The Tango of AI and HI (Human Intelligence): Are you an observer or dancing?

For HR leaders in Denmark and globally, this isn't a future problem - it's a current reality. Yet, too many are watching anxiously from the sidelines. The dance floor is open, the music is playing, and the partnership between HI and AI is in full swing. The question is: Will you lead, or watch the IT department take the floor?

The Deloitte Tango: Superjobs and Superteams

You cannot learn to tango by only watching from the balcony - you need to step onto the dance floor. The same applies to AI in the workplace. As Deloitte pointed out already in 2020, “Superjobs and superteams integrate people (HI) and machines (AI) to fundamentally change the way work is done.” This is not about small efficiency gains; it’s about redesigning collaboration to unlock entirely new forms of value.

For years, a recurring concern in leadership programmes has been, “Will AI take my job?” A far more useful question is: “How do I, HI work with AI in a way that enhances my value?”  
It is not AI that will take over your job, but someone who knows how to work with AI, and this is what we explore in this paper.

The competitive edge lies not in resisting technology but in learning to collaborate with it. This gives rise to "superjobs" and "superteams" - or what we call Future Fit Teams - where HI and AI work together to deliver outcomes, neither could achieve alone. AI agents, what is now called Agentic AI, will increasingly replace routine tasks, and it will augment human work by making us faster and more precise. 

AI is like a horse, you should ride it and guide it, don’t let it ride you.
 
The most exciting frontier is collaboration - where humans and AI co-create, each drawing on distinct strengths. Just as we can’t imagine work without emails and search engines, we will soon be equally dependent on AI. The challenge is not whether it will reshape our work, but how we can guide the process and develop the talents that are uniquely human. As Klaus Schwab of the WEF said: ‘We must rediscover what it means to be human.’

Keeping Leadership Humane in the Algorithm Age

This raises the first major challenge for HR leaders: how should we redefine human leadership while AI becomes part of every decision and task? The key here is to rediscover and cultivate those unique human qualities that AI cannot replicate.

AI delivers data and predictions at speed, but it cannot provide empathy, meaning, or ethical judgment. Leaders must remain focused on what only humans can offer - trust, inspiration, and values-based choices without losing sight of the synergy of HI and AI. HR has a critical role in helping leaders develop "techno-empathy": the ability to combine machine intelligence with human sensitivity. Humans can tap into fields of energy that cannot be digitalised, a world beyond reason, logic, and even emotions. This human connection is what guides the dance.
Guarding Against Over-Dependence

The second challenge is profound: How do we prevent organisations and people from becoming too dependent on AI and losing creativity and essential skills?

The risk is that, as AI assumes more responsibility, people may disengage from their own distinctive strengths. Curiosity, creativity, imagination, and problem-solving weaken if not practised. HR can counter this by encouraging employees to treat AI as a partner rather than a substitute. For instance, start problem-solving sessions with human-generated ideas before turning to AI for testing or refinement. This protects core capabilities while ensuring AI acts as an amplifier, not a crutch.

^{Dr Frederick Hölscher, Hult Ashridge Executive Education & Sharon Olivier Leadership Faculty, Hult Ashridge Executive Education. www.hultashridge.com} 

Creating a Culture of Experimentation

The third question for HR to tackle is: How do we build organisations where it is safe to try, test, fail, and learn?

Human innovation thrives in psychologically safe environments, where employees feel free to experiment without fear of blame or shame. HR plays a pivotal role in shaping such cultures, ensuring that learning from mistakes is valued as much as success. Leaders must reinforce this by openly reflecting on their own failures, recognising “intelligent failures” that create insight, and creating safe ‘sandboxes’ where teams can pilot ideas and learn from ‘failures’.

Three Human Competencies that define the dance
At the heart of the AI-HI dance are human capabilities that distinguish us from machines and help us guide them. These are the qualities that ensure humans determine the music or choreography for the dancefloor. Among them are three competencies we believe are essential for working productively with AI: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, and Application.

1. Curiosity and the ability to ask generative questions

Curiosity drives exploration and the asking of better, generative questions. It connects the dots in new and creative ways, often by relating opposite or paradoxical ideas - like two strands of DNA connecting in a space of emergence. It can be equated with the Columbus spirit, that got Columbus to cross the ocean of uncertainty and face the ‘Dragons’ which was the belief of the day. And as we know, he did not find the Dragons - he discovered America!
 In the AI context, this allows people to excel in context engineering and prompt engineering, shaping machine responses through asking innovative and generative questions to unlock new value. Curiosity also relies on contextualisation: the human ability to situate data within specific social, cultural, strategic or operational realities -something no algorithm can replicate.

2. Critical Thinking & Intuitive Insight

Critical thinking serves as our compass. It should not be confused with criticism and judging others. It is evaluative and helps us spot the gaps, evaluate evidence, detect bias, and connect information responsibly - rather than accepting algorithmic outputs uncritically. This capacity is strengthened by intuitive thinking- the human skill of drawing from or tapping into the space of unlimited possibilities and ask, ‘why not?’.  It senses patterns before they are fully rationalised and connecting seemingly unrelated ideas. Together, these enrich our curiosity and guard against the risk of outsourcing judgment to machines.

3. Application: Translating Insight into Action

The third essential human competency in HI-AI collaboration is Application, the bridge that turns intelligence into impact. Without it, both human and machine intelligence remain theoretical.
Agentic AI is becoming mainstream and excels at highly specified, task-oriented application, often tied to measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and regulated processes. However, this focus creates another workplace challenge: as tasks become more specific and regulated by AI, the risk is that human workers lose sight of the bigger picture.

Human Intelligence (HI) is defined by innovative application. HI-driven application is less about the specific task and more about the purpose ("the what"). It requires employees to be empowered to figure out "the how"– theinnovative methods to achieve a goal within the parameters of a specific context. This is supported by foresight, creativity and the unique human ability to imagine different futures, anticipate challenges, and apply insights for long-term adaptation and renewal. This forward-looking, purpose-driven application ensures that today's actions build resilience for tomorrow.

In essence, AI executes the precise steps (the task-oriented application), while humans, through innovative application, are agile. HI sets the destination and charts the creative path (the overall purpose -”the why” and "the how")

References 

• Belsky, S. (2010). Making ideas happen: Overcoming the obstacles between vision and reality. Portfolio.
• Brown, S., Jones, G., & Fewtrell, P. (2020). The curious advantage. Laiki Publishing.
• Deloitte. (2020). 2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends: The social enterprise at work. Deloitte Insights.
• Deloitte. (2020). Superteams: Putting AI in the group. Deloitte Insights. 
• Hutchins, G., & Hughes, L. (2019). Regenerative leadership: The DNA of life-affirming 21st century organizations. Wordsworth Publishing.
• Olivier, S., Hölscher, F., & Williams, A. (2021). Agile leadership for turbulent times: Integrating your ego, eco and intuitive intelligence. Routledge.
• Olivier, S., & Hölscher, F. (2019). Can caterpillars fly? In Brightline Initiative (Ed.), The transformation playbook (pp. 52-56). Brightline Project.