Opinions expressed by business partners are their own.
The key path
- As AI adoption accelerates, leaders are increasingly examining where the technology fits — and where it can be optimized — in managing people and performance.
- The article explores the tension between efficiency gains and the human element of leadership that technology can support but not replace.
When the AI boom began, many leaders felt the rush. Tasks that once took hours suddenly took minutes. Hiring pipelines once again felt manageable. Content creation made easy. Naturally, leaders began to ask, if AI can do it all, what else could we leave behind?
This question is where I know things well: culture, leadership, communication, coaching and motivation – the areas I am hired to speak and write about. And this is where some leaders start to get themselves into trouble.
I’m not an AI expert, nor do I pretend to be. But because I give presentations and lead training for franchise systems and front-line managers, I’m often drawn into conversations about tools that promise to improve culture or performance. As the AI hype grew, more tech companies approached me to endorse their platforms. Most position themselves as culture boosters or performance enhancers. I don’t charge a referral fee, so my opinion is not for sale – but I want to know. I’m always looking for tools that truly help the businesses I serve.
What gets me is not the technology itself – it’s that some companies are applying it to the most human parts of their business.
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AI tools that hold great promise
One platform showed me aggregated data across the franchise system and made recommendations individually for each owner and their supporting field coaches. If it detects high turnover and low customer satisfaction, it can suggest: “Improve the company culture.”
Of course, telling a basketball player to “score more points” is also technically good advice. But without howit’s just noise.
I’ve also seen tools that try to gamify the culture by offering badges or rewards for compliments and internal communication. It’s an interesting idea – but culture isn’t something you win. This is something you build. Culture is the shared beliefs, values, habits and behaviors that develop over time. These are social norms that define how people treat each other. A tool can support this dynamic, but it cannot create or manage it.
Culture is emotional. It is psychological. This is human. AI doesn’t feel these things, which means it can’t teach people how to create.
Where AI hires is instantly visible to humans
AI has revolutionized jobs — sometimes for the better, sometimes not.
My son recently applied for a job where the “interview” consisted of an on-screen prompt and a countdown clock. No conversation. No conversation. He did not move forward with one.
A few weeks later, the same company played a similar role. He applied again – this time knowing what the process felt like. He was not more experienced or more qualified. He was more comfortable performing for a two-minute video count. That’s why he got it. This system was not measuring talent. It was measuring familiarity with the system.
Some of the best hires I’ve ever seen aren’t polished interviewers. They are stable, loyal, polite and kind. If you’re sitting next to them, you’ll feel it. But a timed video prompt will not select it. Nor will it create the psychological safety that helps candidates overcome nerves and reveal who they really are.
There is a difference between gathering information about a person and actually understanding who they are. One needs data. Others need to be human.
Where AI helps – and where it hurts
AI is great at optimizing operations. It can organize schedules, track metrics, analyze trends, document procedures and level insights that once took days to gather. I use myself for research and idea development.
But AI becomes a liability when businesses use it as a replacement for leadership.
Ai cannot read the look on someone’s face when someone is having a bad day. It may not see the silent employee who is actually your most trusted performer. When a customer needs reassurance, he can’t coach someone through frustration or feeling. It cannot create trust.
Leaders sometimes forget that the most important parts of their job are invisible: tone, empathy, motivation and communication. AI can’t feel, so it can’t make anyone else feel anything either. And people can tell the difference.
Everyone likes to say that they are “in the people business.” But when you hand over your most human responsibilities to software, you’re no longer in the people business—you’re just in the business. And people feel that way too.
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Let AI make you better, not colder
AI has exactly one place in business – an important place. Use it:
- Create job postings
- A sailing ship
- Track performance trends
- Manage schedules
- Automatic reminders
- Document processes
- Summarize the meetings
- Provide operational clarity
These are smart uses. But when it comes to coaching, hiring, motivation and culture, the onus is still on humans.
The high performers I see—whether franchisees, franchisors, owner-operators, or corporate teams—use AI to increase clarity and speed and leaders to increase trust, connection, and meaning. AI can help your business run better. Only people can make it feel better
AI will improve. It will become faster, smarter and more intuitive. But it will never replace the elements of business that keep employees, return customers, and grow companies.
If you say you’re in the people business, the real job isn’t finding ways to automate people — it’s finding ways for them to show up. AI can run your systems. People run your business. And the companies that remember will win.
The key path
- As AI adoption accelerates, leaders are increasingly examining where the technology fits — and where it can be optimized — in managing people and performance.
- The article explores the tension between efficiency gains and the human element of leadership that technology can support but not replace.
When the AI boom began, many leaders felt the rush. Tasks that once took hours suddenly took minutes. Hiring pipelines once again felt manageable. Content creation made easy. Naturally, leaders began to ask, if AI can do it all, what else could we leave behind?
This question is where I know things well: culture, leadership, communication, coaching and motivation – the areas I am hired to speak and write about. And this is where some leaders start to get themselves into trouble.
