The Great Reckoning: Vanguard Leadership in the Age of Intelligent Machines

The Great Reckoning: Vanguard Leadership in the Age of Intelligent Machines

Dražen Kapusta, DBA & Dr. Tali Režun

This article examines the accelerating displacement of white-collar labor by artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems, analyzing the phenomenon through the Vanguard Leadership Framework (VLF) and the NEO Cotruglian philosophical tradition. Drawing on verified labor data, European AI adoption research, emerging economies analysis, and 26 years of institutional leadership at COTRUGLI Business School, the author argues that the current disruption is not a cyclical adjustment but a structural reorganization of the global labor economy. The article presents a three-horizon model: the immediate US displacement wave; Europe's compressed and coming reckoning (estimated 2028–2029); and Africa's strategic window for leapfrog development. Embedded throughout is the VLF operating system—Sense, Seize, Transform—and the NEO Cotruglian Triple Entry (NCTE) framework as trust infrastructure for the emerging machine economy. The article concludes with a Vanguard Leadership imperative: lead with intelligence at the core, or become the institution that history passes by.

Keywords: Vanguard Leadership Framework, NEO Cotruglian philosophy, artificial intelligence displacement, labor market restructuring, NCTE, Africa leapfrog development, machine economy, trust infrastructure

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