AI Is Changing the Hard Yards: Why Human Judgement Matters More Than Ever
AI is changing the way work gets done.
Tasks that once required hours of manual effort can increasingly be completed in a fraction of the time. Research, drafting, data processing and information requests are becoming faster and more efficient.
For organisations, this creates enormous potential.
But it also raises an important question about the future of leadership:
If AI can do more of the work, what happens to the human skills needed to lead?
At Circl’s recent roundtable on social mobility and leadership in the AI era, leaders explored how AI could change not only productivity, but also the way people build experience, judgement and leadership capability.
One idea stood out: as AI takes away some of the traditional “hard yards” of work, organisations will need to become much more intentional about developing the human judgement that sits above them.
From Hard Yards to Higher-Value Work
For many professionals, early careers have traditionally involved a significant amount of repetitive and technical work.
Cleaning data. Preparing documents. Conducting research. Making information requests. Drafting and checking outputs.
These tasks may not always have been the most exciting, but they provided an important form of learning. People developed context through repetition. They learned how organisations worked, built professional judgement and gradually became more confident in making decisions.
AI is beginning to change that.
At the roundtable, one professional services partner highlighted how a complex international tax information request process that historically took six weeks could now be compressed into just a few hours.
That is a huge productivity opportunity.
But it also changes how people learn.
The Disappearing Hard Yards
As AI takes on more technical execution, some of the traditional tasks through which junior professionals gained experience may begin to disappear.
That does not mean people will have less opportunity.
It means organisations need to think differently about where development comes from.
If AI can handle data cleansing, basic drafting and information gathering, the value of human judgement becomes more important. People need to understand context, challenge assumptions, assess risk and decide what should happen next.
The leaders of tomorrow will not simply be those who can work through the largest spreadsheet or complete the most manual tasks.
They will be those who know how to interpret information, ask the right questions and apply judgement to what AI produces.
Human Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence
One senior consulting leader at the roundtable captured this idea simply:
Human Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Return on Investment.
The formula is important because it shifts the conversation away from AI replacing people and towards how people and technology can work together more effectively.
AI can help organisations move faster. It can process information, generate outputs and reduce the time required for certain tasks.
But human intelligence remains essential for deciding what matters.
People need to bring context, curiosity, critical thinking and judgement. They need to know when an answer is incomplete, when an assumption is wrong and when a different question needs to be asked.
The value is not in choosing between human intelligence and artificial intelligence.
It is in combining the two.
Curiosity Becomes a Leadership Skill
As AI becomes more capable, curiosity becomes increasingly important.
The ability to ask a good question has always mattered, but it becomes even more valuable when technology can generate answers at speed.
The question is no longer simply whether someone can find information.
It is whether they know what information to look for, whether they can recognise what is missing and whether they can challenge the answer they receive.
This requires a different kind of confidence.
Leaders need to create environments where people are encouraged to question, test and explore rather than simply accept the first answer available.
That is particularly important for young people entering the workforce at a time when the nature of early-career learning is changing.
Rethinking How We Develop Future Leaders
If AI is changing the work people do, organisations also need to rethink how they develop people.
Traditional career progression has often assumed that people build capability by starting with execution and gradually moving towards judgement.
But if AI changes the nature of execution, that development pathway may need to change too.
Organisations will need to create more deliberate opportunities for coaching, reflection, problem-solving and decision-making. Young professionals need opportunities to work through complex challenges, understand the reasoning behind decisions and learn from experienced leaders.
This is where reverse mentoring can also play a role.
The roundtable highlighted the potential for junior talent to share their AI fluency with senior leaders while gaining institutional knowledge and judgement in return. Rather than seeing experience and technological fluency as separate forms of expertise, organisations can create opportunities for both generations to learn from one another.
Testing for Curiosity and Adaptability
The shift towards human judgement also changes how organisations might assess talent.
A legal sector leader at the roundtable described using “impossible tasks” — challenges designed to require AI to complete within a restricted timeframe — to assess qualities such as curiosity and adaptability.
The value of this approach is that it looks beyond whether someone can produce a polished answer.
It asks how they approach a problem.
Do they experiment? Do they ask questions? Can they adapt when their first approach does not work? Do they know how to use technology without becoming dependent on it?
These may become increasingly important indicators of future leadership potential.
The Opportunity in the AI Era
AI gives organisations an opportunity to rethink more than productivity.
It gives them an opportunity to rethink how people learn, how potential is identified and how future leaders are developed.
The challenge is not to preserve every traditional task simply because it has always been part of early careers. Nor is it to assume that technology can replace the learning that came from those experiences.
Instead, organisations need to ask what people need to learn now.
How can we create opportunities to develop judgement?
How can we help people become more curious?
How can we give young talent access to experienced leaders while allowing them to bring their own perspective and technological fluency?
And how can we make sure that the benefits of AI create more opportunity rather than narrower routes into leadership?
Building the Leaders AI Cannot Replace
The future of leadership will not belong to people who simply know how to use AI.
It will belong to people who know how to think alongside it.
As technology takes on more of the technical execution, qualities such as curiosity, judgement, adaptability and critical thinking will become increasingly valuable.
For organisations, the opportunity is to use AI not simply to do more with less, but to create more space for people to develop the human capabilities that technology cannot replicate.
The question is no longer whether AI will change how we work.
It already is.
The question is whether organisations are ready to rethink how they develop the people who will lead what comes next.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is AI changing early careers?
AI is increasingly taking on technical and repetitive tasks such as research, drafting, data processing and information gathering. This may change how young professionals gain experience and means organisations will need to think more deliberately about how they develop judgement and leadership capability.
What skills will become more important as AI develops?
The executive summary highlights human judgement, curiosity and adaptability as increasingly important qualities. Critical thinking, the ability to ask better questions and the confidence to challenge assumptions will also become important as people work alongside increasingly capable AI systems.
Why is human judgement important if AI can process information?
AI can process information and generate outputs, but people still need to understand context, assess what is useful, challenge assumptions and make decisions. Human judgement provides the interpretation and direction needed to turn AI capability into meaningful outcomes.
How can organisations develop human judgement in the AI era?
Organisations can create opportunities for coaching, reflection, problem-solving and decision-making. Reverse mentoring can also bring together the AI fluency of younger employees with the institutional knowledge and judgement of experienced leaders.
How can businesses assess AI fluency and adaptability?
The roundtable highlighted approaches such as challenging candidates with complex or “impossible” tasks that require them to use AI effectively within a limited timeframe. These types of exercises can reveal curiosity, adaptability and how someone approaches problems, rather than simply testing their ability to produce a polished answer.
Ready to Develop Future-Ready Leaders?
Circl helps organisations build inclusive leadership capability while creating meaningful pathways for young people from underrepresented backgrounds.
Through our coaching-led leadership programmes, professionals and 18–24-year-old Future Leaders learn alongside each other as equals, developing the confidence, curiosity and leadership behaviours needed to navigate a changing world of work.
Explore the full conversation
This article explores one of four themes from our executive roundtable on social mobility and leadership in the AI era. Download the full executive summary to explore the key insights, practical strategies and questions raised by the leaders in the room.
