AI is changing not only how people work, but how quickly the best people can develop. Experience still matters. But the way people build that experience is changing fast.
AI is not lowering the bar for leadership. It is compressing the experience curve, giving ambitious, capable people access to knowledge and opportunities that used to take years to acquire through proximity to the right people and places, repetition and of course, trial and error. For younger employees, particularly Gen Z, that is proving transformative.
The strongest emerging leaders are not using AI as a shortcut. They are using it to think and learn faster, building strategic capability earlier in their careers. Our recent IWG study, “The Rise of the Z Suite” found that four in five young leaders say AI gives them knowledge that once took many years to gain, while 79 percent say it helps them perform beyond their current seniority.
If people can build capability faster, then talent should be judged by what people can do, not simply by how long they have been doing it.
In Singapore, a Deloitte survey found 46 percent of Gen Zs already hold leadership or managerial roles and 88 percent already use AI at work. Gen Z combines strong tech-savviness with a drive for AI-enabled career growth, which can accelerate progress earlier in their careers.
At IWG, one of our Leadership Principles is: The best people win. Period. Merit decides, not tenure, not title. Deliver and you rise. The evidence suggests this is already happening; 82 percent of senior leaders say AI is fast-tracking younger leaders. Younger employees themselves are more confident than previous generations that they can reach the top earlier. 95 percent of 21–29-year-olds believe they could hold a senior leadership role by 30. This isn’t a theory about the future. It is already happening and is reshaping expectations on both sides of the workforce.
That creates a challenge for some organisations. Traditional promotion models were built around time served and linear development. “Portfolio careers” are popular choices for Singapore employees. Forty-two percent say they are interested in a portfolio career that enables them to move across roles and sectors to future-proof their careers amidst AI-driven changes. As a result, businesses that continue to equate leadership readiness with years of experience risk losing top talent to competitors that are more willing to recognise potential earlier.
How businesses identify and develop their future leaders, therefore needs to evolve. Promotion criteria should reflect the new reality of how people build expertise, make decisions, and create value. The question should not be, “has this person waited long enough?” but instead, “are they ready to take on more responsibility?”. As we move into an increasingly AI-enabled future, workplace AI fluency will be a given. What will truly set employees apart then will be their unique human skills like critical thinking, empathy, and judgement – identified by the Singapore Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) as some of the essential competencies for job transferability and career mobility.
AI can accelerate capability, but businesses still need the right culture around it. Talented people need opportunities to take responsibility, make decisions, learn quickly and prove what they can do. In Singapore, the National AI Impact Plan (NAIIP) provides enterprises and individuals support to adopt and become fluent in AI. Additionally, leadership initiatives like the Career Conversion Programmes (CCP) support employees that want to pursue workplace growth and improve their long-term career prospects.
For businesses, the opportunity is to recognise exceptional people earlier and give them responsibility to match their capability. If somebody is ready to deliver, making them wait simply because that is how careers have traditionally worked makes little sense.
The bar for leadership should never come down. But the time it takes people to reach it can.
Christian Schmitz is CEO of International Workplace Group (IWG).
Editor’s note: This contributed article has been lightly edited for clarity and TNGlobal house style. The views and arguments expressed remain those of the author.
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