Nitin Nohria spent a decade as dean of Harvard Business School and ran his first workshop for new CEOs in 1997. He rejects the view that today’s technological and geopolitical upheavals have fundamentally changed what companies need from their leaders. According to Nohria, the demands of the role are “more constant than different”: leaders who respond well to their era’s conditions “end up writing a great chapter,” while those who respond poorly do not.
A central message of Nohria’s new book is that a CEO’s role is “not to make all the decisions, but to create the conditions that allow other people to make decisions well.” Leaders should invest time to multiply impact rather than merely answer immediate demands.
Nohria also chairs Thrive Capital. Thrive’s founder and managing partner, Josh Kushner, recently backtracked on a plan with FIFA to commercialize the World Cup after it triggered intense backlash. Kushner has invested in OpenAI and SpaceX, and Nohria sees AI as the defining challenge for this generation of CEOs — though it can also help ease the loneliness of the top job.
AI will decentralize expertise
Nohria argues that AI heralds a new moment of decentralization: expertise that used to be concentrated at headquarters can be pushed out to the front lines. Historically, large headquarters existed partly because companies could not staff every business unit with CFOs or general counsels. With AI, that intelligence can be brought closer to customers and operations, prompting organizational restructuring.
That shift creates friction: when power is reallocated inside organizations, resistance is natural because “nobody gives up power easily.” Nohria says this does not necessarily make the CEO less powerful, but it can make the corporate infrastructure around the CEO feel threatened.
AI as a force multiplier — and a responsibility
Nohria acknowledges we do not yet know all the ways AI will reshape a Fortune 500 CEO’s daily work, rearchitect business processes and workforces, or generate new revenue opportunities. Still, he is confident that any CEO coming of age today who hasn’t addressed AI by the end of the decade will not be a great CEO.
AI also offers leadership benefits: it can serve as a virtual board member or a new team member that interrogates thinking, informs discussions and reduces the solitude of leadership. Nohria warns against treating AI as a substitute for human judgment. Instead, if an executive team gains ongoing superintelligent input from AI in a few roles, it can improve judgment and discussion.
He also stresses that AI increases CEOs’ societal responsibilities. Leaders must ensure their firms’ relationship with society is not judged harmful and navigate AI adoption so that, despite inevitable disruptions, the outcome benefits society. CEOs’ license to operate depends on public trust.
Practical implications: ask questions, stay connected, accept responsibility
As Thrive’s chairman, Nohria describes his role primarily as a teacher: asking the right questions to probe thinking rather than supplying definitive answers. In practice, that means helping leadership teams think through choices and be willing to revisit decisions.
On the FIFA episode, Nohria says his role involved questioning and helping the leadership weigh options. He praised Josh Kushner’s willingness to acknowledge when an initiative fell short and to take responsibility.
Finally, Nohria highlights a common CEO pitfall: losing touch with the reality of the business. His research shows a typical CEO spends about 30% of their time with the top management team but less than 5% with front-line staff. Since truth is closer to customers and front-line employees, CEOs must discipline themselves to stay connected to the front lines rather than rely solely on filtered information.
