At a recent networking lunch, I was sharing my complicated feelings about the rise of A.I. and a somewhat smug
attendee chirped: “At this point, NOT using A.I. is basically corporate malfeasance.”
Dang, I thought. Is that true?
It very well may be.
This is not a post on the ethics of using or not using Artificial Intelligence. To be transparent, Alejo is finding thoughtful
opportunities to leverage it, albeit in small ways, as so many are. We try to be conscious of using it exclusively as a tool,
as a sharpener and extender of our ingenuity, never as a replacement for human creativity or soulfulness. One of our
core values, after all, is “double down on the human.”
What interests me more is the related, perhaps complementary, rise in our collective need for Emotional
Intelligence. Let’s be clear: I’m not suggesting there’s ever been a time in history we’ve had enough EQ. The term, which
is closely related to Maslow’s concept of “emotional strength” and other similar concepts dating back to the mid-20th
century, was popularized in its current form by Daniel Goleman’s landmark 1995 book. Goleman himself admits he was
simply proposing a term to gather and crystallize a set of skills that had been a part of human dealings since the dawn of
civilization — self-awareness, empathy, resilience, and so on. Goleman’s contribution, more than anything else, was to
assert the importance of these so-called “soft skills” and to demand their place at the table alongside the “hard”
intelligences we had been emphasizing for so long, via aptitude tests like the IQ exam or the SAT.
I’m not here to make a case for the importance of Emotional Intelligence. That topic has been written about extensively
by people with a lot more letters behind their names than me. At this stage, if the real world hasn’t taught you the
monumental significance of social and emotional skills, you either work in desperate isolation from other human beings,
or you’re trying hard to remain in the dark.
Either way, you’re not my audience.
What I’d like to reflect on is how the rise of accessible AI for common use, in households and offices, has intensified the
need for the set of skills we call EQ. It’s not that they’re newly important; they’ve always been. It’s that suddenly, as the
chapter we’ve called the “Information Age” is shut closed with a thud — the internet killed it and AI cremated its
remains — we’re left with far fewer variables to distinguish between good, better and best. Access to information …
most people with Wi-Fi enjoy a comparable amount. Access to time-saving tools … same. Access to copywriters, editors,
graphic designers — ditto. Many of the playing fields wherein we’ve done battle have been leveled forevermore. These
days, all you need is an internet connection and you have the power of a secretary, a videographer, legal advice,
operations support, etc. … all at your fingertips.
So what’s left?
What’s left are the differentiators that artists have excelled at for centuries: the ability to engage, to connect, to delight
and surprise. The capacity to weave a story. To listen deeply to another person. To move and be moved. Ultimately, when
everyone has access to similar tools in prep, the territory that’s left to compete in is the small stretch between you and
another sentient being. The stretch between your lips and another’s ears, or to put it more poetically, between your heart
and theirs, is now the only terrain we have left to distinguish ourselves. To stand out. To make our mark.
As AI becomes more powerful, more accessible, more ubiquitous, what we should be asking ourselves as leaders is
actually: what CAN’T A.I. do for me?
Because what it can’t do for you, it can’t do for others. And that’s precisely where we should invest.
So to my smug friend at the entrepreneurs’ luncheon, I didn’t have the wherewithal to respond in the moment, but here’s
my reply, a few months late:
You might be right that not up-skilling in AI right now is corporate malfeasance. But by the same token, and more so
every day, not making an equal investment in the Social & Emotional Skills of your team is worse.
Because AI skills are coming, inevitably. Some will be faster to adopt than others. But just like we all developed a
baseline competence using smart phones, their spread is inevitable.
Your ability to capture attention and do something with it, however … is not.