AI + HI

What the AI?

To be honest, that was my first reaction too.

I remember thinking, Oh great… what is this world going to come to next? How is this going to impact how we communicate with one another? What work will humans still do? Are bots going to take over? Are humans going to become irrelevant?

Now, I know that’s a pretty hasty way of thinking. But let’s be honest, fear and uncertainty can quickly lead to some pretty unhealthy thought patterns.

So I had to flip that thinking on its head.

AI was here. The real question was: What was I going to do about it?

Sure, I could sit on the sidelines in fear as the AI storm rolled through. Or I could dive in, learn about the future, embrace it, and think about how it could be used ethically and responsibly. The more I experimented with it, the more I realized something surprising. There were real efficiencies.

For example, I once asked ChatGPT to help plan a family vacation for my two kids, ages nine and eleven. I included prompts about location, the type of adventure we wanted, the kind of resort we were looking for, and the budget we had in mind. Within minutes, and a couple more prompts, I had a full itinerary.

What might have taken me days of research and planning was done in a matter of minutes. And just like that, our Christmas surprise vacation was planned and booked.

But let’s be clear about something. AI should never be trusted blindly.

Every prompt and every output must be layered with human intelligence. Critical thinking. Judgment. Context. AI can generate answers quickly, but it cannot replace the human brain that evaluates whether those answers actually make sense.

So I started slowly.

After a few early wins, my curiosity turned into excitement. I began asking a bigger question: What could this mean for my team and my career? That curiosity led me to begin demoing AI companies that claimed to be leading the way in integrating AI into HR. I evaluated solutions that aligned with the use cases I had in mind for our team.

After multiple demos, rigorous reviews, and reworking budget allocations with my finance partner to remain cost neutral, I built a business case. It included clear use cases and projected ROI. Eventually, after going through the appropriate approval process, the solution I recommended was approved.

And suddenly, it felt like all eyes were on my team and me.

Now it was time to actually deliver.

I brought together a few strategic partners on my team and got to work. We partnered with the vendor to ingest knowledge bases, run tests, and then test again. Knowledge bases were rebuilt. Meta tags were added. The bot was trained and retrained. Issues were escalated. Fixes were deployed. Then we waited to test again.

This was not a journey for the faint of heart. Excitement was often followed quickly by frustration. Progress one week, setbacks the next. If I’m honest, there were plenty of moments that felt defeating.

But my conviction never wavered.

I believed deeply that AI, implemented responsibly, could make our team stronger and help our employees. And that belief kept us moving forward. Then something happened that many leaders experimenting with AI eventually experience.

The first solution we purchased failed.

Yes. The tool I recommended. The one I built the business case for. The one I championed. It did not deliver on its promises.

Was I disappointed? Absolutely.

Was I alone? Not at all.

Many organizations experimenting with AI encounter similar challenges in early implementations. The technology is evolving quickly, and not every solution lives up to its marketing. So when it became clear the tool could not deliver what we needed, I did what leaders must do in moments like that.

I addressed it head on.

I reached out to the company’s C-suite, negotiated a contract exit and refund, and communicated transparently with both my leadership team and my own team about what happened and what we learned.

Because here’s the truth.

I would rather try something and learn from it than never try at all.

The learning from that experience was powerful. It made us sharper, more informed, and better prepared for the next solution we evaluated and are going to deploy.

The opportunity ahead is still enormous.

When implemented thoughtfully, AI can remove repetitive administrative work, freeing teams to focus on the proactive, strategic work that truly drives value. When that happens, engagement increases. Talent grows. And high-performing teams become even more impactful. The talent of the human is amplified.

Which brings me back to the question I started with.

Instead of asking “What the AI?”

Maybe the better question is:

Where is your AI + HI?

Because AI without human intelligence is risky. And human intelligence without embracing AI may leave us behind. The future isn’t AI replacing humans. The future is AI working alongside humans who know how to think, question, lead, and decide.

The future is already here.

The question is whether we choose to fear it…or learn how to lead within it.

Live Elevated. Lead with Purpose.