I was sitting with a leadership team last month. Global business, serious AI budget, millions already invested. “You have the tools,” I said, “but can anyone point to a workflow you have actually re‑engineered with AI at the centre, ready for the future?”
Silence.
That moment tells you everything about where we really are with AI.
Last week, everyone was talking about AI taking jobs. Matt Shumer’s viral post “Something Big is Happening”. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns that AI could eliminate half of entry‑level white‑collar roles, and Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman says most white‑collar tasks will be automated in 12-18 months.
Amidst all this noise, I was invited onto BBC Bristol and Times Radio to provide my global view on this.
Here is the thing. The fears are understandable, but they are overhyped.
McKinsey’s latest research shows that today’s technology could automate 57 per cent of US work hours, right now. So the capability is real. But capability is not the same as adoption, and it is definitely not the same as integration into your existing workflows.
AI is not coming for your job. It is coming for slices of your job.
Think of your role as a stack of tasks. AI is slicing through that stack, task by task, like a surgeon.
It takes the repetitive layers.
The drafting.
The data processing.
The routine reasoning.
It leaves the parts that need a human pulse.
The judgement.
The empathy.
The relationships.
That’s not replacement. That’s redistribution.
I’m in the trenches of organisations around the world, every week. After hundreds of client engagements, the recurring theme is clear. We are not ready.
Companies are not curious enough to explore what the tools can deliver today. They are not looking at their workflows, task by task, and asking, “which slices can AI take, and which slices become more valuable because of it?”
So why does it feel so scary?
Because there is a massive information asymmetry gap.
The real risk is not that AI takes your job in 18 months. The real risk is that your organisation bolts AI onto broken workflows designed for a different era and calls it transformation.
Nearly 90 per cent of companies have invested in AI. Fewer than 40 per cent are seeing measurable gains. That is not a technology problem. That is a leadership problem.
And from what I am seeing in the trenches, it is a curiosity problem too.
So here is my challenge to you:
Stop asking, “Will AI take my job?” Start asking, “Which slices of my work can AI take, so I can focus on the slices that only I can do?”
The way to close the information asymmetry is to get digitally curious. Try the tools. Map your tasks. Experiment on small workflows, not your whole organisation at once.
Be digitally curious. Start now.
I work with leadership teams and their organisations to cut through the noise and build a practical plan for how AI can actually work for you. Why not get in touch to see if I can help you.
