AI is already changing how we work, write, think, organise and communicate. For many of the professionals I meet the pressure is to tap into it more, and fully embed, in what feels like a race to be the ‘best’ at AI compared to competitors and similar companies. The goal is to be faster, more productive, automate more, summarise and draft in seconds- get to the answer as quickly as possible.
All of that can be incredibly valuable, but that’s not all what I see people use AI for. There is a subtle question sitting underneath the excitement about productivity and pace- what happens if we start outsourcing not only tasks and our to-do list, but also our thinking and judgement?
This was one of the most powerful themes in my recent podcast conversation with Rahim Hirji, author of the highly-acclaimed, SuperSkills: The Seven Human Skills for the Age of AI.
Knowledge is no longer enough
For years, knowledge and expertise gave professionals an advantage that could lead to career progression and promotion. The assumption was that if you knew more, you had access to better insights and could identify the solutions, so you had influence.
But that connection has now changed in a time when information is now fully accessible and democratised via AI, which can identity, summarise, structure, draft and produce at a speed we cannot match.
The advantage is no longer simply knowing more or having deeper insights, it is knowing how to think.
For the global leaders I work with, this matters deeply as your value is now more than ever in asking better questions, interpreting context, recognising nuance and making human judgement calls, even if they are counter-intuitive.
Rahim makes an important distinction between decision-making and judgement. Decision-making is what we do with information whereas judgement is what we do when the information is incomplete, ambiguous or uncertain, and is shaped by our values, cultural background, lived experience, relationships, ethics and sense of what matters.
Sometimes the most important question you can ask is- what thinking do I need to do before I ask AI to help?
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Algorithmic drift is already happening
Rahim uses the term ‘algorithmic drift’ to describe the moments when we slowly hand over agency to AI without noticing. It can start with something simple, such as Google Maps choosing your route, your calendar defaulting to 30-minute meetings, regardless of the topic, or AI drafts your emails and you send a generic version that sounds efficient, but lacks tone of voice, and frankly isn’t the words you would say.
All these micro moments may not feel particularly significant, but together, they accumulate and create a pattern as we stop asking- is this what I would have chosen- and we accept the default and ‘factory settings’ available to everyone. We let the tool set the shape of our decisions.
In our conversation, Rahim was clear, this is not about rejecting AI or becoming anti-AI, but choosing to be more conscious of where our judgement is needed, and where it should begin and end.
Put the human at the start and the end
Many organisations are currently talking about keeping a ‘human in the loop’, to oversee AI agents and activities, as a way to ensure that the human side remains.
However, Rahim challenges us to go further. In his view, it is not enough to have a human glance over the output at the end and accept it without much thought. We need humans at the start, deciding the purpose, question, context and values before the AI is involved, plus humans at the end, applying judgement before anything is used, shared or acted on.
This is a useful practical discipline, so before using AI, pause and ask:
- What are you trying to achieve?
- What human context and background does the tool not understand?
- What values, relationships or cultural factors matter here?
- What would poor judgement look like in this situation?
Then, after AI has inputted, consider these questions:
- Does this reflect what you actually believe, or does something feel ‘off’?
- What feels too generic, too absolute, or even too culturally ‘flat’?
- What needs human nuance before it’s used?
This is where leadership communication becomes more important. If you are using AI to draft your messages, prepare for conversations or shape strategy, your clarity of thought needs to come first, otherwise, you risk becoming the editor of generic thinking, rather than the author of your own.
Explore the human capabilities technology cannot replace
Curiosity needs to become more active
Most leaders would say they are curious, but Rahim has a great challenge- can you prove it?
In an AI-embedded world, curiosity is not simply having a passing interest, but having the focus on asking better questions before accepting the first, quick answer that comes back.
This links closely with Cultural Intelligence because when you work across cultures, it is easy to assume you understand what is happening, according to your own context, values and experience. A colleague is quiet, so you assume they perhaps lack confidence, or a stakeholder is very direct, so perhaps you experience them as difficult, or even rude.
Curiosity interrupts those assumptions, and is an important part of CQ (Cultural Intelligence) Drive, the first capability in Cultural Intelligence.
Curiosity helps you see beyond 2 alternatives, the first answer, and fast agreement, and gets you to see a different angle and ask what else might be true. Ultimately AI can give you a fast answer, but it cannot know or experience the full lived context of the people in front of you, and that is still your capability as a leader.
Are you outsourcing your judgement to AI?
Protect your cognitive clarity
One of the most practical points Rahim shared was surprisingly simple- think first before diving into your AI tool of choice, and sometimes pen and paper are a great place to start. Take a moment to map the problem yourself, write down what you know and notice what you are unsure about, sketch your hypothesis for what the potential options look like. Give your own thinking a chance to ‘breathe’ and form, before you invite the AI into the process.
This may feel very ‘old school’, but the thinking matters, the writing matters as your brain makes connections through how you write and draw, and this is an important part of maintaining the cognitive muscles we most need to maintain, to keep our critical thinking and judgement sharp.
In the future of work, speed of response will increasingly belong to machines, but clarity of thought needs to remain very much human, and it is our own responsibility to maintain this ‘muscle’.
Human skills are not a soft alternative to technology
The strongest leaders will not be those who ignore AI, but those who use it intelligently, while continuing to develop the human capabilities that create trust, influence and meaning- judgement, curiosity, empathy, cultural adaptability, communication and clarity.
These are not ‘soft’ skills, but the capabilities that help leaders make sense of complexity, communicate with nuance and remain trusted when everything around them is moving faster.
Questions to reflect on
Where might you already be outsourcing more judgement than you realise?
How much space are you creating to think clearly before you tap into AI?
Which human capability do you most need to protect and strengthen in this next stage of your leadership?
I explore these ideas further in my podcast conversation with Rahim Hirji, Are you outsourcing your judgement to AI?
If this topic resonates, you may also find the four pillars in my book, Become a Global Leader, valuable to develop further – Confidence, Clarity, Challenging Conversations and Connection.
