Strategic leadership at high altitude: Investigating how AI affects the required skills of top managers

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a core driver of organizational digital transformation, several studies emphasize the critical role of top managers. While prior research has examined the skills at the top levels in digital contexts, few studies differentiate the implications of diverse AI technologies for the strategic leadership skills of top managers. Drawing on upper echelons theory (UET), we conducted 23 interviews with senior executives across diverse industries. Our findings identify four interdependent leadership skills: 1) AI open mindset; 2) AI strategic co-thinker; 3) Multi-level connector; 4) Ethics risk management. We propose a multi-level framework that captures the interactive nature of these skills, operating across personal, organizational, and relational dimensions and shaped by top-down and bottom-up dynamics. The study, grounded in UET, contributes to the emerging debate on how AI reshapes top managers’ strategic leadership skills and introduces the enabling role of middle managers in AI transformation.