As AI Reshapes What Employers Want, Oxford Saïd Launches Human Leadership Program

Oxford Saïd Business School launched its Human Leadership Development program in September 2025, drawing more than a third of its MBA cohort in the first year. Oxford photo

Oxford Saïd Business School has launched a new certificate program focused on human skills development, responding to what the school describes as growing employer demand for leadership qualities that artificial intelligence cannot replicate.

The Human Leadership Development program, which debuted in September 2025, is voluntary and open to the school’s full MBA cohort of around 300 students. The school says that in its first year, more than 100 students signed up – roughly a third of the class – and several workshops have been oversubscribed.

To earn the certificate, students must attend nine sessions drawn from four thematic pillars: Grow, Empower, Influence and Deliver. The sessions are scheduled during otherwise unstructured time in the academic year and are led by an eclectic mix of practitioners – corporate trainers, executive coaches, team-building specialists and, in at least one case, a stand-up comedian.

Caroline Gel: “In an era where technology can increasingly replicate what people do, the Human Leadership Program focuses on what remains uniquely human”

WHAT THE PROGRAM COVERS

The program’s framework draws explicitly on research from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report and GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey, both of which have flagged rising employer demand for skills like judgment, empathy, adaptability and ethical decision-making alongside technical proficiency.

Caroline Gel, Oxford Saïd’s head of MBA talent development and the program’s architect, says the curriculum was designed with intentional sequencing. “The program follows a deliberate journey – from self-awareness and personal growth, through empowering and influencing others, ultimately to delivering meaningful impact,” she says.

The program launched with keynote addresses from Carl Benedikt Frey, an Oxford professor and AI economist known for his research on technological displacement, and Greg Searle, the Olympic gold medalist rower, who spoke on resilience and learning mindset.

INSIDE THE SESSIONS

Two sessions in particular illustrate the program’s range.

The Generational Success Lab, housed under the Deliver pillar, is led by Sharath Jeevan OBE, chairman of Intrinsic Labs and a novelist and comedian. The session brings roughly 30 MBA students into the same room as senior professionals from business, media and the arts – including, in a recent iteration, a former special services commander, media executives and the outgoing chief executive of a major corporation.

Over three hours, students and the invited executives work through exercises together: analyzing how AI might transform an industry, then presenting ideas across generational lines. The explicit goal is to erode the kind of friction that tends to develop between different professional generations in workplace settings.

“Raw technical skills are not enough. They are a given,” Jeevan says. “On top of that, people need judgment, intuition, human connection and presence – to build trust.”

STUDENT RESPONSE

Blessing Abeng, an MBA student who came to Oxford after nonprofit work placing professionals in technology roles, says human skills were often the decisive variable in her previous work. “One of the biggest differentiating factors that determined who got opportunities and who didn’t was the human skills,” she says. “I came to Saïd Business School confident it would leverage its network to deliver human skills development, especially in leadership, at the highest level.”

Eleonora Saravalle, another participant, singles out the Generational Success Lab. “Being able to hear their stories, experiences, and points of view allowed me to learn about the business world through personal interactions,” she says.

The program arrives as business schools broadly are recalibrating what they teach in response to AI adoption. The question of where human judgment fits – and whether it can be formally taught at all – runs throughout the curriculum’s design.

“In an era where technology can increasingly replicate what people do,” Gel says, “the Human Leadership Program focuses on what remains uniquely human.”

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