purpose, leadership loses its meaning. With it, you can harness technology for genuine impact.
Africa is the youngest continent in the world. That means our workforce will be the largest on the planet within a generation. The choice we face is whether to equip this generation to thrive alongside AI or to let them be left behind.
AI is here. It’s not hype, it’s not mystical, it’s not tomorrow. It’s today. And the leaders who will matter most are those who choose relevance, build trust, and lead with purpose.