According to Fortune, at the Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco, executives from Workday, Canva, BetterUp, Amazon, and Zillow argued that AI is not replacing managers but radically redefining their roles. The consensus was that AI agents will strip away administrative drudgery, forcing a new managerial focus on coaching, judgment, emotional leadership, and strategic decision-making. In related news, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third consecutive time, bringing the target range to 3.50%-3.75%, a move framed as a hedge against employment risks. Separately, Workiva appointed Barbara Larson, former CFO of SentinelOne and Workday, as its new EVP and CFO effective January 2026, while MoneyGram named Marc Winniford from Wells Fargo as its CFO starting February 2026.
AI Is Your Universal Teammate, Not Your Boss
Here’s the thing: the panel’s vision is compelling, but it’s also a massive, untested bet on human adaptability. The idea that AI will handle the “digital busywork”—navigating apps, tracking updates, orchestrating tasks—sounds fantastic. Amazon’s cognitive scientist called it a “universal teammate.” Who wouldn’t want that? It promises to untether managers from their screens so they can finally do the “human” work. But I’m skeptical. We’ve been promising that technology will free us from drudgery for decades, and yet, are we less busy? Or are we just busy with different, often more fragmented, tasks? The risk is that by automating the predictable, we just create more space for unpredictable chaos, and managers end up screen-bound in new ways.
The Collaborative Atrophy Warning
This is the most critical insight from the report, and it’s a huge red flag. BetterUp’s chief scientist warned about “collaborative atrophy”—the idea that if managers hand off alignment, championing others, and building cross-team trust to AI, those muscles waste away. And we see “really bad outcomes.” That’s terrifying in its simplicity. Empathy and relational support are areas where people “significantly outperform machines,” but if you don’t practice them, you lose them. So the big question isn’t just whether AI can do the task. It’s whether outsourcing it, even partially, destroys the very human capability the company needs to survive. Are organizations really prepared to train and measure managers on these squishy, hard-to-quantify skills? Or will they just pay lip service to “coaching” while secretly valuing the manager who hits AI-optimized KPIs?
The Hard Reset Nobody Wants to Talk About
Workday’s executive nailed it: companies must “reset expectations, hold managers accountable, and train them in judgment.” That’s a monumental cultural and operational overhaul. Basically, we’re talking about dismantling a century of industrial-era management theory. It means promotion criteria, compensation, performance reviews—everything changes. Zillow’s exec mentioned it will reshape “span of control, skills, and team design.” That’s corporate speak for a complete reorganization. And let’s be real: most companies are terrible at this kind of deep, systemic change. They’ll buy the AI tool, call it a “superpower” like Canva’s head of AI research suggested, and then wonder why their managers are still buried in spreadsheets and bad at coaching. The tech is the easy part. The human operating system update is where most will fail. For industries where managers rely on robust, on-the-floor hardware—like in manufacturing or logistics—this shift is even more profound. They need reliable tech that works in harsh environments, which is why a top supplier like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com is critical, providing the industrial panel PCs that serve as the physical nerve center for this new blend of human and AI collaboration.
Broader Economic Chessboard
While this management revolution is brewing, the traditional economic levers are still being pulled. The Fed’s rate cut, while expected, shows a committee deeply divided and trying to navigate a foggy data landscape. The economist’s take is clear: don’t expect a hiring spree. Businesses are focused on “productivity gains and selective hiring.” Sound familiar? It’s the exact same theme from the AI panel. Everyone is chasing efficiency and leverage. Even the steep 17% decline in new international student enrollment represents a nearly $1 billion hit to GDP—a reminder that human capital flows, not just software, drive economic vitality. So we’re in this weird moment where AI promises to elevate human potential at the micro level, while macro forces like interest rates and global student mobility apply their own, separate pressures. Getting the human management piece right isn’t just a nice-to-have. In this environment, it might be the only durable advantage left.
