The proliferation of AI has led to increasingly decentralized corporate structures and new ways of working. At companies around the world, we’re seeing more democratized skill-building, flatter hierarchies, dismantled organizational divides, and less traditional supervision.

These shifts have profound implications for companies—and for the leaders who run them. Those at the helm of startups or incubators have long understood the leadership style that enables success within their organizations. These are the environments in which jazz leadership has thrived: an ensemble approach that, unlike an orchestra, is free-flowing, collaborative, and able to constantly evolve to create something new.

As AI enables larger companies to adopt many of the characteristics of these smaller, more disruptive organizations, they will need to adapt their leadership style accordingly. This is a key finding from our recent survey of 160 senior executives at Chinese companies representing 13 industries. More than 80% of the companies operate internationally, and half of those companies have more than 10,000 employees.

The results show the rising importance of jazz leadership attributes, emphasizing leaders’ ability to embrace change and cultivate an environment of innovation based on strategic insight, greater delegation, and employee empowerment. Significantly, this trend is building momentum at the same time that respondents report a high level of AI adoption. AI also enables this transition by helping leaders who are embracing jazz principles to implement this style of leadership.

In other words, we’re moving into an era of jazz leadership at scale. Think of it as going from a quartet to a 1940s Big Band like those led by Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman. The team is larger and there’s a foundational structure, but improvisation, collaboration, and creativity are an integral part of the sound.