We can no longer avoid learning and implementing AI. It’s pervasive and integrated into everything. It’s like electricity. Leaders must be able to integrate AI into their leadership strategy and leadership communication.
But how do we leverage AI without losing our humanity? That is the question. It’s not enough to use ChatGPT or Perplexity. Think of AI as a co-communicator. AI can craft speeches, refine written messages, and create compelling titles. It can analyze data including public speaking skills, market reactions, and communication patterns with greater speed and efficiency. Leaders can convey consistency through all communication messages and channels.
Yet, overreliance on these tools can diminish or override the leader’s voice. Our audiences desire authenticity. They want to connect and relate to the speaker. And that involves human qualities: tone of voice, emotion, nuances, and vulnerability. Audiences want a leader who is real. They value resonance. Recently, I used AI to write a blog post. Most of the time I write the article first, and then ask AI to make it more polished and compelling. This time I experimented with letting AI do all the work. When I compared the article I wrote with the AI-generated article, I decided to publish mine. The AI article had no soul. There was no feeling. It was generic and could have been posted on any corporate website. It didn’t belong to anyone. But my article belonged to me. The writing of AI may have been more sophisticated, but my writing had my vibe. So the risk of overreliance on AI is that we lose our authenticity.
Another challenge is ethics. AI is not appropriate for all communication as in the case of layoffs or performance improvement plans. In the George Clooney movie Up in the Air, a young tech-savvy new hire comes up with the idea of using technology to remotely announce individual job layoffs. The boss loved the new technology and the idea that they would save travel expenses for their outplacement trainers. George Clooney, who played an experienced outplacement counselor, rejected the idea. The company went ahead with the plan and the experience was shattering to the employees. It failed. Leaders must set clear boundaries around AI and never let it get in the way of humanity. In other words, think like a machine, but speak like a human.
If you want to use AI as a co-communicator without sacrificing your humanity, contact me at DiResta Communications, Inc.