Yet personal productivity is not the real measure of progress. What matters most is how well teams perform together. Individual AI gains only create business impact when they align with team goals and that requires greater transparency, alignment, and accountability.
At Nokia, we ensure that everyone has clear, measurable goals that support their teams’ objectives. Leaders need to be open about their goals to their managers and to their reports. And everyone means everyone. Me included. That way goals are not only about recognition and reward. They become an ongoing dialogue between leaders and their teams. It’s how we’re building a continuous learning culture that thrives on feedback and agility, both essential in the AI era.
AI’s true power lies in augmenting human skills. Every role has a core purpose – whether in strategy, creativity, or technical problem-solving – and AI helps people focus on that.
The same pattern applies inside companies. Some of the routine tasks given to new hires are drudge work and not a learning experience. AI gives us a chance to rethink the onboarding, training, and career development process.
Take an early-career engineer. Onboarding can be a slow process of documentation and waiting for reviews. AI can act as an always-on coach that gives quick guidance and helps people ramp up. Mentors then spend less time on the basics and more time helping engineers solve real problems. Engineers can also have smart agents testing their designs, ideas, and simulating potential outcomes. In this way, AI strengthens, rather than substitutes, the human connection between junior engineers and their mentors and helps unlock potential faster.
At Nokia, our Technology and AI Organization is designed to strengthen innovation capabilities, encourage entrepreneurial thinking, and give teams the support to turn ideas into real outcomes.
Sporting analogies are often overused in business as the two worlds don’t perfectly align, yet the evolution of leadership in elite football offers useful lessons. Traditionally, managers oversaw everything on and off the pitch. Today, head coaches focus on building the right team and culture to win.
Luis Enrique, the manager of Paris-St. Germain football club, last season’s UEFA Champion’s League winner, exemplifies this shift. He transformed a team of stars into a star team, while also evolving his coaching style, elevating both individual and collective potential.
Of course, CEOs must switch between both roles (as I said, the worlds don’t perfectly align) – setting vision and strategy while also cultivating the right team and culture to succeed. AI can help leaders do both with more focus. It gives us quicker insight into what is working, what is not, and where teams need support.
I have been testing these tools with my own leadership team. We are using generative AI to help us evaluate our decisions and to understand how we work together. It has revealed patterns we might have missed, and it has helped us get to the real issues faster. It does not replace judgment or experience. It supports them.
Yet the core of leadership does not change. AI cannot build trust. It cannot set expectations. It cannot create a culture that learns, improves, and takes responsibility. That still comes from people. And in a world shaped by AI, the leaders who succeed will be the ones who coach, who listen, and who help teams move faster with confidence.
Nokia’s technology connects intelligence around the world. Inside the company, connecting intelligence is about how people work together. It means giving teams the tools, support and culture they need to grow and perform with confidence. Connecting intelligence is how teams win.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
