Agents Of Change

As Al rewrites the rules of work, the real challenge isn't keeping up with machines - it's remembering what makes us human, believes Gopal Shukla.

- Tsunami Costabir

Where the telephone took over a century for mass adoption in India, and television decades to reach villages, the internet achieved near-universal reach in just 25 years. Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being adopted at a speed that dwarfs its predecessors, threatening to automate complex technical skills faster than professionals can adapt. The world is accelerating at a pace previously unimaginable. And this rapid technological evolution has fueled a widespread fear of AI-induced unemployment.

In this landscape of radical change, the nature of education — especially at the leadership level — must fundamentally shift. Being merely excellent at one’s job is no longer a guarantee of professional longevity. For Gopal Shukla, Chief Executive Officer at the IIT Bombay-Washington University Executive MBA program, the future is uncertain, but the response must be clear: transform leaders into ‘change agents’ equipped with human skills and a deep sense of purpose.

The Unprecedented Pace Of Technology

Shukla, who initiated India's premier Executive MBA degree for working professionals in 2013, notes the chilling pace of change. “I cannot see beyond 1.5 years,” he admits, highlighting the difficulty in planning curricula for a world that reinvents itself every few quarters.