AI Isn't Coming for Your Job, But Someone Who Knows How to Use AI Might

Watch my AM Northwest segment on this topic at the end of the article for a quick summary.

1. Run Your Job Through the AI Filter

If you don’t know which parts of your job can be automated or augmented, you’re leaving your value up to chance. So do this. Take your job description, or better yet, your actual work from the last two weeks, and paste it into an AI tool.

Ask: “Break this into three buckets: Automate, Augment, and Human-Only. For each item, what’s the risk if AI gets it wrong?”

Be honest about what you see. If most of your role is routine, repetitive, administrative, or coordination-heavy, that’s the vulnerable layer.

But it’s also your opportunity to use AI to reduce the routine so you can spend more time on what only humans can do, which is building relationships, making judgment calls, mentoring others, aligning stakeholders, and solving complex problems.

Your goal isn’t to compete with AI on speed. Your goal is to move up the value chain.

2. Become Fluent in AI (Even If You're Not Technical)

You don't need to become a programmer, but you can't afford to be clueless.

Spend 30 minutes a week experimenting with AI tools. Ask it to summarize a report, draft an email, or analyze data. That's why it's critical to evaluate the output.

Where did it miss context? What would you change? What did it get wrong?

The goal isn't to become an AI expert. The goal is to become the person who knows when to trust AI and when to override it.

That discernment is what makes you indispensable.

As AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace, organizations will need people who can identify flaws, question outputs, and turn information into insight. They'll need people who understand where these tools add value and where human judgment must remain front and center.

That's the skill set that protects your career because output discipline matters (because hallucinations are real).

Before you use AI output, especially for anything client-facing or high-stakes, run a quick quality check:

• Check for invented facts: names, dates, statistics, policies, citations.

• Check for missing context: stakeholders, history, constraints, tone, and power dynamics.

• Check for “agreement bias”: is it telling you what you want to hear?

• Check for confidence without evidence: “always,” “never,” “research shows” with no source.

• Cross-check critical claims: verify with trusted documents, primary sources, or a subject-matter expert.

If it’s high-stakes, your standard should be simple: AI drafts. Humans decide.

3. Position Yourself as the Translator

Every organization needs people who can bridge the gap between AI capability and human implementation. Most workplaces don't have them yet.

Be that person.

Volunteer to pilot tools in your department. Identify a workflow pain point. Propose a practical use case. Then, and this is where leaders stand out, help your team adopt it without fear.

Explain what’s changing and what isn’t. Address concerns. Show people how AI can reduce busywork and create space for higher-value work. Help the team see the transformation, not just the threat.

The people who can translate AI into practical solutions aren’t getting replaced. They’re getting promoted.

And this is especially true for managers and leaders. If most of your day is reporting, coordination, and administrative work, you’re in the danger zone. AI can do that faster (and cheaper) than you.

But AI can’t do what comes next, and that's align humans, build trust, and lead through change.

4. Focus on What AI Can't Manage: People, Culture, and Change

LLMs (large language models like ChatGPT) absolutely can't develop talent, have difficult conversations, manage conflict, build team culture, or lead through uncertainty.

If you’re in a leadership role or aspire to be, this is where you need to invest your energy.

Become the leader who can guide a team through AI adoption with clarity and care. Address fear without dismissing it. Coach people on new tools without creating dependence. Translate what changes mean for roles and expectations. Facilitate the hard conversations that keep trust intact.

And don’t overlook that overreliance on AI comes with real risks, such as knowledge decay and weakened interpersonal skills. If people outsource thinking, writing, and relationship-building to tools, they don’t just lose efficiency, they lose capability. AI should reduce busywork, not reduce our humanity.

These aren’t “soft skills.” They’re the hardest-to-replace assets in any organization.

Invest in what AI will never have, which is emotional intelligence, coaching, change leadership, and the ability to read organizational dynamics. Take a course. Ask for feedback. Practice having tough conversations. Build your capacity to lead people through ambiguity.

The leaders who thrive in this transformation aren’t the ones managing tasks. They’re the ones developing people and shaping culture.

The Bottom Line

AI isn't the enemy. Irrelevance is.

The people who adapt won't just survive this shift; they'll lead it. Start building these skills now. Learn how these tools work. Understand where they add value and where human judgment must remain front and center. Become the person who can question the output, spot the flaws, and turn information into insight.

Because the real shift happening right now isn't about whether AI can do your job. It's about whether you can do something AI can't.

And if you can't answer that question confidently right now, it's time to get to work.

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This article was written by Dr. Carol Parker Walsh, JD, PhD, an award-winning executive coach, organizational strategist, and founder of Carol Parker Walsh Consulting Group, a leadership development firm that helps organizations cultivate People-Forward Leaders™ and high-performing teams.

A CNBC Leadership Expert and contributor to Forbes, Newsweek, and Entrepreneur, Dr. Parker Walsh has been featured on LinkedIn Learning, ABC, CBS, Fast Company, and Fortune. She's a Fellow with the Harvard Institute of Coaching, and her thought leadership has reached more than 100,000 professionals worldwide.

A nationally recognized keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and four-time Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Award recipient, she empowers leaders and organizations to thrive amid disruption by building trust, alignment, and adaptive cultures that drive performance and retention.