Generative AI - Consider the Value vs Hoopla Equation

Quick Question: What percentage of your workday is spent communicating and/or collaborating?

If you’re like most people I talk to, the answer is 75-99% of your time. Lean back and think about this number for a moment. Whatever your actual title, communication and collaboration are your job.

In fact, we all possess have a secret job title, written in invisible ink on our business cards.

The vast majority of us spend the vast majority of our time as professional communicators (no matter what the industry, company, or role).

Countless times a day, week, and year, you and I are emailing, meeting, presenting, managing, leading, brainstorming, writing, texting, selling, marketing…using ideas in our brains and words that flow from our mouths or keyboards.

AI isn’t going to replace your human intelligence. The best it can do is augment. AI (for all the current hype) doesn’t even compare in importance to effective communication and collaboration skills.

Now, is effective communication as exciting as the new tech? Trick question. Actually, I’m convinced it is the key to winning…if professional and personal success excites you, that’s where to invest.

Here’s how I see the equation.

Think about it: what do young people growing up, and those already in the workforce need most to set them up for success? Human communication skills. Not algorithms.

To inform, align, sell, motivate, and negotiate - communication clarity is the driver of success. Not AI. It can help process and shape words, but that makes it a fancy communication tool. It’s not the Ace in the deck of cards. It’s not the holy grail.

So let’s get to the point: where should your training and development investments be directed? Toward the new shiny object, or toward equipping your team with the most value-adding and mission-critical skills that always apply, for everyone and every situation?

To ask the question is to answer it. Train for what matters most, every day and every year: Communication Clarity. The best practices are all lined up in my book, The Point.

This is why I facilitate high-impact Clarity workshops for teams and companies:

Generative AI is great for some things. But human intelligence fueled by clarity is what gets the job done.

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