Living with Pressure and Leading with Presence

AN ANTIDOTE FOR WORKING IN AN AI WORLD

- By Mrs. Jeevani Senevirathne

In an era defined by rapid automation and artificial intelligence, the most significant challenge facing modern professionals isn't technological displacement, but sustained psychological pressure. Drawing from classroom discussions and real-world academic exhaustion.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Last week, while teaching a group of first-year undergraduates the fundamentals of management, I encountered an answer I did not expect-though, in hindsight, perhaps I should have. One slide invited discussion on the challenges faced by modern-day managers. Usually, students point to familiar themes such as artificial intelligence, rapid technological change, global competition, crisis management, diversity and the need to act ethically.

Instead, the room responded almost in unison with a different concern - stress. It wasn't market volatility. It wasn't automation. It wasn't Al. It was simply and unmistakably -stress.

Stress today is not a temporary visitor. It has become ambient. It seeps into daily routines through constant connectivity, blurred boundaries between work and personal life and the unspoken expectation to always be available and responsive. In such a state, people often move through their days on autopilot mode. Functioning efficiently, achieving targets, meeting obligations, yet rarely pausing to register the experience of living itself. Unfortunately (or fortunately) many are alive, yet remain disconnected from the simple fact of being alive.