Let me set this up for you a bit.

Much has been written about the current and future age of automation and what these various, specific technologies will do to us and for us. There is a litany of prognostications about the future of the world spanning the spectrum from Rotopia to Ropocalypse. And there is no shortage of learned folks who will gladly offer you their insights on whether we should, or should not, continue down this uncharted path. Is this roadway leading us into much darker territory where human/machine created intelligence equals or exceeds us as human beings? Not only that, but can and will this "artificial intelligence" develop other human qualities such as emotions, feelings, the ability to rationalize, and even possibly capture and possess the ever elusive, soul?  

I am not here to join the fracas. That's way above my pay grade. I do believe in mankind and that, in the end, the "we" will make the right decisions about how to deal with the tech of the technology as it grows and becomes more powerful and human-like. I want to focus on those people who are leading companies and on the qualities I believe are needed to lead digital/automation transformations.

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I am going to suggest that there may be a real shortage of the right mindset and skills to lead in this new human/virtual AI worker world; and that it has the potential to create an unethical situation for these companies, the people working in them, and their customers. (Unethical being defined here as "not looking after the well-being of an individual or organization".) My assertions is: it is more unethical for a company and its leadership to not pursue IA/AI transformation.

I'll offer you three points to consider in support of my argument. Read these in the context of your own current situation and keep in mind that there are ways to resolve these scenarios.

Escape is Not an Option

Automation is here. It is not going away. It will continue to advance ... rapidly. You could choose to stick your head in the sand and your bum in the air. That's just plain silly, though, and will make you the ninny that gets their ### kicked.

This is not a fad; the tech is proven, and it will get better and better. So, what's more unethical ... To understand how to use IA/AI, rethink work, and transform the way we work so that we are more productive, take less risk,offer better customer service and obtain higher profits? (And sure, we may need fewer people than we had doing the work we once did, and the way we once did it.) Or, should we shy away from the inevitable growth of automation in everything around us only to find the doors of our organization closed for good one day soon, impacting every one of our employees and customers?

Change Always Starts and Ends with Leadership

Vision:  "A vivid mental image of what you want your business to be at some point in the future, based on your goals and aspirations."

Courage: “The ability to make tough choices, stand firm in the face of challenges, sell a message, and have the conversations that scare us."

Tenacity: "The ability to grasp something firmly, being very determined and possessing incredible stick-to-it-iveness".

Based on my own research and experience, combined with the fact that we won't all agree on the final list anyway, I believe Vision, Courage and Tenacity are the leadership keys to drive a new way of thinking about work, seeing how we work from a client’s perspective and using these new technologies to automate.

I believe we can all agree that before we start something like this it would be good to know where we are going ... We need to have a Vision of what the end game will look like. It's probably going be big, bodacious and kinda scary so leaders need to have the Courage to make that initial jump into the deep end, even if it is with baby steps, and selling this Vision to everyone. Having the Courage to celebrate, with equal veracity, the victories won along the way – no matter the size – as well as the defeats and what was learned from them.

As my former CEO Jack Welch used to say to us, "If you aren't failing, you aren't trying hard enough".

You have to stay with it, you have to be able to execute, you need to possess Tenacity. Whether a company is just a decade or two old or saw the beginning of the 19th century, companies build up good and bad tech and data collateral along with process architecture, too. This all has to be worked through. IA/AI can't automate all of it in a year, nor should it anyway. It takes time to automate all the right work in the right way. But, if we take a "stractical" approach, you can get both annual and long-term benefits. So think #Stractical.

Own the Outcomes

Everything we have been talking about is about change and what is required of leaders in managing and leading organizations through the change that will happen using IA/AI. IA/AI Automation is inevitable, and a company and its leaders can embrace it, or they can be run over or bypassed by those that do. Those that do decide to embrace the technology also need to look beyond that technology and ask themselves a few questions. First, do you have the right people leading the automation and driving the change? Second, this is also about People and Process ... We'll leave Process for another article, but the People in an organization are key. This is the most important part of IA/AI leadership. There will be a people impact equation that needs to be thought through and planned out as part of the stractical planning. The Vision should articulate it as well. Some people will make the transformation leap, with leadership's help, through upskilling and retraining for new jobs that come about due to the redesigning of work. Others will not; help them, too.

Having the Courage to deal with the tough human part of change upfront is not only smart, but the right thing to do. I know there are companies that believe they can absorb all of the displaced workforce and reemploy them somewhere else, and maybe they can for a while, but for how long? 

Summary

IA/AI is really nothing more than another stimuli to an industrial evolution. We all know the advents and the history of the previous revo-evo-lutions. It will come down to those that are leading. In the end, leaders own the good, bad and ugly of change – whether it is done by them or to them. Most of the successful, enlightened leaders I know want to be driving their own destiny. They do it because they see it, they make the tough decisions, they bring people along with them and they stay the course; pivoting as they go to maintain their line of sight on the end game.

To me, it is more ethical to have a leader like this, looking out for the long-term viability of their company, customers and employees. Taking every IA/AI advantage they can to create a human/technology ecosystem to deliver better products and services that benefit every one of their stakeholders.

Note: Stractical is a trademark of The Improve and Innovate Company, 2018. Pictures courtesy of The Improve and Innovate Co. (Copyright: The Improve and Innovate Co.).

Author’s note: Special thanks to Deborah Kops for continuing to challenge my thinking and writing.

WATCH Jon Theuerkauf and Deborah Kops debate Digital Data and Digital IQ in SSON's acclaimed HARDtalk series.