Let the machines do the grunt work, so that we can do the great work
AI is spectacular at the boring, mundane, repetitive grunt work, data entry, first-pass research, formatting, scheduling and summarising. It can execute those tasks faster and, frankly, better than most of us. Good. Let it. Because the moment you free a talented person from grunt work, they do what machines cannot: build relationships, exercise judgment, tell stories, lead with empathy, says Adam Witty
I’m told I’m the quintessential optimistic American. Guilty as charged. But hear me out, because I think the pessimists have it wrong on AI.
Every week I sit across from CEOs, in Charleston, in New York, in London, and I hear the same worry: “Is AI going to replace my team?” My answer is always the same. It already has, at the tasks your team never wanted to do in the first place.
AI is a giant tsunami. You can ride the wave or get crushed by it. There is no third option. What I’ve learned from two decades of building a company that now serves 5,000 authors in 30 countries is this: the leaders who win are the ones who run towards the disruption and chaos, not away from it.
Here’s what excites me. AI is spectacular at the boring, mundane, repetitive grunt work, data entry, first-pass research, formatting, scheduling and summarising. It can execute those tasks faster and, frankly, better than most of us. Good. Let it. Because the moment you free a talented person from grunt work, they do what machines cannot: build relationships, exercise judgment, tell stories, lead with empathy.
I’ve seen it inside my own company. We are becoming AI-native, and the result isn’t fewer people; it’s better work from the same people. More time spent building intimate author relationships, delivering a ‘referrable’ experience, and delivering the outcomes our CEO authors have entrusted us to help them achieve.
History is on optimism’s side. The printing press, the steam engine, the internet, every great technological leap triggered panic about mass unemployment, and every single one ultimately created more jobs than it destroyed. AI will be no different.
So yes, call me the optimistic American. I’d rather be caught riding the wave than running from it.
Forbes crosses the pond
Last week I was in London for the UK launch of Forbes Books, the publishing imprint I created in partnership with Forbes Magazine in 2016. We already publish CEOs and entrepreneurs across 30 countries, but planting a proper flag here felt overdue. London is a global ideas capital, and the calibre of business thinking I encountered during my visit only confirmed that.
The Authority Advantage
I say it all the time: people buy people, they don’t buy corporations. Building your personal thought leadership brand has never been optional, but AI has raised the stakes. In a world where large language models are fast replacing search engines as the first place people go for answers, being discovered, cited, and sourced by these “answer engines” is imperative. LLMs crave authentic authority. I wrote The Authority Advantage to show how to establish that authority by becoming the person who answers the questions.
PICTURE CAPTION (80 words)
Touching down in London last week for the launch of Forbes Books UK. It was my first visit to the capital in over a year, and the energy across the City was palpable, from engaging breakfast meetings in Mayfair to the first Forbes Salon Dinner hosted at the Rotunda Bar overlooking the Regent’s Canal. The trip reinforced what I’ve long believed: London isn’t just Europe’s financial capital; it’s increasingly where the world’s best business ideas find their voice.
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago
Chinese proverb — and the one I repeat to every CEO who tells me they’ve been “meaning to write a book.” Start now.
10 steps to great stories
I just finished an Advanced Reader Copy of The Business of Storytelling by Don Yaeger. Don is a 13-time New York Times bestselling author. Heralded as ‘the greatest storyteller of our generation’ by Simon Sinek, Don believes that storytelling is a learnable skill and one of the most valuable for leaders. The book provides Don’s 10-step framework to a great story. In a world drowning in data and dashboards, this book is a welcome reminder that the best business tool is still a well-told story.