The Voice of Leadership Can’t Be Automated
The machines can write now, but should they speak for you?
These days, it’s easier than ever to sound polished. With the help of AI, you can whip up a message that’s grammatically perfect, neatly structured & even sprinkled with just the right tone.
But here’s the kicker... perfect isn’t the same as true and people can feel the difference.
With AI getting better not just at writing like us, but now even sounding like us, yes, there is a study from the University of Chicago showing that AI can now generate voices and is nearly unidentifiable from real humans.
When you’re tired, under pressure, or just need to get something out the door… AI is now the solution to the fast lane.
But fast doesn’t always mean right.
With AI getting better at copying human tone and language, it’s tempting to let it do the talking because when deadlines are tight and your inbox is overflowing, using the help of an AI can seem like the easy solution.
There's a study from MIT and Harvard that showed when people noticed a message was written by AI, they trusted it 30% less. Salesforce also found out that 68% of workers believe authentic leaders is more important now than it was before AI tools became mainstream.
Why is that? Because people aren’t just looking for information. They’re looking for a human behind the words. They want to feel seen, they want to feel heard and they want to feel the person behind every message. With AI being a mainstream, it's getting harder and harder to build that connection.
There is another experiment by Zapier wherein employees were asked to guess if a message from a CEO was written by a person or by AI.
They got it right just 59% of the time, but the downfall? Messages that people assumed came from AI were rated as less helpful, less genuine, and less actionable.
So, is that the message you want to send? That you’re not really there?
Leadership has always been built on the human stuff such as empathy, clarity, humor, connection and presence. Sure, AI can help clean up your writing but it can't share a story from your past or a lesson you learned the hard way, or the courage it takes to say something honest and meaningful.
So yes, use the tools. But don’t lose your voice.
Because that’s what people are really listening for.
There are better places to let AI do the heavy lifting, summarising reports, pulling data, structuring your thoughts. But when the moment calls for connection, don’t sit it out.
Indra Nooyi once wrote to the parents of her senior executives to say thank you. Steve Jobs struggled for weeks to craft a speech that would speak to more than just success, it would speak to being human. These weren’t just words. They were moments of real presence.
As tech continues to evolve, so will our tools. But the leaders who build trust, spark action, and leave a legacy, those are the ones who still choose to speak for themselves.
*Written by a human for humans*
