Truth: AI Will Replace Bad Leadership

"The future ain't what it used to be." — Yogi Berra

Every second post on LinkedIn talks about the apocalyptic future of AI. Every person is asking some variation of the same question. 

"Will AI replace Me?"

As an UXer, I hear other UXers worry about AI's influence on design. UXers are a worried lot.

As leaders, we are constantly trying to put out these tiny fires of doubts and anxiety in our teams.

Unbelieveably, we are none the wiser. 

People have always feared change. 

When radios came, they felt it is was the end of newspapers. When television came, they predicted the death of radio. When the Internet came, they said it was the death of everything printed. 

AI isn't going to kill quality. But AI will kill inefficiency. 

Poor leaders, you're on borrowed time.

A few months ago, someone on my team asked me why they shouldn't leave UX because AI was already doing everything they were doing. 

It was a fair question.

Barely two years after ChatGPT started writing our emails and theses, the technology has grown in giant leaps and bounds. Companies have adopted AI whether they really needed it or not.

But that question and the conversation we had around AI reminded me that when people fear change, they rarely need predictions. They need leadership. Unwavering and strategic.

I remembered my recent roadtrip from Delhi to Chandigarh. Thick fog limited my visibility to just a few metres ahead. It was impossible to view the road far ahead. It was unfamiliar territory, and there were drivers that were driving very slow and causing traffic to slow down, and then there were drivers who accelerated because they don't want to be left behind.

Neither approach works. The best drivers slow down just enough to stay in control.

Leadership during an tech upheaval like this feels the same way.

In the course of managing people, I've learned that uncertainty creates stories. If leaders stay silent, specially at moments like this, your teams end up creating their own narratives. And nearly 100% of the time, these narratives will be the scarier version.

And this is exactly why leaders are encouraged to overcommunicate more during a difficult phase than when things are stable. 

People do not fear change, yet they do not expect certainty. They expect honesty.

Research from Gallup consistently shows that employees who trust leadership are significantly more engaged than those who don't.

Trust does not come from having all the answers. Trust comes from being transparent when questioned.

One of the ideas that stayed with me from AI Snake Oil is that we often overestimate what AI can do today and underestimate the complexity of human work.

Good UX is not simply producing screens, or writing microcopy, or generating wireframes. We all know AI can do that. 

What AI can't do is understanding people. AI cannot understand context or motivation.

AI won't be able to understand why someone behaves differently than expected. Because AI can never understand the breadth and depth of what makes us stubbornly human.

The resilient leaders won't ask "How do we protect ourselves from AI?"

They are asking "How do we help our teams become more valuable because of AI?"

Roadmaps built around this question changes our collective fear - We don't become anti-AI, we allow AI partner us to push the boundaries of what technology can do.

Because as managers, our job is not to compete with the tools. Our job is to help people learn how to use them wisely.

The same way GPS did not eliminate drivers. It simply changed what good driving looked like.

The future of UX won't be decided by AI. It will be decided by how leaders help people navigate it.