Organisations across the UAE are struggling to replace good leaders even as they race to adopt AI, the Executive Chairman of Tasc Group told an HR summit in Dubai this month. Mahesh Shahdadpuri said the pressure to automate was real, but leadership remained the one thing AI could not substitute.
Shahdadpuri spoke at the Future of the Workforce Summit, held on 10 September 2026 at Address Sky View. The event, organised by Khaleej Times Events, brought together HR professionals and business leaders to examine how technology is reshaping the workplace.
AI replacing leadership? Not yet, Shahdadpuri says
On the question of AI replacing leadership, Shahdadpuri was direct. ‘The leaders have to internalise this. They have to internalise that they have to train the organisation in terms of skills into these new enabling technologies that are out there,’ he said.
‘The second thing is, organisations are still looking for good leaders. Leadership cannot be substituted, so those skills have to come at the same time.’
He argued that most senior executives are operating without a clear map. ‘I think organisations are in a big state of things, and if any CEO or president tells you that he knows what’s coming, or even what he wants to do or she wants to do, you know they are lying,’ he said.
Tasc Group operates as a GCC-wide staffing and HR services provider with more than 200 team members across six locations in the Middle East and India. Shahdadpuri recently transitioned from CEO to Executive Chairman, with Jayajyoti Sengupta appointed as the group’s new chief executive, according to Consultancy Middle East.
The AI skills divide and the role of government
Shahdadpuri warned that unequal access to AI tools and skills could split companies and workers into two camps. ‘Businesses, Wall Street, they are money-making capitalist companies everywhere. If productivity is the new thing in town, ask a lot of businessmen. They probably want to have AI agents for everything,’ he said.
He said the dividing line would run between those who understand and use AI and those who do not. ‘I think what’s going to make a big difference is, of course, probably haves and have-nots. Do you understand AI? Are you using it, or are you not?’
Government regulation, he added, would play a central role in managing that divide. ‘I think what’s going to make a lot of difference is regulation by the government because they don’t want social unrest, and that’s going to drive a lot of policy.’
For UAE employers, the implication is that deploying new technology without equipping staff to use it will not be enough. Organisations will need to run both tracks at once: building AI capability while developing the human leadership that can guide a transformed workforce.
Shahdadpuri also pointed to reverse mentoring as part of his own approach, describing the pace at which younger entrepreneurs are building companies. ‘I am also making an active effort to learn through reverse mentoring. It’s the 22-23-year-old kids generating $5 billion, $10 billion valuations in 18 months,’ he said.
His closing point was aimed squarely at experienced executives. Those who have spent decades in leadership roles cannot rely on what worked before. ‘I think leaders who have crossed their 40s or 35 or 40s, they really need to bring their experience to bear,’ he said. ‘But really need to actively lead a very different kind of workforce.’
The summit’s agenda included sessions on AI in HR, learning and development, and a workshop on strategy in volatile environments, reflecting the breadth of the disruption that companies across the region are trying to plan for.
