Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms

EP 103

08/19/2026

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Summary & Highlights

In this episode of WiseTalk, Mariposa’s monthly podcast on perspectives on leadership, host Sue Bethanis, Ed.D., Founder and CEO of Mariposa Leadership, is joined by Johan Roos, a management scholar, former business school leader, and entrepreneur. He co-invented the globally adopted LEGO® Serious Play® methodology and currently serves as Professor and Senior Strategic Advisor at Luxembourg School of Business, Associate Faculty at Hult Ashridge, and Partner for R&D at Interface. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum, where he helped initiate the Next Management initiative on leadership, and previously served as Professor and Chief Academic Officer at Hult International Business School.

 

Sue and Johan discuss the ideas behind his new book, Human Magic: Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms, including:

 

  • How LEGO® Serious Play® works, and why building with your hands changes how people think and argue through a problem
  • The difference between the “erosion curve” and the “amplification curve” in everyday AI use
  • Why critical thinking, in Roos’s framework, means grounding a claim in stated reasoning rather than making an unsupported assertion
  • Why labeling curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration as “soft skills” discourages companies from investing in them
  • Early warning signs that a person’s or a team’s capabilities are eroding rather than expanding under AI use
  • How framing a question well, rather than accepting an AI tool’s first output, shapes whether AI sharpens or dulls a person’s thinking

 

Johan frames the choice between amplification and erosion as a series of small, daily decisions rather than one dramatic one: whether a person frames a question before turning to AI, or accepts and forwards its first output. He describes practical wisdom as accumulated judgment built from experience and feedback, and as the capability that determines whether other tools, including AI, are used well. He also offers a simple check for individuals and teams: after several months of regular AI use, are the questions being asked getting better, or is only the output getting faster.

Guest Profile

As a seasoned management scholar, former leader of several business schools, and entrepreneur, Johan Roos works at the intersection of human wisdom and artificial intelligence, helping leaders harness AI to amplify their judgment, creativity, and sense of purpose.

 

Throughout his career, Johan has been driven by curiosity about how people and institutions learn, adapt, and rediscover their imagination when technology changes the rules. This interest led him to co‑invent the globally adopted LEGO® Serious Play® methodology, enabling thousands of organizations to tackle complex challenges through imaginative, hands‑on exploration.

 

Currently, he is a Professor and Senior Strategic Advisor at Luxembourg School of Business, Associate Faculty at Hult Ashridge, and Partner for R&D at Interface. As Senior Advisor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum, he contributes to the Next Management Initiative, connecting thinkers and executives who believe management must evolve again. At Hult International Business School, he led a large-scale global AI implementation in early 2023, and in 2025, began using AI voice assistants to interview leaders around the world.

 

Previously, he helped lead four international business schools: Dean of MBA Programs at the Stockholm School of Economics, President of Copenhagen Business School, CEO & Dean of Jönköping International Business School, and Chief Academic Officer and Presidential Advisor at Hult International Business School. Each of those roles was about helping an institution renew itself while keeping its soul.

 

His latest book, HUMAN MAGIC: Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms, distills multi‑year research with executives and organizations into a practical framework for preserving curiosity, practical wisdom, and human agency when intelligent machines can provide instant answers. Across his roles as educator, advisor, investor, and speaker, Johan’s work is animated by a simple conviction: management, at its best, is humanity at work.

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