Will AI Take My Job?
Welcome to The Coaching Couch. This is the place where talented insight professionals can seek out support for anything they think is getting in the way of feeling, being and giving their best at work.
Today’s question is: Will AI Take My Job?
I think this is a valid and pervasive concern right now. It’s true that AI is already fundamentally changing our industry, and change is always unsettling, because it means leaving behind things we got comfortable with and embracing things we don’t yet know how to navigate.
This leaves a big question… what does this mean for me?
#1 – THINK of disruption as a good thing
For too long we’ve asked bright young people like you to perform laborious tasks that AI can now do in seconds. As the internet exploded, we ended up with huge data sets, hours of video footage and reams of online content that required days of human time to process, understand and extract a compelling story and evidence from.
Now, we can reclaim this time and start stretching clever minds, like yours.
As Babita Earle (MD, International, Zappi) wisely said: “The role of insight leaders becomes even more exciting and important in building the right data assets and asking the right questions.”
#2 – Re-frame how you FEEL
Focus not on what you are losing, but what you could gain.
Disruption forces us to look at what we’re uniquely great at and fire up some dormant strengths.
Now is the time for you to grow into the really exciting and challenging parts of the job – making the data meaningful and delivering the so what.
#3 – DO get comfortable with change
- Take Charge – when we understand something, it presents less of a threat. Get comfortable using AI, creating your own ring-fenced AI area of relevant content, training it with powerful questions and using it to generate quick, meaningful insight.
- Collaborate – great work and ideas flow from the connections between people. AI liberates us from solo deep work and give us more time to debate ideas, listen to the counter-perspective or hear the view of a quieter or more junior colleague.
- Double down on your unique strengths – ask yourself or those around you to tell you what you’re really great at, that the machines can’t do… Creating? Challenging? Caring? Storytelling? Building Relationships? Communicating? Motivating and Inspiring Others? Collaborating? Selling?
Wrapping Up
Yes, change is unsettling, but a more optimistic future awaits.
I think we’ll see a shift in skills from IQ to EQ & CQ: as the machines can lead on IQ, humans can lead on EQ & CQ (emotional intelligence & cultural intelligence).
To build a job for yourself in the AI era understand how you contribute to building brilliant, impactful insight, about people, with people and for people.
If this resonated with you or you have an experience to share, drop a comment in the notes. If you have a question you want answered in a future column, get in touch.
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Coaching Corner is a bi-monthly column by Zoe Fenn. Zoe is a qualified coach with 15 years of agency-side experience, as a researcher, manager and leader. She now runs her own business, You Burn Bright, helping talented insight professionals become effective leaders. Her next group programme is only £500pp and will launch mid-September.
Get in touch if you’re curious: zoe@youburnbright.com