At Work Life Central in early 2025, I asked over 100 UK HR and L&D professionals a simple question:
“What’s one human skill you have that AI can’t replicate?”
They didn’t say coding. Or strategy. Or leadership.
They said soul. They said love. They said empathy.
They said connection. Intuition. Sense of humour. Reading the room. Understanding feelings in relation to situations.
And they were right.
AI is extraordinary at processing what already exists. It cannot bring what’s missing from the data. It cannot feel the weight of a room. It cannot know what it doesn’t know.
Your lived experience – the parts of your life that didn’t follow a straight line – that’s not a liability in an AI world. That’s your edge. (I’ve written more about the human skills we risk forgetting in an AI world if you want to explore this further.)
The Numbers Don’t Lie
According to the Bank of England and FCA’s 2024 survey:
• 75% of UK financial firms are already using AI (up from 58% in 2022)
• AI use cases are expected to double in the next three years
• 95% of insurers and 94% of international banks are using AI
• 55% of AI use cases involve automated decision-making
The technology train has left the station.
But here’s what concerns me: most organisations are focused on the wrong thing.
They’re investing heavily in AI tools while underinvesting in the human side. They’re forgetting the value humans bring. They’re letting people loose with AI without developing judgment about when not to use it. And I’m seeing a lot of what I’ve started calling ‘AI slop’ – technically competent output that lacks depth, nuance, or genuine insight.
Worst of all? They’re ignoring the equity implications. Traditional bias affected individual decisions. AI bias operates at massive scale – one flawed algorithm can perpetuate inequality across millions of decisions simultaneously. (If you want to understand the legal implications, read my piece on what your board doesn’t know about AI bias.)
This is a leadership issue, not a technology issue. And it requires a different mindset entirely.
The Bypass Nobody Used
Let me share a story that changed how I think about this.
I was speaking in Hyderabad about leadership in the age of AI. Someone shared an example about road safety. India has a significant problem with traffic accidents. The logical solution? Build pedestrian bypasses so people don’t have to cross dangerous roads.
So they built them. The engineering was sound. The data supported it.
And nobody used them.
People kept crossing at the same dangerous spots. Why? The bypass was longer. Habit is powerful. Maybe it felt unsafe in other ways. Humans don’t operate on logic alone – we’re shaped by convenience, emotion, trust, and patterns built over years.
When I shared this story back here in the UK at Work Life Central, I saw the same reaction. HR leaders nodding in recognition.
Because this is exactly what’s happening with AI adoption. Organisations are building the logical solution without understanding why people might not use it.
What is AI-Ready Leadership?
I completed MIT’s AI Strategy and Leadership Programme last year because I wanted to understand this shift deeply. What I learned confirmed what I’ve observed working with clients for two decades: the organisations that will thrive aren’t the ones with the best AI tools. They’re the ones that develop leaders who can humanise AI adoption.
That’s why I developed the HEARt of AI™ Framework.
The HEARt of AI™ Framework is a five-part model for developing AI-ready leaders: Harness AI capability, Evolve continuously, Attune to impact on different groups, stay Rooted in human skills, and Tend to adoption over time.
It addresses the areas I see leaders struggling with most:
Harness
Evolve
Attune
Root
tend
Harness
“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” – B.F. Skinner
This is about developing the capability to use AI effectively – knowing what it can do, what it can’t, and where it adds genuine value.
Too many leaders are either avoiding AI entirely or using it without understanding its limitations.
My advice:
• Experiment with AI tools yourself before rolling them out to teams
• Develop judgment about when AI helps and when it hinders
• Create space for honest conversations about what’s working and what isn’t
Evolve
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
Foundation models – the technology behind ChatGPT – didn’t exist three years ago. Today they account for 17% of AI use cases in UK financial services.
Traditional change management assumed you could plan a three-year transformation. AI-ready leadership means building cultures that adapt continuously.
My advice:
• Stop waiting for the ‘right time’ to engage with AI – it’s already here
• Build learning agility into your leadership development, not just technical skills
• Accept that your AI strategy will need to evolve as fast as the technology does
Attune
“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” – Christian Lous Lange
This is where the equity lens comes in.
Leaders need to attune to the impact AI is having on different groups – employees, customers, communities. Who benefits? Who’s harmed? Who’s being left behind?
These aren’t technical questions. They’re leadership questions.
My advice:
• Ask ‘Who built this model? What data trained it? Who’s harmed if it’s wrong?’
• Include diverse voices in AI implementation decisions
• Monitor outcomes across different groups, not just overall metrics
Root
“In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer
Stay rooted in what makes leadership work in the first place.
Developmental conversations are human. Building trust is human. Understanding why someone won’t use the perfectly logical bypass – that’s human.
Remember what those 100+ professionals said? Empathy. Soul. Connection. Reading the room.
AI doesn’t replace these skills. If anything, it makes them more important. (I explored why empowered leadership matters more than ever in the age of AI.)
My advice:
• Protect time for human connection – don’t let AI crowd it out
• Remember that coaching, mentoring and sponsorship remain irreplaceable
• Invest in emotional intelligence alongside AI literacy
Tend
“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” – Peter Drucker
This is about ongoing care and attention.
AI adoption isn’t a project with an end date – it requires continuous tending. How are people responding? What’s emerging that we didn’t expect? Where do we need to course-correct?
My advice:
• Build in regular check-ins on how AI is affecting your people and culture
• Create psychological safety for people to raise concerns
• Stay curious about unintended consequences
Take Action Now
Look at each area in HEARt. Mark yourself out of 10 on how well your organisation is doing. Then mark each area out of 10 on its importance to your business.
If it’s important and you’re not doing well – that’s where to start.
The bypass builders in Hyderabad had good intentions. They had data. They had logic. What they didn’t have was an understanding of human behaviour.
Don’t make the same mistake with AI adoption.
The technology is only as good as the leaders who deploy it.
What’s your one irreplaceable skill?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AI-ready leadership?
AI-ready leadership is the ability to guide organisations through AI adoption while keeping humans at the centre. It requires technical understanding, continuous learning, attention to equity implications, strong human skills, and ongoing care for how AI affects people and culture.
How can HR leaders prepare for AI in the workplace?
Start by experimenting with AI tools yourself. Develop judgment about when AI helps and when it doesn’t. Pay attention to how AI affects different groups in your workforce. Protect time for human connection – coaching, mentoring and developmental conversations remain irreplaceable.
What human skills can’t AI replicate?
When I asked 100+ UK HR professionals this question, they said: empathy, soul, love, connection, intuition, sense of humour, reading the room, and understanding feelings in context. These relational and emotional capabilities remain uniquely human.
Ready to humanise your AI adoption?
Our AI-Ready Leadership programmes help organisations build the trust, capability, and culture needed for successful AI transformation.
Explore our AI-Ready Leadership services →
About the author: Jenny Garrett OBE is the founder of Jenny Garrett Global, a boutique leadership development consultancy in its 20th year. She holds an OBE for services to Entrepreneurship and Women in Business, recently completed MIT’s AI Strategy and Leadership Programme, and co-hosts the AI for Equity podcast with her daughter Leah. Her book AI for Equity: Creating a More Equitable Society for All will be published by Emerald in September 2026.
This article has been kindly repurposed from Jenny Garrett Global and you can read the original here.