The Things Only You Can Do
Imagine this conversation:
Michael: “Be right back – I’m going to the bathroom.”
Luke: “OK. Have one for me, would you? I’m too busy here.”
Michael: “Um… what?”
There are things only you can do.
First, there are bodily functions – eating, breathing, sleeping, going to the bathroom. No matter how great a manager you are, these things can’t be delegated…
Then there are certain work responsibilities, like those that are regulated by law – tasks needing your authority, like signing documents that require your approval, conducting complex negotiations in the key areas of company activity, or delegating anything that requires your authority. So, even giving someone a power-of-attorney to act in your name requires you to give that authority.
Third, there’s personal development, whether that’s physical exercise or learning. (Wouldn’t it be nice to get someone else to go for that 6 a.m. run or read that business book for you?)
Finally, you have building and maintaining relationships – for a manager, this would include recruiting, dismissing, evaluating employees, motivating your team, and developing subordinates. For regular employees, it’s about cultivating that workplace chemistry that creates an atmosphere of positivity and getting stuff done.
The temptation today is to let AI take the strain for many office tasks. But this can be a mistake. For example, entrusting your legal responsibilities to a bot would be a recipe for disaster. But that’s an extreme example – no one would take such a risk. (Would they?)
The less obvious dangers come when people think AI can handle learning or building relationships for them. Take learning. It’s tempting to avoid having to read a weighty book about the latest development in the world of business by feeding its PDF into a chatbot and asking for a one-page summary. Yes, that saves time—but have you really learned anything? By skating over the surface of the topic, have you missed the deeper meaning?
AI is currently very poor at spotting nuance, the kind of learning that comes from reading between the lines. I’m often tickled by exchanges on X (when will we finally stop saying “formerly known as Twitter”?) after someone posts a typically British joke. You know the sort – very specific cultural references to uniquely British tropes, be they 1970s sitcoms, Gregg’s, the Wealdstone Raider, or Ronnie Pickering. (Google might help our non-British readers with the previous sentence.)
There’s usually a reply beneath saying “@Grok please explain this”. (Grok being X’s chatbot – now there’s something I’d never have envisaged writing 20 years ago….) Sadly, Grok usually gets utterly muddled but is still keen to please, like a little puppy who’s just tramped mud all over your nice clean carpet. “This seems to be a humorous sideswipe at <insert random and inaccurate noun here>,” it wags, enthusiastically, only confusing the commenter even more.
I’d love to give you some examples, but unfortunately none of them is suitable for publication here….
Building relationships is another area where AI is doomed to fail. The trouble is, if anyone but you tries to build the relationship, you’re on a hiding to nothing.
Say Ania has a new client, Beata. Ania wants to build a working relationship with Beata, but is way too busy with other projects. So she asks Ciprian to build the relationship for her. You see the problem? If everything works out, then Ciprian will have the great working relationship with Beata, not Ania.
The same goes for using AI in this respect. Your new client will sense they’re talking to a robot, and if by some miracle they don’t notice, then whatever relationship exists will be between them and your chatbot. What happens when they phone you? Or come to the office to meet you?
Authentic human relationships are the key to getting stuff done in business, and AI doesn’t have that capacity yet. I’m sure in 10 years, AI will be seamless and everyone will be using it successfully (assuming it still needs us around, of course).
But right now, remember there are some things only you can do.