Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute
Speaker 1: Leadership Podcast. It's episode three fifty nine. So let's go
Speaker 1: straight into one of the most provocative questions being asked
Speaker 1: in boardrooms, tech forums, and leadership retreats around the world.
Speaker 1: Can a company run itself with zero human intervention? The
Speaker 1: short answer is not yet. But the longer answer, the
Speaker 1: one that leaders need to start preparing for, is not yet,
Speaker 1: but probably soon. The concept of a self replicating organization
Speaker 1: isn't just science fiction anymore. Thanks to AI, machine learning,
Speaker 1: robotic process automation, and predictive analytics, we're seeing companies automate hiring, production, delivery,
Speaker 1: and customer service at scale, and with each passing year,
Speaker 1: the human footprint gets smaller while the system gets smarter.
Speaker 1: But here's the big leadership question. Should we let go
Speaker 1: of the wheel? So let's break this down into three parts.
Speaker 1: Part one, the tech is already here. We've already handed
Speaker 1: over huge parts of operations to technology. Self checkout lanes
Speaker 1: at stores, automated recruiting systems, AI writing job descriptions and
Speaker 1: performance reviews, bots handling first level tech support, and drones
Speaker 1: delivering packages. And here's the wild part. These systems don't sleep,
Speaker 1: don't get sick, and don't complain about the breakroom coffee.
Speaker 1: But this only works if leaders set clear parameters, build
Speaker 1: strong ethical frameworks, and teach the system what matters. If
Speaker 1: you don't train the AI with integrity, it will not
Speaker 1: lead with integrity. Something Gelman always tells me when it
Speaker 1: comes to AI is garbage in, garbage out. Part two,
Speaker 1: what gets lost without humans. This is the part leaders
Speaker 1: can't afford to ignore because automation can run a process,
Speaker 1: but it cannot replace judgment, empathy, or innovation. You might
Speaker 1: automate a call center, but you can't automate a heartfelt
Speaker 1: apology after a bad customer experience. You might build an
Speaker 1: algorithm to forecast sales, but it won't see a cultural
Speaker 1: shift coming until it's too late. You might even develop
Speaker 1: an AI manager, but it won't know when someone is
Speaker 1: on the verge of burnout unless you code it to care.
Speaker 1: So no, we're not building leadership into these systems. We're
Speaker 1: building processes and leadership is still required to ask the
Speaker 1: hard questions, fix the unexpected, and to find what right
Speaker 1: looks like when the data disagrees. Part three. Your role
Speaker 1: as a leader is evolving fast, and this one is
Speaker 1: extremely important to understand. If your role is just approve
Speaker 1: timesheets or managed spreadsheets, you better believe the bots are
Speaker 1: coming for your chair. But if you're the one creating vision,
Speaker 1: defining culture, and driving purpose, you're not going anywhere. Self
Speaker 1: replicating organizations may one day do the work, but they
Speaker 1: still need a human at the helm to say this
Speaker 1: is the direction, this is what we stand for, this
Speaker 1: is what we will never allow, no matter what the
Speaker 1: numbers say. We may build systems that can run without us,
Speaker 1: but they should never run without our values. So the
Speaker 1: future is already here. The goal isn't to fear self
Speaker 1: replicating organizations. The goal is to lead them anyway, not
Speaker 1: to micromanage every process, but to oversee the mission and
Speaker 1: keep it aligned with your vision, core values, principles, and
Speaker 1: your brand promise. So when the day comes that your
Speaker 1: business can function without you, make sure it's still acting
Speaker 1: like you. That's the true test of leadership, not how
Speaker 1: well you run it, but how well it runs when
Speaker 1: you're not around. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast,
Speaker 1: and I thank you for listening. For more Paul fell
Speaker 1: of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com