Is the AI honeymoon over?
Maybe it’s time to be more strategic about slowing down.
Every January I include my goals for success. This year, I’m prioritizing real human connection and breaking up with the bot. A quick Google search pulls up the #1 key leadership topics for 2025, and it turns out I’m not alone. The “human factor” is trending. The hard truth is our workplace has changed and what’s changed the most is that people have stopped talking to each other.
For many years, tech has driven the fast in “fast beats slow” and made it easier to be first with something new. I wouldn’t exchange the power technology offers, except for one thing: I’d minimize the current embrace of AI to become our primary way to interact with customers.
In other words, maybe it’s time to be more strategic about slowing down.
It’s estimated that more than a third of client service organizations rely on digital assistants and conversational AI as the primary way to increase engagement with customers. To me, this talking point is worrisome.
If artificial intelligence paves the way for a better customer experience, what exactly is it that customers are experiencing that we can’t improve on by doubling down on being human?
Another thing that worries me is whether our focus on closing the technical skills gap has contributed to a decline in our soft skills — our ability to communicate and relate to one another.
If we continue to rely on technology for short cuts, what will that do to our ability to form meaningful relationships with the people we work with and the people we serve?
AI improves our ability to outsource transactions, sort large amounts of information and automate essential processes. But whether it’s resolving a human-scale problem, addressing sensitive issues with compassion or discussing the nuances of value, there is no differentiator that will deliver a better customer experience than an empowered, enthusiastic and empathetic member of your team.
Over the course of my career, people told me I have “Bruce-isms” — wisdom that guides every strategy. One of them is: it’s hard to fire a friend. What I mean by that is that customers have no problem dropping an impersonal service company. But customers with whom you have built understanding, loyalty and mutual respect, and with whom you have maintained exceptional reputational value, is a friend — someone you treat like a person and not just a transaction.
I live by this “ism” and have had the privilege to have people in my career from all over the industry who started out as customers but who became colleagues or partners and life-long friends. They are shared-journey relationships that cannot be made better by technology, even as we use technology to stay in touch.
The paradox of being human in a tech world is a continual state of balancing the limitations and benefits of both.
Create a tech strategy that works for the inside and the outside of your business, and make sure the platforms you choose work just as well, if not better, for the customers and employees who drive your business forward.
Lastly, the digital natives joining your company are so used to their technology they prefer to live there. We need to convince them that technical capabilities alone are not enough; we need to help the youngest members of our workforce improve their ability to be substantive and well-informed, and develop relationship-building skills if they are to be successful.
Pursuing excellence is what we’re in business for, but we need to aim higher. We need to highlight our humanity and create a better experience for everyone. Keep serving, keep listening and keep building your relationships. Ask questions, read books and soak up wisdom from mentors. The more you learn from others, the more you’ll learn about yourself and the more you’ll stretch to learn new ways of doing old things better.
Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape January 2025 (c)
