A practical guide for work with AI
The more AI can do, the more these skills matter.
Ten human skills that shape the questions you ask, the decisions you make, how you work with others, and what you get done.
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01 See your strengths
Use this map to name what you bring to the work and where you want to grow. Start with two strengths and one skill to develop.
Your starting point
0 of 2 strengths · 0 of 1 to develop
Your next moveDevelop taste.
AI generates options. Humans decide what matters.
See what others miss.
AI sees patterns. Humans see meaning.
Ask better questions.
Most breakthroughs start where the data runs out.
Tell stories that stick.
Information informs. Narrative moves people.
Read the room.
Timing, tension, energy, hesitation. AI still can’t feel the moment.
Build trust that compounds.
AI can draft the email. It can’t have dinner with the client.
Create real human connection.
Technology scales information. Humans scale belonging.
Leave fingerprints.
Authenticity gets more valuable as content becomes increasingly abundant.
Be the one who gets it done.
Everyone has AI. Not everyone executes.
Protect your reputation.
The scarcest thing in the AI era may be trust.
02 Start this week
Choose a real piece of work. Decide what you’ll do differently this week.
Type into the card or print this page. Come back in a week to reflect.
In practice
Three illustrative situations. The tools help; your skills shape what happens next.
Return to your action cardJudgment & Taste
An AI-assisted proposal offers three plausible options.
AI helps
Summarizes costs, compares features, and drafts a recommendation.
You make the difference
You notice the preferred option depends on a team already at capacity. You change the recommendation and explain the trade-off.
What changes: A choice the business can actually carry out.
Connection & Trust
A client update is accurate, polished, and ready to send.
AI helps
Organizes the facts and drafts a clear account of progress.
You make the difference
You notice the client’s questions have shifted from deadlines to confidence. You call, ask what is worrying them, and listen before responding.
What changes: The next step addresses the concern behind the questions.
Craft & Follow-through
A report looks finished. A decision still isn’t.
AI helps
Pulls together the findings, spots inconsistencies, and improves the draft.
You make the difference
You verify a consequential claim, name the unresolved decision, and get agreement on who will act. You take responsibility for the final work.
What changes: The work moves forward with a clear owner and next action.
For leaders
Use these questions to explore how someone makes decisions with AI. Ask for the reasoning behind the result. They also work in development conversations with your existing team.
01 Taste + ownership
“Show me something AI produced that you changed. What did you change, and why?”
Listen for:
Specific decisions tied to the audience, context, or desired outcome. A strong answer explains what was inadequate and why the revision made the work better. Probe beyond “I made it sound more like me.”
Follow up:
“What would have gone wrong if you had used the original?”
02 Judgment + verification
“Tell me about a time AI gave you a confident answer that you caught was wrong. How did you catch it?”
Listen for:
How they noticed, what they checked, and what they changed afterward. Look for a repeatable checking habit and a willingness to own the result, including when the output initially looked convincing.
Follow up:
“What do you now check that you didn’t check before?”
No example yet? Offer the same brief sample of AI-generated work to candidates for the same role and ask them to critique it. Use their reasoning as one part of a wider conversation about their work.
Before: Human Skill × Effort = Value
Now: (Human Judgment × AI Capability)to the power of Collaboration = Exponential Value
The multiplier was always effort. The new multiplier is how well you collaborate with the machine. That’s a learnable skill, and it’s what we teach.
A Harvard-led field experiment with 758 BCG consultants found AI on tasks inside its competence produced 40% higher-quality work. The gains went to the people who stayed in the loop.
Harvard Business School × BCG, 758 consultants, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
PDF · 5 pages · 3.5 MB
