Fulkerson: AI in leadership | The Journal Record

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Aaron Fulkerson

First, let me say that I did not use ChatGPT to write any of this article. Not that I haven’t used it, or that I won’t use it, but since I’m talking about AI, I thought it important to maintain separation.

There seems to be lots of anxiety around the mainstreaming of artificial intelligence. And the anxiety typically manifests in two distinct buckets: employment (will AI take my job?), and then a broader societal fear of AI taking over and somehow causing the destruction of humanity. Cue The Terminator music.

The next two decades promise to be a significant reshaping of the world of work, to be sure. This breathtaking advancement of technology will touch most aspects of employment. However, for most of you, I do not believe that artificial intelligence will take your job.

A human who uses artificial intelligence better than you will absolutely take your job.

It’s just like giving the same assignment to two different people and arming one with a computer and the other with a pencil and paper. The person without the technology will be left behind. And so it is with AI.

There is a Maslow’s “Needs Hierarchy” principal at work here, and it’s one we should embrace. As AI can lean into doing more routine tasks, it will free people up to do what people do best: think creatively, live in the abstract; to dream and to engage vision. All really good things, and frankly where we should be spending our time.

Leaders can use ChatGPT to learn leadership lessons, game out an organizational structure or create the lion’s share of a strategic plan. It can get you down the road on those things right now. Most of what it can do still requires refinement from a person, but it will only get better and better.

So, use it for those things. Right now. Get comfortable with it. Download the ChatGPT thingy and see what it can do.

But we know that the lesson outline, or the org chart, or the strategic plan is just the start of making something happen. Our ability to engage people, inspire others and align around a common vision will still be the core of what it means to be a leader. AI will never change that.

As for the destruction of society, I’ll be afraid only when Arnie shows up on a motorcycle.

Aaron Fulkerson is a partner at the consulting firm Schnake Turnbo Frank.

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