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Hello Friend!
I had a 7 am coaching call with Katie last week. She was tired and upset, and I could tell it wouldn’t be an easy session.
Katie shared a story that I think many people are experiencing right now. Perhaps you?
The night before, she sat in a dark room, lit only by her laptop screen. She finished her October monthly report. It’s the one that usually eats her entire Monday and Tuesday. But this time, it took only 20 minutes because she spent three weekends teaching herself to make AI do the heavy lifting.
She wanted to be proud of her effort. Instead, her stomach was in knots.
Her cursor hovered over Send for “what felt like an eternity.”
If she sent the email, her boss would naturally ask how she got the monthly report done so quickly. And she had no idea how he’d react if she told him.
Will he see someone who has “taken initiative” or a job that just got 75% smaller?
Three months ago, her CEO sent a company-wide email: “We expect everyone to find ways to use AI to drive efficiency.” That was it. That was the plan. Nothing about what good looks like. Nothing about how any of it would count.
So Katie closed her laptop. She decided to send her monthly report on Wednesday. Like always.
For now, she’ll keep using the tool in the shadows. And spend less time worrying.
Katie shouldn’t have to read her manager’s mind to know whether using AI makes her look sharp or replaceable.
The technology works. But Katie feels stuck.
Gallup just put a number on Katie.
U.S. employee engagement fell to 29% last quarter. The lowest since 2011. That’s roughly 3.2 million fewer engaged workers in just three months.
And look at what fell fastest. Knowing what’s expected of you at work dropped to 46%. Feeling like someone at work cares about you as a person dropped to 37%.
Clarity and care. Not software.
Here’s an unignorable punchline from the data.
Gallup looked at AI and engagement side by side. Where organizations had simply adopted AI, engagement was 6 points higher. When leaders communicated a clear AI plan, engagement was 15 points higher. When managers actively supported people using it, engagement was 18 points higher.
Sit with that. Pushing the tool without clarity or care was the lowest number on the board. The human parts were worth two to three times more.
And the edge is slipping. In a single quarter, the engagement boost AI gave hybrid and remote workers nearly vanished. Not because the tools broke. Because the conversations around them never happened. Fewer hallway check-ins. Fewer “Hey, how’s that going?” moments.
Just a group of Katies wondering if they were a prompt away from being gone.
I named my first book People Before Things. But it was more than a sentiment. To me, it represented the day-to-day decisions leaders make.
Every leader says people matter. Far fewer design their change, like AI rollouts, around what people need to succeed. That’s the decision.
And if you’re not the one making it? You have more power here than you think.
In Unignorable, I wrote that “every time we force people to interpret, decode, or guess what we really meant, we’re handing them a burden that should be ours.” You can hand that burden and friction back to the person who gave it to you. Gently. With a question.
Try This
Individual Contributor: Book 20 minutes with your manager and ask one question: “What does good look like for me with AI, and how will it show up in how my work is evaluated?” You’re asking for clarity. Then share one experiment you’ve already tried. Bringing it into the light turns a quiet risk into visible initiative.
Leader: Pick one AI decision on your plate and run it through two lenses. What do we expect this to improve? What must we provide so people can succeed with it? Pro tip… consider a third: Who on my team will hear about this from me, in a real conversation, not a memo?
Your Unignorable Move
Clarity is something you can give or ask for. This week, do one. Ask one clarifying question about AI. Or answer one before anyone has to ask.
Let’s figure this out together. Tomorrow.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 10 AM MT / 12 PM ET, I’m hosting a free Zoom conversation: Is AI Strategy a Human Strategy?
We’ll dig into two questions. Where should we be using AI (and not)? And what does a team need to succeed with it? I’ll also share the tool I’d use right now if I were back in my corporate leadership role, to make sure my AI decisions were good ones.
Bring your boss. Bring your team. Bring your unease. It’s a safe place to create clarity.
Your coach,
Chris
