People-first AI
In under 10 minutes, you’ll have the context and language you need to lead smarter AI conversations at work—and stand out as the go-to guide on your team.
The 13% Getting Real Results From AI (And What They Do Differently)
Welcome back. Happy 4th of July to all who are celebrating! With the holiday weekend comes a longer AI @ Work briefing. This issue leans into AI's economic impact on jobs, and the data cuts against the doom narrative: Ramp finds headcount rising at AI-adoptive companies, AWS is betting a billion dollars on a brand new job category, and the throughline across the rest of the stories is that the people and companies winning aren't the ones using AI the most. They're the ones bringing the most...
The most important 21st century skill. And it's not technical.
Welcome back. So much of the job and work design conversation right now is focusing on tasks, but let's not forget about skills. One of the reasons I like skills is that they serve people by bridging their capabilities to work demands. This role is critical for taking a people-first approach to AI adoption and workforce transformation. So, the study by Teyssier-Roberge and colleagues is well-timed! We'll dig into how 21st-century skills relate to one another and the important skill underlying...
The Human Work That Makes AI Skills Actually Work (A Case Study)
Welcome back. Today we're spending some time on a fascinating Information Systems journal article on Johnson & Johnson's experience developing an AI skill classification system. There's so much to unpack here, from the importance of identifying current and future-state skills to grounding AI systems in human judgment to how to drive workforce transformation at scale. But I dig into a process that's helpful for all organizations: building a workforce blueprint. Enjoy! --Neil AI @ WORK BRIEFING...
The warning in anti-AI's punk rock moment
Welcome back. I realize I'm inviting some boos from the audience right now, saying this. But as much as I believe early-career talent will see a surge in future hiring thanks to their AI-nativeness, I'm concerned about the negative sentiment toward AI among Gen Z. Is it completely unwarranted? Not entirely, but organizations and talent leaders need to take a people-first approach in how they talk to the next generation about AI. In this issue, I dig into both the warning and the opportunity...
The Relational Economy (And Whether We'll Be Ready for It)
Welcome back. In this issue, I had to discuss an Op-ed in The New York Times by Ezra Klein. He makes two important points. First, he provides solid reasons for why we're seeing upticks in fields that many assumed AI would decimate, including software engineering and entry-level hiring. Second, he explains why we'll likely see a future in which human labor will remain valuable. In a future where knowledge work is cheaper, we'll crave goods and services that offer human connection and curation....
Why Your Change Management Strategy Will Fail at AI Transformation
Welcome back. I'll be in New Orleans next week at the annual Society for IO Psychology conference. (If you're in town, come say hello!) Today's essay was inspired while preparing for a pre-conference workshop on "AI-ready organizations." Strong change management frameworks would serve us well toward becoming AI-ready organizations. But I wondered: do we even have the right models to help us deal with what makes AI-driven change unique? I dive into that topic and why I think AI change is...
Do we need "jobs" in the AI era?
Welcome back. As a work psychologist, you talk about "jobs" a lot. Our organizational structures and designs center around the job. Even how we think about our work as individuals is centered around the job, but the concept of a job is aging. With AI constantly expanding, what we do in our roles on a weekly basis, will we even need the concept of a job? I suspect we do, but for how long and what will replace it are other questions. Let's talk about why the job is under threat and some...
3 Ways AI Adoption Adds Value (Beyond Efficiency)
Welcome back. The newsletter's turning one year old this week! Thank you for being here! To celebrate, I'm bringing back one of our first topics that has only become more relevant since last year: the ways AI provides value beyond efficiency. I'm seeing this in my own work. AI can replace or reduce the toilsome, manual tasks that take up our time, but it also offers other benefits. It can help us get into the deep-work groove, encourage innovation through rapid experimentation, and make...
How People Managers Drive AI Adoption
Welcome back. Today, I'd like to revive an argument I made several months ago, but it has only been further cemented in my mind. That is, your managers need more enablement if you want more AI adoption. Our businesses are asking for transformation to stay competitive, become more cost-effective, and innovate into the future. I believe that AI can help us achieve all three, but before we reach transformation, we need adoption. Let's dive into how you can enable your managers to move this...
What Works Best When Working With AI Agents?
Welcome back. Today, we're digging into an interesting study from Harvard and Google DeepMind researchers on three AI assistant styles and how they interact with our biases and perceptions to drive different outcomes. It's these kinds of studies to follow if you want to understand how we can get the most from these tools and effectively stay in the loop for the tasks where that matters most. Enjoy! --Neil AI @ WORK BRIEFING Anthropic Releases HR Plug-in for Claude. Enterprise Cowork users can...
In under 10 minutes, you’ll have the context and language you need to lead smarter AI conversations at work—and stand out as the go-to guide on your team.