By Carlos Hernandez Jerónimo
Digital tools are rushing into boardrooms like robots into kitchens. Yet, without order, structure, and clear management, they only speed up the chaos. Carlos Hernandez Jerónimo challenges the notion that technology alone delivers transformation, and argues that leadership, research, and scientific management are the true engines of sustainable innovation.
In the frenzy of all things digital, many companies behave like children in a high-tech candy store: fascinated, impulsive, and utterly disoriented. Everyone wants their own internal ChatGPT to link clients, operations, contracts, meeting notes, and procedures. They want it now, because someone, somewhere, declared that failing to digitalise is a death sentence. But few stop to ask the right question: on what structure will this intelligence operate?
Recently, during a meeting with a major public institution, that question became unavoidable. The enthusiasm around implementing an AI-powered knowledge system was real. But the moment someone asked, “Who will have access to what?”, the conversation stalled. Algorithms faded into the background. The room shifted to concerns over access levels, data silos, accountability, and the risk of exposing sensitive information. Technology stepped aside. Management stepped in.
We often fall for the illusion that technology will fix what management has avoided, as if artificial intelligence were a magic button capable of turning confusion into efficiency. But it isn’t. AI simply accelerates and amplifies what already exists. If the organisation lacks clarity, AI will only reproduce that lack of clarity – faster, louder, and at scale.
The temptation to implement digital tools before building a solid foundation is strong. But it’s no more effective than installing precision sensors on a ship with no compass. And that’s the irony. The more advanced the technology becomes, the more essential the basic principles of management become. Mapping information. Clarifying who makes decisions. Defining access. Establishing processes. Ensuring that what gets automated has first been understood and owned.
Management is not the enemy of innovation. It is the quiet infrastructure that makes innovation possible.
Meanwhile, we’re seeing a renewed appetite for management education. According to GMAC, enrolment in management programmes has increased by 23 per cent over the last three years. And it’s not because MBAs promise higher salaries. It’s because, in an increasingly automated world, those who know how to lead, decide, and structure have become indispensable. We can code in Python, but we struggle to resolve conflict. We integrate APIs, but not people. Management is no longer a back-office skill. It’s core business.
Most digital failures aren’t technical. They’re strategic. They come from rushing toward the future without pausing in the present.
Modern organisations need leaders who understand technology. But, even more, they need technologists who understand management. And above all, they need executives who realise that digitalising isn’t about burying chaos beneath a glossy user interface. It’s about having the courage to reimagine how the organisation actually functions.
Most digital failures aren’t technical. They’re strategic. They come from rushing toward the future without pausing in the present. Management, by its nature, is deliberate. It observes before acting. It decides before executing. It doesn’t oppose digital transformation. But it must not be flattened by it either.
And no, no one is suggesting we halt all activity to write detailed manuals while the world speeds ahead. Quite the opposite. The point is this: if we’re about to bring a new robot into the kitchen, we should use the opportunity to get the pantry in order. Let’s check where the ingredients are, who handles the utensils, what hygiene rules apply, and who’s in charge of cooking what. With the robot, everything will be faster. But only if we know what we’re automating.
If management is neglected, the future will be automated … but even more unpredictable.
