At Your Best
Unlocking Potential, Maximizing Value
MANAGER 2.0 ROUNDTABLE · HONG KONG · 16 SEPTEMBER 2026
Leading Human + AI Teams
What 16 leaders from 12 organisations told us about managing work as AI becomes part of it.
THE CURRENT REALITY
AI is in everyone's hands. Management practice has not caught up.
15 / 15
Cited individual productivity as AI's biggest impact. No one cited people management.
#1 + #1
Governance was both the most-cited barrier to value and the most-cited risk.
0
named the direct manager as accountable for an AI agent working in a workflow.
THE CENTRAL FINDING
AI access is spreading faster than the management system around it. Closing that gap is now a management task, not a technology task.
WHAT WE HEARD
Eight findings from the room
Consistent across the pre-roundtable survey, the live pulse, and three facilitated tables.
01
Productivity is individual
Gains are real but stay with the person, not the team.
02
Access is tiered
Chat for most, premium for the few, and access shapes adoption.
03
Governance moves too slowly
Six-month approvals, tools that change in weeks.
04
Accountability is not real yet
A named owner must see the evidence and be able to stop the process.
05
Judgement must stay explicit
AI informs people's decisions; it must not make them.
06
"Agent" means different things
Automation and agentic work are given the same name.
07
Capability must fit the role
Built on real work, not generic awareness sessions.
08
Resistance is about roles
The worry is job impact, lost expertise and how juniors will learn.
GO DEEPER
The full synthesis
15 pages that go beyond the headlines.
The evidence behind each of the eight findings
Where the room drew the line between human-led, AI-augmented, and delegated work
A 90-day agenda to run one controlled proof of value
What it means for HR and L&D, and the questions the room left open
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
What participants asked for next
Benchmarking with peers and defining Manager 2.0 for their own organisation were the two most requested continuations.
At Your Best (AYB) is a Hong Kong-based leadership development and coaching consultancy working with executives across APAC, primarily in banking and financial services. AYB combines executive coaching, leadership programs, and high-impact workshops with real-world business experience: practical, actionable, and aligned with corporate objectives.
Samuel Demarais
samuel.demarais@ayb.one
+852 9668 6199
www.ayb.one
Unlocking Potential, Maximizing Value