The Chief Ex­ecutive Officer and Founder of L’aine HR, Dr Mrs Ellen Hagan, has urged wom­en in corporate organisations to build their skills to remain relevant in the current Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven world of work.

She said although AI was influencing how organisations operated, women would continue to stay valuable in their respec­tive fields if they constantly sharpened their competencies and applied their human-cen­tered skills.

“We need to sharpen our skills and do what we are sup­posed to do as humans. Do it better. And have that awareness that we cannot really compete in the same way with the robots. But in the area where we have the upper hand, we need to use what we, as humans, do best,” she said.

Dr Hagan made the call in Accra on Wednesday at the opening of the Strategic Women in Leadership Masterclass, organ­ised by the L’aine Academy.

The two-day programme on the theme “Equipping women to lead, Influence, and Innovate for a sustainable Africa.”

The high-level programme is designed for women in leader­ship, succession planning, strat­egy, corporate governance and business development roles.

It seeks to empower senior leaders, directors, entrepreneurs and rising female executives across industries to engage in transformational learning, mentorship, and equip them with the tools and insights needed to excel in a fast-changing, digitally transformed world.

Among the topics discussed were Executive presence and Influence for women, AI, digital disruption and innovation in leadership, adaptive leadership in times of change, and corporate governance and ethical leader­ship.

Dr Hagan stressed that while technology was taking over repetitive tasks, there were still areas where human beings had the advantage.

“The robots do not have a soul, they do not have a heart, they cannot inspire and they cannot lead. They only do what we tell them to do,” she said.

She explained that women at different stages of life faced unique challenges to leadership, citing the pressures of raising young families, cultural expec­tations and later, struggles with self-confidence.

Those, she noted, often dis­couraged women from taking up higher responsibilities.

“There are some women who are able to break the glass ceiling and accept leadership. We don’t wait for titles before we lead. Especially in this disruptive world of technology and robots, women must rise with innovative interventions, inspire others and lead with emotional intelligence, because that is something the robots cannot do,” she added.

Dr Hagan also called for a mindset shift to enable leaders and professionals to adapt ef­fectively to the rapidly changing technological environment.

“We used to talk about the future of work, but it is happen­ing now. Jobs are being taken by robots, so we need to pull up our socks, lead the way, and come up with innovative solutions to mitigate the negative side of technological disruption,” she said.

The Managing Director of L’aine, Mr James Laar, in an in­terview said the masterclass was part of L’aine Academy’s agenda to build the leadership capacity of women and help them to appreciate that leadership was not optional.

“We don’t have a choice to be leaders. Even at home, leadership comes naturally, and in corporate organisations women must step up with confidence, integrity and focus,” she noted.

She said gaps such as low confidence and hesitation to take up leadership roles had been identified, and the programme was designed to address them.

Action plans developed during the training, he said would be followed up over the next three months to ensure partici­pants implemented the lessons in their organisations.

Dr Hagan added that al­though the masterclass was being held in Accra, participants had come from across the country since the initiative was national in scope.

The programme forms part of the Academy’s broader agenda of giving back to society and championing women’s em­powerment through leadership development