We seem obsessed with efficiency. We want the AI to write the strategic plan, the software to automate the culture checks and data analysis, and the fancy dashboard to tell us if everyone is being productive enough. It all looks great on a spreadsheet, until it doesn't.

It’s like that 'Doorman Fallacy' Rory Sutherland talks about (that was next up on my shorts feed). He says, you replace the hotel doorman with an automatic door to save a bit of cash. The door still opens (on it's own). But you’ve lost the person who recognises the regulars, helps with the taxis, and keeps the front entrance from feeling like a bus station.

A year later, the hotel has lost its soul and you’re wondering where all your customers went.

In leadership, are we in danger of doing the same thing? Are we confusing speed with actual progress?

AI is incredible at the 'studies'. It has literally read the entire internet. But it has no skin in the game. It can’t sit in a room and navigate the fractured trust between two talented people who just can't seem to get on the same page. It can’t hold the long term accountability for a decision that is deeply unpopular but absolutely necessary.

Information is everywhere now, always. It’s instant and it’s basically free. But information alone doesn’t change a thing... application shaped by lived experience does though. 

The real work is still human. And I think (hope) it always will be. It’s messy. It’s about slowing the right things down so you can actually align people around a shared purpose. It happens through conversation, not automation. 

We’re in a bit of a trust recession. People seem exhausted by high noise solutions and flashy workshops. It seems to me people are wanting better guidance from people who have actually lived through the friction and come out the other side.

Less paperwork, more progress. That has to be the aim, doesn't it?