In the first two parts of this series, I explored how AI is reshaping creativity (Part 1) and what it means to be human in a world where machines can take on more of our thinking (Part 2).

I looked at how identity and meaning are tied to the work we do, the chaos we manage, and the problems we solve.

Now, we turn to the business…of business itself!

How organisations adopt AI, what this means for the people inside them, and how we can ensure that technology doesn’t just make us faster, but better.

From Fear to Expectation: How Quickly the Mood Changed

A few years ago, in my capacity as a Digital Marketing Manager, clients would often ask me, ‘Are you using AI to run our campaigns?’ And back then, the answer they wanted was no. This was the early ChatGPT boom. Headlines were full of hype, fear, and dystopian predictions.

Many clients saw AI as cheating, or worse, as a privacy threat.

They didn’t want machine-generated insights or automated strategies. They wanted to know someone was physically sweating over their budget; clicking buttons, building campaigns, doing it ‘the hard way.’

But now?

Those same clients ask the exact same question, only now they want the answer to be an emphatic yes.

‘You are using AI, right?’
‘We need to stay ahead of the competition.’
‘If you’re not using it, are we falling behind?’

The attitude has shifted, but not necessarily the understanding.

What was once seen as a threat is now a requirement. Not because everyone suddenly understands what AI does, but because the cultural conversation has flipped. If you’re not using AI, you’re not serious.

This shift, from fear to expectation, says everything about how AI is entering business, not through deep strategic planning, but through pressure, perception, and fear of missing out.

And when tools are adopted reactively, they’re rarely adopted wisely.

From Strategy to Reflex: The AI Adoption Rush

The business case for AI is compelling:

Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks and reduce headcount.

Insight: Process vast data sets to guide decisions.

Innovation: Build, test, and iterate faster than ever.

So, it’s no surprise that leaders are under pressure to ‘AI-enable’ their organisations, not in five years, but in five months.

But here’s the problem, AI has become the strategy. When technology drives the thinking, rather than serving it, business becomes reactive. People become secondary, and the future risks being built for machines, not for humans.

The Impact on Staff: Relevance, Reskilling, and Real Fear

In most workplaces, AI isn’t just an upgrade it’s a redefinition of what matters.

Suddenly, speed has priority over process. Outputs replace experience. And a tool can do in seconds what previously took a team a week.

That’s thrilling and terrifying all at the same time, because for many employees, this isn’t about efficiency, it’s about existence.

‘Am I still needed?’

‘What do I do now that the ‘hard part’ is automated?’

‘Will I be retrained… or replaced?’

And let’s be honest, most organisations aren’t doing a great job of answering these questions.

 The focus is on implementation, not integration.

On doing more, not understanding more.

But as I’ve said in previous posts, there’s an opportunity here. Businesses that invest in helping staff transition; emotionally, intellectually, and practically, will build deeper trust, greater loyalty, and a stronger culture of learning.

The Impact on Managers: Data-Rich, People-Poor?

Management used to be a mix of coordination, communication, and culture-building. But AI is now handling more of the coordination part, from scheduling and reporting to workflow optimisation and even performance analysis. That’s efficient, but there’s a risk. When data replaces dialogue, management becomes mechanised, and that has consequences.

Fewer one-on-ones; more dashboards; less leadership; more reporting.

The result?

A leadership class that knows how the business is performing but doesn’t understand how people are feeling.

The successful managers of the future won’t be the ones who know how to work the system, they’ll be the ones who still know how to work with people.

Culture, AI, and the New Hierarchy of Needs

I’m lucky enough to work in a business that understands how important culture is. Not culture as a slogan, but culture as a reason to work, beyond salary or title. Culture as community, learning, inspiration, and being valued.

For me, culture is what fills in the top half of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: belonging, esteem, purpose, growth. But here’s the uncomfortable question. If AI starts taking care of everything below the surface, the admin, the repetition, the problem-solving, does workplace culture become less important?

If employees are no longer overworked, no longer overwhelmed, no longer central to operations, will we still need to build workplaces where people feel energised and connected?

Or will companies start asking, ‘Why invest in culture at all?’ Because culture takes time, leadership, emotional labour.

It’s messy. And if AI is doing all the work that matters to the bottom line, maybe people become… optional.

This is more than an HR challenge, it’s a question of human purpose.

In Part 2, I asked what happens when we no longer have to solve problems or fight fires. If culture becomes an afterthought, we risk stripping away the very context where people find identity, recognition, and pride.

AI may be able to automate processes, but it can’t give people a reason to care. That’s still the job of leadership. We will still need to be inspired and motivated by good leaders.

Culture and Performance: The Cost of Shiny Efficiency

AI can make businesses faster and leaner. But without intention, it can also make them colder. When everything is optimised, measured, and templated, something subtle starts to erode:

Curiosity; autonomy; safety to experiment; emotional connection.

Employees may become productive but not motivated. Efficient, but not engaged.

We shouldn’t forget that high performance isn’t just about output, it’s about belonging.

If AI starts to strip out the messy, human, unmeasurable parts of work, we’ll lose what keeps teams resilient and innovative over time.

Growth vs. Human Growth

AI will help businesses scale faster. But what kind of growth are we chasing?

Growth in revenue? Growth in margin? Growth in people?

If AI drives business growth without also investing in human growth, we’ll create companies that scale beautifully on paper and fall apart the moment something changes.

Growth that excludes people isn’t growth, it’s expansion.

The real opportunity lies in using AI to free up human potential, not sideline it.

The AI-Powered Business Still Needs a Human Soul

This isn’t a rejection of AI.

It’s a call to use it well, to deploy it with intention. To design around people, not just process. To balance short-term speed with long-term sustainability.

The businesses that thrive in this next era won’t be the ones who automate the most. They’ll be the ones who use automation to elevate what only humans can do:

Building trust; creating meaning; navigating uncertainty; and inspiring others.

Because in the end, even in an AI-powered world, work is still about people.

A Human Ending (With a Little Help from AI)

When I started writing about AI, I had no idea how far it would take me, from exploring creativity in Part 1, to the question of identity and meaning in Part 2, to where we are now, the heart of the business itself. And here’s what I keep coming back to. AI isn’t the problem, it’s the mirror.

It reflects what we value.

What we prioritise.

What we believe is worth building.

The opportunity in front of us isn’t just to become more productive or technically brilliant. It’s to become more human.

To create businesses where AI handles the repetitive work so people can do the meaningful work.

To use technology not just to work faster, but to work wiser.

To build workplaces where growth is measured not just by profit, but by the creativity, collaboration, and wellbeing of the people who make it happen.

As Edward de Bono said, ‘A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos’. Imagine if we approached AI, and each other, that way.

Not as competitors, but as collaborators.

Because here’s the truth, Adam had Eve, Lennon had McCartney. Ben had Jerry.

The most extraordinary things we’ve ever built, we’ve built together. And now, we have a new collaborator, not a human one, but one that could help us push the boundaries of what’s possible.

AI will change the way we work, it’s inevitable, we’re seeing it already.

But if we make the right decisions, AI could mark the beginning of a new era of work where technology doesn’t just help us get more done, it makes us happier, healthier, and, dare I say it, better.

Work is still about people, and the future will be, too if we make it that way.