Artificial Intelligence: Are You Suitable as a Leader in Times of AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and a sluggish economy - companies are not only hiring fewer people, they are also cutting jobs. It's no longer just clerical workers who are affected. Even executives are no longer safe from AI. In 2025, according to the Federal Employment Agency, there were 14.3 percent more unemployed executives than in the previous year.

This is because AI is already taking over what was long considered the core of management: organization, calculation, and cost control. The job profile of an executive can be replaced by algorithms by 67 percent, according to the "Job Futuromat" of the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB). Middle management is particularly at risk.

To get ahead, you have to prove yourself more than ever today. This is where headhunter Bernhard Stieger separates suitable candidates from those who won't make it to the top. With a few questions that he makes available exclusively to the Handelsblatt. What would you have answered to his questions? And would you still have a chance of getting a leadership position?

"Artificial intelligence is not just changing processes and business models - it's also changing the requirements for leadership," says Stieger from the recruitment agency Spencer Stuart, which recently filled the top position at Biontech, for example. That's why it's no longer enough in job interviews to ask about technological understanding or experience with individual AI applications, says Stieger.

"True AI maturity is not recognized by whether a manager knows the latest tools or prompts particularly skillfully. What's decisive is whether they understand how AI changes value creation, enables better decisions, and makes the organization fit for the future."

Stieger and his team regularly use a catalog of questions to check whether someone is simply claiming to have AI competence or actually has it. "We're looking for personalities who rethink their business model, make better decisions, and take responsibility - especially where AI reaches its limits," says Stieger.

Martina van Hettinga, co-head of the recruitment agency I-Potentials, has reviewed and assessed the questions. "The catalog essentially gets something right: judgment is not made less important by AI, it becomes the decisive leadership competence," she says. In the end, however, a catalog of questions can only be part of a much more extensive process (combination of interviews, case studies, references, assessments).

Van Hettinga advises applicants not to invest only in pure AI knowledge. Because "the more tasks can be delegated to AI, the more what has always made the difference comes to the fore in leadership positions: leading." This means, for example, deciding on a direction and convincing others to follow.

Stieger also says: "The most convincing executives are not characterized by technical detail knowledge, but by strategic judgment, learning agility, and the ability to translate technology responsibly into leadership and business." Individual answers to his questions would therefore never decide on a candidate. However, for some answers, they would become alert at Spencer Stuart because they could indicate a lack of strategic thinking, insufficient judgment, or low willingness to change.

More: Are you suitable as a boss in times of transformation?