Mastering Irreplaceability Amidst a Plague of Automation
Rewritten Article:
Meet Shayne Fitz-Coy, the brains behind Sabot Family Companies, a long-haul investment firm established in 2016 in sunny Stanford, California.
Lately, I've found myself locked in a battle of wits with my digital counterpart, ChatGPT, at work. When I pen an email to my team, responses I receive often feel too robotic, echoing generic scripts suggested by email bots or hollow, albeit polished, replies crafted by AI.
Two uneasy feelings rise within me when faced with these impersonal responses. First, I become enraged. I pride myself on crafting meaningful, thoughtful messages, hand-written with my own thoughts and fingers. It's disheartening to get automated responses in return.
Second, I grow weary. If they're merely intermediaries standing between me and their AI, then why do I even need them? I can just chat away with the AI myself.
I also worry about my employees and any modern worker who's discovered the convenience of 'botting up' their jobs. It seems they're yet to realize the detrimental impact of their actions. I've heard rumblings from students pursuing computer science that they're anxious about their future employment. They have good reason to be.
AI on the Rise
As head of service enterprises, I've got a couple of coders on my team. Email, too, is encoded information, and my team's reliance on ChatGPT to streamline their work means they're training the bots on the code of their jobs – and these bots grow smarter by the day.
Remember the frustrating, unhelpful bots you used to encounter on websites? Well, say hello to their evolved versions. Now, you can train a bot to digest and regurgitate entire user manuals, all while maintaining the tone and voice you prefer. If you're not delighted, just ask it to start over. Bots bend to your will, without complaining or tiring out. You can bounce ideas off them as many times as you want, and they keep pace.
If I asked my team why they're better than a bot, they'd likely mention that the bot lacks a mind and good judgment, and sometimes, it fails to grasp the context. But a deeper analysis shows that the bot has no chance of original thought, unlike human employees. What they don't understand is that humans excel at managing these bots better than the bots can manage themselves – at least for now.
Bots have indeed become quite formidable. They can perform many tasks that human employees do, and they do them with unparalleled precision and speed. However, they're still limited to digital work – tasks that didn't even exist as human jobs a century ago. There's a long way to go before a bot can replicate the human touch.
I observe lower-level managers dedicating their time to training bots to mimic employees, with the goal of clearing a path towards unprecedented productivity. Their bosses, in turn, focus on turning a bot into a mini-manager that oversees an army of bot lieutenants.
The Human Factor
The endgame here might be clear, but the silver lining is less so: What role should humans play in this AI-dominated world? Should we strive to delay the inevitable as long as possible? Should we instigate a revolt against these digital infiltrators? I wouldn't advocate for that. The pro-AI camp is well-fortified.
Instead, I'd encourage everyone to focus on work that bots can't do – perhaps never will. Cultivate your skills in these areas, and thrive. Every company and every job has work that bots can't handle with ease. Master it.
Every employee possesses the potential to become indispensable even in this world of AI, provided they're willing to step up. But they have to put in the effort. If you keep ceding the control to your bot when it comes to writing emails, chances are, you'll be asked to stop striving eventually.
A Strategy to Stay Irreplaceable in the Age of AI
For leaders aiming to demonstrate value and prepare their teams for success, consider the following guidelines:
1. Audit Your 'Bot-Proof' Aspects
Identify areas of your job that require uniquely human abilities, such as creativity, relationship-building, and fundraising. Make a conscious effort to further develop these skills. In sales, allow AI to handle follow-up emails and proposals while you foster human connections and understand the client's unique needs. Carve out time in your schedule to nurture those relationships. For instance, you could learn to golf, or simply grab a coffee or a pedicure with clients.
2. Redefine Success Metrics
shift your focus from quantity to quality. Achieve this by organizing team brainstorming sessions, Kaizen sprints, client presentations, and problem-solving workshops. Lead by example: delegate routine tasks to AI while taking on tasks that require nuanced understanding and emotional intelligence.
3. Fostering 'Human-AI Symbiosis'
The successful companies of tomorrow will be those that combine human wisdom and AI capabilities to deliver superior service. Equip your employees to become skilled AI prompters, and establish clear boundaries for when it's appropriate to lean on AI (routine, scripted communications and data analysis) versus when human intervention is essential (sensitive client issues, strategic decisions, and novel tasks).
The key to staying relevant isn't to resist AI; it's to become an integral part of it. With foresight and effort, employees and leaders can evolve to steer AI rather than succumb to it.
- Shayne Fitz-Coy, the cofounder of Sabot Family Companies, expressed concerns about the increasing reliance on AI such as ChatGPT in the workplace, fearing that it may lead to impersonal responses and potentially replace human jobs.
- However, Shayne also acknowledges the potential benefits of AI, particularly in tasks that didn't exist as human jobs a century ago, and encourages employees to focus on areas where humans excel, such as creativity, relationship-building, and fundraising.
- In an effort to stay relevant and indispensable in the age of AI, Shayne suggests auditing 'bot-proof' aspects of one's job, redefining success metrics towards quality rather than quantity, and fostering a 'human-AI symbiosis' by effectively using AI for routine tasks while retaining control over tasks requiring nuanced understanding and emotional intelligence.
