Think First, Prompt Second: CEMS explores what will define next-level leadership in the AI era

As AI reshapes work at extraordinary speed, CEMS set out to answer a central question: what will truly set future leaders apart? To do so, we conducted a new series of in-depth interviews with experts from across our global alliance - senior executives from multinational corporate partners, professors from leading business schools, and CEMS alumni working at the forefront of digital transformation.

A collective inquiry across the CEMS community

This report builds on previous research with CEMS corporate partners that identified the leadership skills needed for 2030 and beyond.

With this edition, we went deeper:

• examining how GenAI is changing roles, expectations, and human capability
• exploring the risk of cognitive offloading
• and understanding what digital fluency really means when AI is everywhere.

The result is a cross-sector, cross-border perspective that only a community like CEMS can provide.

Key themes emerging from the interviews

Contributors share a clear message: AI should be treated as a copilot, not an autopilot.
Used responsibly, it can amplify creativity, accelerate learning, and extend human potential.
But overreliance risks weakening what employers value most: critical thinking, curiosity, ethical judgment, and self-leadership.

Actionable insights for leaders, educators, and early-career professionals

The report distils 30 practical insights showing how to keep high-quality human thinking at the centre while embracing intelligent technologies. These insights feed directly into the evolution of the CEMS Graduate Profile, reinforcing our commitment to developing leaders who are digitally fluent and deeply human.

Within our new report, expert contributors reveal an optimistic truth: when used responsibly, AI can amplify human potential, enhance creativity, and unlock new possibilities for leaders, educators, and early-career professionals. Universities and business schools increasingly aim to help students understand not only how these systems work, but also when and why to use them, including their wider societal and environmental implications, and how to balance digital fluency with human depth.

Nicole de Fontaines, Executive Director of CEMS