Here is what I’m not going to say in today’s email:
“AI will make us more human.”
As more and more people (and companies) seem to be hitting their stride with AI and using it in their day-to-day, we’ve entered the era of hot takes.
Every where I look on the internet, there seems to be a thought leader sharing their POV on what AI means for their domain expertise.
And their takes all seem to boil down to this:
“AI will allow us to be more human — we’ll have more time for value added work and connections so focus on honing your relationships.”
Now you might not spend as much time as I do consuming content on the internet as I do, and so you aren’t quite as exasperated with these perspectives as I am…
But, here’s the thing:
These takes are right.
AI is automating menial tasks and we can already feel how it’s greatly increasing the efficiency of our workflows, which will ultimate force us to level-up — to hone our EQ, critical thinking and instincts.
AND…
It’s a lot more nuanced for women.
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Before I say more, I feel like I need to establish my AI chops.
I am not an expert (this statement is the perfect highlight of what I’m about to describe below), but I am an enthusiastic and regular AI user.
As a solopreneur, AI offers the promise of affordably scaling my business so I’m thrilled about the potential. I have a handful of AI-enabled tools in my tech stack, use ChatGPT and Perplexity as daily thought partners and marketers and plan to dabble with custom GPTs and AI Agents this summer.
I also think AI is rapidly disrupting the coaching business, so I read a lot about it (more on this later this summer!).
So while I’m not an expert, I have a good sense of what’s it’s like to use AI to power my work.
BTW, I know we have a full range of AI adoption within this community, ranging from super-users to neophytes but this conversation is relevant to us all.
So with all that said, here’s my hot take on AI:
AI is going to be the innovation that finally forces women to break the habits we rely on to be successful, but ultimately hold us back, and finally play big.
I keep thinking back to the first ten years of my career.
I built my confidence and reputation on being thorough, detail-oriented and always willing to go above and beyond.
I felt most confident sparring with leaders after I had spent hours in my excel model, meticulously cleaning the data, crafting elaborate formulas and looking at the answer from every angle.
I set myself up for promotion to Engagement Manager by taking on extra credit, doing prospect research and creating business development decks before and after my regular workday (ugh, and late on Friday evenings).
I further established myself as a project leader by being able to craft an artful work plan, tracking every single detail and always planning two to three steps ahead.
I distinguished myself with depth, rigor and effort.
And I know I’m not the only one in this community to do so, as I’ll never forget what one of my client’s once said to me: “If I can’t be the smartest person in the room, I can be the hardest working.”
What?! This woman is so wildly impressive and a fantastic leader, but her belief at that moment perfectly captures what so many women (all of us?) default to believing:
Our work effort is our greatest asset.
Which then impacts how we show up in every single professional interaction - not wanting to share an opinion until we’ve been able to analyze the facts, believing our excellent work product will speak for itself (without self-promoting) and undervaluing our other strengths and capabilities.
We know (both from our lived experience and research) that these habits prevent women from being seen as natural leaders and I’d argue, lead to burnout and a lot of stress and self-doubt.
Here’s the thing:
AI does all the “extra credit” for us now.
All three of the scenarios I described above can done with AI in a fraction of the time.
In fact if we spend time on these tasks, we’ll eventually be seen as inefficient or lagging behind.
The hard work crutch that we women have relied on for decades has been eliminated.
AI is calling us forth to own our capabilities, lean in our with expertise and really to just operate with more swagger.
So in addition to learning the brass tacks of AI tools and getting practiced in using them in our day-to-day work, we have to learn an entire new way of being…
One that is more vocal, more proud of and trusting of our instincts, unique ways of thinking and experiences. And ultimately, more visible and more impactful on the work being done around us.
It’s a huge, exciting and - I get it - potentially unnerving shift.
I’ll be sharing more later this summer on how to hone your value proposition, instincts and other strategies in the age of AI - stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you in the comments…
Do you agree or disagree? What is your “hot take” on AI for high-achieving women?
Totally agree, Cydnee!!
This is gold: “AI does all the ‘extra credit’ for us now”