Are you using what makes us different from AI?

For the last few days, I've been thinking about the future human role in AI-empowered organizations.

I don't think we have it right when we talk about 5 to 10 years from now when AI has permeated all levels of modern business. We tell ourselves that human differentiation (and future jobs) will come from our unique empathy, creativity, or judgment.

However, if people aren't willing to use those qualities today, there is no way they are going to be able to differentiate based on them in time to meaningfully participate as AI continues to advance.

Inflexibility is easier to program than flexibility. If you allow no branches in the flow diagram, the critical path is the only path.

-

While this sounds very high brow, it is a result of working with a client who is trying to save a large organization tons of money. The senior executives at the large organization get it. They see the upcoming crisis and know they desperately need my client's solution to avoid disaster.

But... like so many others, they all crash together upon the rocks of the large organization's bureaucracy.

The large organization knows this. Every person we've talked to rolls their eyes in frustration about the rigidness of their bureaucracy.

The individuals in the bureaucracy take pride in their inflexibility. They are absolutely determined that no exceptions or deviations from process are permissible or even conceivable.

Back when I was doing offshoring and automation, I used to ask how many times a human in a process used their creativity or initiative. If the answer was near zero, there was absolutely no barrier to moving that work to automation or somewhere else on the planet.

When I'm leading an organization, we all benefit when my people recognize edge cases. They recognize situations where either the system didn't anticipate, or the situation requires a different approach.

I believe that our willingness to recognize where the system doesn't work, and work with our AI to innovate solutions in real time, is the most important part humans will still play in the future enterprise. We have to be willing to encourage that as leaders, and deliver that as contributors.

When you look at your organization today, are they ready for that?