Why trust-based leadership is key to thriving in the Intelligent Age

Trust-based leadership: AI will not gain widespread acceptance unless consumers can trust it is being responsibly developed and deployed. Image: iStockphoto/10255185_880
- The Intelligent Age will change how people live and work, as well as how products are developed and made, making digital skills training essential.
- While people shouldn’t be afraid of new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) they should be concerned about being left behind when it comes to upskilling for digital transformation.
- Business leaders can take four steps to create a future-ready workforce and build a reputation for trustworthiness when wielding new technology like AI.
The recent arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) and our growing ability to harness the power of data and digital technology has propelled our world from the Industrial Age into a new Intelligent Age.
This new epoch will be unlike any other in history. By bringing together our physical, biological and digital realities, the Intelligent Age will fundamentally alter how people live and work, and how products are developed and made. It will affect the skillsets employees in many professions require, while redefining how private and public organizations collaborate.
It would be a mistake to think that this Intelligent Age is only about changes sparked by AI, however. AI will only ever be as good as the data foundation and technologies that feed it and the skills of the people who wield it. The Intelligent Age will instead be defined by the convergence of human, artificial and other fields of intelligence to solve complex problems and create value with unprecedented speed and efficiency.
To successfully operate at these unique convergence points, future leaders must combine a broad mix of knowledge, technologies and partners from across multiple markets, regions or scientific disciplines. In particular, for industries focused on the development, manufacture and supply of complex products such as medicines, biotechnologies and semiconductors, the leaders will be those standing at the crossroads between three fields of intelligence:
- Human intelligence, which enables original thinking and ethical decision-making in complex scenarios.
- Artificial intelligence, which provides unparalleled data processing capabilities and predictive analytics.
- Materials intelligence, which ensures that innovations are practical, scalable and sustainable.
This convergence of human creativity, computational power and advanced materials science will help foster innovation and promote sustainable development in an increasingly interconnected world.
Multidisciplinary collaboration on AI development
Consider the future evolution of AI itself. A new generation of semiconductors that are much faster, more compact and more energy-efficient will be required to power AI over the coming decades. These semiconductors for AI will be dependent upon many significant breakthroughs in materials science. Under long-term collaborations between semiconductor manufacturers and preferred material suppliers, multidisciplinary teams of trusted experts are already collaborating to build and execute the technology roadmaps that will underpin the future of AI.
The same multidisciplinary approach will be required to make the global healthcare industry more predictive, personalized and precise. Across many disease areas, we are now witnessing an increasing convergence of AI for data analysis and prediction, human intelligence for clinical insights and patient empathy and materials intelligence to bring novel drug modalities and delivery technologies to market.
Trust-based leadership in the Intelligent Age
To build resilience in the Intelligent Age, organizations must become masters of diversity, bringing together the right mix of industry and regional expertise, partners and people. But perhaps most of all, they must be able to earn the trust of the customers, patients and communities they serve.
Our world is becoming more fragmented with change, complexity and uncertainty surrounding us all. People are increasingly motivated to make their purchasing or voting decisions based upon who feel they can trust the most. However, levels of public trust in political and media institutions are declining while scientists and CEOs are now among the most trusted members of society.
AI and data ecosystems will not gain widespread acceptance unless consumers can trust they are being responsibly developed and deployed. To earn this trust, organizations and their leaders must be guided by a clear moral compass and operate with transparency and accountability.
To develop trust-based leadership and thrive in this new world, business leaders should consider four key actions when creating and deploying AI tools:
1. Diversification across industries
Merck has established global positions across three markets – life sciences, healthcare and electronics – which we believe hold significant potential to be positively transformed by AI and data. By developing a multi-industry business model and broad materials intelligence, it’s possible to innovate both within and across markets. This can pioneer new growth fields.
2. Diversification across regions
Merck is also well-established across all key regions where AI and data-driven innovations are happening today, including the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe. By investing heavily in local talent development and supply chain security across each region, business leaders can help to reduce operating risk and fuel growth, while increasing local proximity and responsiveness to their customers.
3. Diversification across partners
The growing multidisciplinary nature of science means companies like Merck must operate within a global network of industry peers and entrepreneurs under an “open innovation” model. We also collaborate with a broad mix of multilateral partners to create space at the local, regional and global levels for investment and to stimulate fair competition. The ability to align various stakeholders behind shared values and common goals will be increasingly vital for success in the Intelligent Age.
4. Diversification of (data-literate) teams
Business leaders must create a robust data culture within organizations so global teams feel empowered – rather than threatened – by AI. While people should have nothing to fear from AI, they should be concerned about others learning to harness the power of AI better than themselves.
Skills-powered organizations in the Intelligent Age must give employees access to data and AI ecosystems, Generative AI tools and upskilling platforms. This will not only help them to develop themselves, but also to collaborate to find real-world solutions to real-world problems.
Trust-based leadership on AI is crucial. As a science and business leader that has been family-owned for 13 generations, Merck has been fortunate to accumulate a level of trust over the centuries that is priceless. By sparking discoveries to elevate humanity, we’re choosing to invest this earned trust wisely.
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Nada AlSaeed
February 4, 2025