AI vs. Human Leadership

I’m willing to bet that whatever industry you’re in, all of us were talking about the same thing this past year:

AI.

The AI conversation blew up this year. First we were all talking about Chat GPT (and half of us were calling it “Chat GBT,” because we literally didn’t even know what it was for a while! Haha!). Then the first competitors hit the market, and we were talking about them. And then we found out that AI wasn’t just doing words—it was constructing legal arguments, creating art, writing music.

In reality, we all knew this was coming for a while. We’ve been hearing about self-driving cars and chatbots for a while. Most of us have been talking to Alexa and Siri for years.

I think the difference this year was that many of us were seeing AI coming for our work, and that felt scary and uncertain.

Is AI Taking Over Jobs?

All of a sudden, our inboxes and newsfeeds were full of articles about how it would change the world. We were having meetings about how it would change our work lives. We were having debates about whether it was poised to steal our jobs. 

That fear came from a very real place. For so long, we’d only encountered AI in scary science-fiction stories where humans were being conquered by their tech creations. So if your first reaction was, “This is it. The robots are finally taking over,” trust me, you were not alone.

Recognizing the Benefits of AI

I felt a little bit like the odd man out when all of these AI conversations started popping up. Because, honestly, I was excited!

I’m honored that I get a lot of compliments about the way I communicate. I even majored in communications in college. And my entire business hinges on my communication skills. The way I communicate really matters to me, and I put a lot of time, though, and energy into it.

And even for all that, sometimes I just get stuck. Sometimes, I struggle to find a way to say something clearly and concisely. Sometimes, I just need some help organizing my thoughts. 

That’s how I use AI. Ideas really like to pop into my head while I’m out for a walk, for example, and now I can record them, throw them into one of my AI tools, and say, “Hey, AI, please make sense of this.”

That’s saved me a ton of time, especially right now as I’m in the middle of redefining some of my services, which then frees up space for me to create new processes and business operations.

The more I use AI, though, the clearer one thing becomes to me:

AI could never replace human touch.

Why Does AI Need Humans?

That may just sound overly optimistic and naive, but I’m actually looking at this from a really practical perspective. Because what I’ve found is that the best AI outputs rely on my human brain gives it the best information to work with.

If I told AI, “Give me a list of three ways to engage employees,” it’s going to give me something that I easily could’ve found on the web myself. But if I know in my heart that my employees could use more recognition, more opportunities for learning and growth, and more mentorship—that those are the things that would help them thrive—I can give the technology more specific information to help it help me. And the end result is that the AI can give me something that’s tailored to my needs.

That’s possible because I know my team. I know them as individuals, and I know them as real people. I know how they work together. I know who they are beyond their work.

AI enhances my ideas, but it doesn’t originate them.

That’s how we need to continue to think about how AI is going to fit into our ever-changing world. I’m sure that if you told any caveman that they would be able to use a phone to call someone so far away that a yell wouldn’t reach them, they would think that was bonkers. But our ancestors were honing tools of their own that made their lives easier—the wheel, the spear, the grinding stone. And look at us today.

That technology all has one thing in common—humans created it. People designed that technology for other people to use. People will continue to be at the heart—from designer to end user and every role in between—of this new technology and innovation that comes after.

So let’s try not to ever lose sight of that. The technology is advancing. New tools are being introduced that will help streamline our processes, help us build systems faster, and send documentation quicker. It’s going to help a lot, in a whole host of different ways. 

But it will never and could never replace humans in this world.

All of that means we have to be even more thoughtful about what human leadership looks like. Because the previous version of leadership managed people with the same approach as managing tasks.

Now that more and more tasks can be delegated to technology, your leadership needs to become even more human—focus on the humans on your team, understand how to support and empower humans, bring your own humanity to your role.

Embracing Human-Centered Leadership

So then the real question becomes, “What does human leadership look like?”

Human-centric leadership is based on these core human values: the need for social connection, psychological safety, growth, and meaning.

If that’s the kind leadership you want to bring to your workplace so that you can inspire people to reach their full potential, I invite you to come be a part of my 100% Human Leadership Program, which I designed to help you dig into those core values and explore how you can leverage them to lead with intentionality and put humanity at the heart of how you lead.

We’ll be talking about how you can foster social connection by communicating with care and curiosity. We’ll look at how you can create a foundation of psychological safety by prioritizing the well-being of your team.

We’ll look at how shifting to a win-or-learn mindset promotes growth over perfection. And we’ll explore how to help your people connect their personal purpose to your organization’s mission, bringing even greater meaning to the work they do each day.

AI can be a powerful tool, even an ally, if we use to recapture the time we spend on rote tasks and streamlining processes so that we can focus on the human aspects of our work, where there’s real potential of innovation.

Human-centered leaders have the opportunity to help people navigate the dynamic, ever-changing world, responding with intention and approaching change with wonder rather than fear. 

Those leaders are irreplaceable—today, tomorrow, and to the end of time.

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When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help…

1. 100% Human Leadership Program: This workshop gives you the tools, strategies, and support you need to cultivate human-centric workplace that empowers your team to thrive.

2. The Visualization Masterclass: Go beyond just daydreaming about your goals and learn how to connect visualization with tangible results.

3. Leading With A Growth Mindset: Join over 119,000 other learners inside Leading With A Growth Mindset. This comprehensive course will teach you how to strengthen your greatest asset: your mindset, and create a thriving workplace.