The workshop with Mathias Maul was titled AI-Augmented Leadership Development. R+ students and three DJW members joined the workshop. Two of them by Zoom from Germany. During the workshop, Mathias Maul introduced himself as an organizational and leadership consultant with an academic background in linguistics and computer science. He also lectures at universities in Germany. He gave a presentation defining intercultural leadership and pinpointed on the trust issue and intercultural understanding that includes the awareness and emotions of the leaders.

R+ students were briefed about the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), a model for self-development modeled in response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For self-improvement, methods such as trial & error, teaching, mentoring and coaching were named as options that help to improve leaders’ skills in the Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting categories of the IDGs. Mathias suggested that AI systems can facilitate this, are scalable and cheaper than human coaches. They should augment, not replace, human coaches. He referred to two of his articles pertaining to this topic that were published in 2024.

After his presentation, he started group work. Student teams simulated team situations by consulting Large Language Models (LLM) acting as coaches to bring about possible solutions. Mathias also brought to the limits of AI and reminded the students to promote their critical thinking as well as their individual and intercultural competence development.

Reporting the students’ impression and insights

⚫︎Yuma understood from Mathias’ introduction that mutual communication skills are required in many business settings. A comprehensive understanding is a key to finding appropriate solutions but often managers are not able to reflect sufficiently on the situation themselves.

⚫︎Minori found that GenAI is essential nowadays in our daily lives. She was surprised how this can provide managerial solutions when an individual leader experiences difficulties thinking for him- or herself.

⚫︎Manami stated that in most of her other classes, students are told not to use AI. Thus, she found it refreshing and enjoyable to do group work using AI in this workshop with a professional management coach. Using AI sparked a lot of creative ideas and helped students explore different perspectives quickly.

Students found that Mathias’ lecture was very engaging. His gestures and interactive teaching style kept them focused and involved throughout the session. Manami found that it made her realize how effective communication can enhance learning and collaboration, especially in an intercultural context.

⚫︎Yusaku found that Mathias Maul's workshop was insightful and engaging. He was impressed by his focus on self-awareness in leadership, especially how our inner thoughts affect communication. One key takeaway was the importance of understanding personal narratives and how they influence our actions in diverse environments.

Will AI be helpful to become a good leader in the intercultural workplace?

⚫︎Yusaku and other students realized that AI could support leadership in intercultural settings by helping with translation, communication analysis, and cultural insights. However, true leadership also requires empathy and human judgment, which AI cannot fully replicate.

So, AI is a useful tool, but not a replacement for human skills. All students were experimenting with AI software and Momo found that AI never asked about the people’s personalities in her simulation. She understood that it is required for a good leader to understand each person’s personality and the situation. Only then is it possible to lead people. Therefore, AI can be only a support tool helping to observe options to win better awareness of a situation.