Poros Group · Leadership & AI
Human leadership in the age of AI: Northeastern's 2026 Global Leadership Summit
Aakash Kapur
Spent last week at Northeastern University's 2026 Global Leadership Summit in London as an alum.
Always good to be back in a university-level learning environment, catch up with friends I don't see enough, and pick up a few ideas worth chewing on. The theme this year: what does human leadership look like in the age of AI?
From the conversations outside the sessions
Often following insightful panels leading to a healthy mix of sharing takeaways and a devil's advocate perspective:
- AI uptake feels very very high globally, while popularity has been more uneven. For example, youth in several Asian countries (President Aoun highlighted India in his speech) come across as very pro-AI, while the UK and EU are quietly increasing adoption. In the US the push feels more focused from the top and is meeting more resistance down the org chart, specifically in the most recent month.
- Whether it was from supporters or critics, an addition of "techlash" towards companies maps closely onto the growing protectionism we're seeing across the EU and UK, with concrete examples coming up in multiple chats.
- Anxiety regarding AI amongst is developing, with clear parallels to climate anxiety I've seen throughout my career. Worth taking seriously, as any proponents of AI will need to be quite clear and tangible about how a certain level of implementation will benefit those being pushed to use it more.
Venture Forum standout?
The very first item I saw was the Global Venture Forum, where 9 startups pitched to judges for an allocation of £100k in grant funding up for grabs. All of the pitches were strong across the board, including impactful solutions, such as increasing teacher quantity/quality in Mali. Particular nod from me goes to drizzl though, a smart underground-sensor watering / irrigation system that estimates a 20% drop in water bills upon usage. Definitely one to watch.
We were spoilt across the sessions, with too many insights to squeeze into a quick post here. We heard from several impressive leaders, with Northeastern doing a phenomenal job of attaining the likes of Dame Emma Walmsley (former CEO of GSK, now Board member at Microsoft), Michael Miebach (CEO of Mastercard), Chris Viehbacher (President & CEO of Biogen), Hemant Taneja (CEO of General Catalyst), Chet Kanojia (CEO at Starry), Richard Damore (General Partner of North Bridge Venture Partners), of course President Joseph Aoun and Diane Nishigaya MacGillivray, and quite a few more.
Favourite part of the two days?
The Nor'easters performing live a cappella. Shout out to the ICCA 2026 world champs. Hear them here.
More insights on the event as summarised by the organisers: on LinkedIn.
Read the LinkedIn post: here.