We are living through the deepest transformation of work and life I have experienced. Several forces are converging, but artificial intelligence is the most powerful of them, and it is spreading at unprecedented speed. Two years after ChatGPT's launch, almost 40% of US adults aged 18 to 64 were already using generative AI, a level the internet took about five years and the personal computer about twelve years to reach.1
What I cannot outsource to AI is the general framing, the creative arc and the synthesis. Even less can it replace what top-management work ultimately rests on: trust.
What I cannot outsource to AI is the general framing, the creative arc and the synthesis. Even less can it replace what top-management work ultimately rests on: trust.
Accompanying leaders through consequential decisions, making their implications tangible, and steering initiatives through competing interests and resistance until they deliver takes senior experience and personal credibility that no model can provide.
So I do not think or work less. My focus has shifted toward framing the right questions, judging what matters and working with the people who have to carry the change. For me, this has been truly exhilarating. It amplifies my reach, makes me considerably more effective and opens up possibilities I could not have imagined a few years ago.
The potential downsides are just as real: cognitive atrophy, social isolation and a significant ecological footprint. Moreover, sooner or later, AI will reshape almost every work process, and every job will be affected to some degree. At the same time, what AI cannot provide gains value: emotional depth, judgment, ethics and human connection.
So far, except for entry-level workers,2 studies show no measurable effect on overall employment,3 and new roles will emerge. But a fundamental change in what people do and how they do it is inevitable. This change poses profound challenges for individuals,
This change poses profound challenges for individuals, organizations and society alike, and creates a growing need for transformation. Organizations must rethink their strategy, structures and cultures. Individuals must rethink how they define, create and market their value, and how they organize their lives around it.
If we are heading toward far greater value creation with far less human work, the question becomes personal: where do I want to spend my time? It is a classic moment to rethink one's purpose and develop a new vision that gives direction amid all this change. This is exactly where my work begins.
AI has also changed my own work as a knowledge worker profoundly. The models and tools I use are configured with my own frameworks, standards and data and fully integrated into my communication and productivity applications.
They automate and augment my work in both consulting and coaching: learning, research, visualization and creating materials now take a fraction of the time, at higher quality.
What I cannot outsource to AI is the general framing, the creative arc and the synthesis. Even less can it replace what top‑management work ultimately rests on: trust.
Accompanying leaders through consequential decisions, making their implications tangible, and steering initiatives through competing interests and resistance until they deliver takes senior experience and personal credibility that no model can provide.
So I do not think or work less. My focus has shifted toward framing the right questions, judging what matters and working with the people who have to carry the change. For me, this has been truly exhilarating. It amplifies my reach, makes me considerably more effective and opens up possibilities I could not have imagined a few years ago.
The potential downsides are just as real: cognitive atrophy, social isolation and a significant ecological footprint. Moreover, sooner or later, AI will reshape almost every work process, and every job will be affected to some degree. At the same time, what AI cannot provide gains value: emotional depth, judgment, ethics and human connection.
So far, except for entry-level workers, studies show no measurable effect on overall employment, and new roles will emerge. But a fundamental change in what people do and how they do it is inevitable.
This change poses profound challenges for individuals, organizations and society alike, and creates a growing need for transformation. Organizations must rethink their strategy, structures and cultures.
Individuals must rethink how they define, create and market their value, and how they organize their lives around it.
If we are heading toward far greater value creation with far less human work, the question becomes personal: where do I want to spend my time? It is a classic moment to rethink one's purpose and develop a new vision that gives direction amid all this change. This is exactly where my work begins.
Time will tell where all this leads. In my view, AI is both a mirror and an accelerator of human behavior, and how it plays out is in our own hands.
Time will tell where all this leads. In my view, AI is both a mirror and an accelerator of human behavior, and how it plays out is in our own hands. I decided to look ahead with optimism: used wisely, AI can free us to focus on what makes us human, and help many people and organizations grow into a future that is more their own.
