It seems like everyone is tripping over themselves trying to “leverage AI” right now. But just because you dropped ChatGPT into your workflow doesn’t suddenly make you a visionary. This is especially true in industries like law, where trust is your currency.
It’s important to remember that AI isn’t your strategy; you are.
Because we work with law firms, we see it all the time: the smartest leaders aren’t the ones panicking about AI. They’re using it as a tool to back up what they already do best: to lead people and build trust in their brand.
AI Amplifies What Is Already There – Even the Bad Stuff
AI is not a quick fix, and it’s not a band-aid. If your brand is a mess, AI isn’t going to fix it; it’ll just turn up the volume on how dysfunctional everything is. However, if your foundation is solid, then the world is your oyster and AI its pearl.
AI is great at automation, so it can take care of the “grunt work,” which frees up your team to focus on the more “human” parts of your business. But grunt work is not the upper limit of what AI can do – not by a long shot. Large Language Models (LLMs) in particular are great at answering a question that has been asked a thousand times, like “What is SEO?” or “How do I get more positive reviews on my website?”, but if you’re trying to build something more unique, then you need that human touch.
AI can also improve your client communications by making sure your brand remains consistent and that you and your digital marketing agency are putting out the right message to the right people every time. However, if your brand is disorganized, messy, or – at worst – shady, then AI is going to turn a spotlight on that too and will make it even more obvious to everyone who’s paying attention. AI pulls from what’s already out there; good (human) leaders are what makes a brand feel real.
AI Backs People Up. It Doesn’t Push Them Out
Does this situation sound familiar? You announce you’re switching over to AI for one or more of your processes, and your employees are lukewarm at best about it. But is it the AI itself that everyone hates? No – those who hate AI tend to talk about how worried they are that AI will replace their jobs.
They never have to worry about that with a boss who uses AI correctly. That’s because these kinds of bosses know they can use generative AI as more of a personal assistant, not as a replacement for a manager or an employee. Research, task sorting, data entry – these are the sorts of tasks that can be mindless and better left to AI so you and your employees can all do your jobs more efficiently and effectively.
Good employers know AI is there to help, not to hover, and they lean into its capabilities. They inform their teams that they use AI to help them, not hurt them, and they earn increased confidence and loyalty from their employees who know there are no ulterior motives to their company’s usage of AI.
Honesty Is the Best Policy. Be Upfront in How You’re Using AI.
A good leader is transparent with their team about how they intend to use AI. Talk to your team about:
- The tools you’ll be using
- Where the data you’re getting is coming from
- When and how human beings come into this process
And this doesn’t mean telling your employees in a company-wide email after launch. Bring them into the fold early and let them have a conversation with you before you kick things off. The more they know about the process early on, the more likely they are to trust you and how you will handle it.
Even better? Offer ongoing training on AI, specifically the tool your company will be using and how. Your employees will feel valued in knowing that you care about teaching them how to use this ever-evolving technology and not leaving them in the dark (or worse, replacing them) if they don’t understand it.
Speed Is Useless without Direction
One of the things everyone loves most about AI is how quickly they can use it to get a ton more work done. But what good is the speed if the output is garbage?
You can’t just trust AI to do all the work without any kind of human intervention. For instance, LLMs are classic for spitting out completely nonsensical information and presenting it as fact. These are known as “hallucinations,” and it’s important that you have someone who is knowledgeable about the material double-checking these things before you put them out into the world, backed by your brand.
Double-checking AI output proves you care about how you’re positioning your brand, and it also gives your team the confidence they need that their job still has purpose. There are some things you just can’t do with AI, and you can’t understate the importance of that human touch.
AI Doesn’t Make You a Leader. It Amplifies the Kind of Leader You Already Are.
At the end of the day, AI’s not a cheat code. It’s a mirror. If you have a strong team, a clear vision, and solid leadership skills, AI will help you scale it. If not, well, there is no magic software that can fix all of that for you.
The best CEOs aren’t asking, “How do I replace my people with AI?” They’re asking, “How do I help my people win with it?”
