From Work to Worth | Preparing People for an AI-Driven World

Conversations about work have centered on efficiency, output, and speed. Now, with AI accelerating at a pace most organizations weren’t prepared for, those conversations are changing — fast.

But here’s what I’ve come to believe:

AI isn’t the real shift. The real shift is how we define human worth at work.

That realization sits at the heart of something I’ve been working on for a while now — an initiative I call Work to Worth.

AI is getting very good at work.

It can write, summarize, plan, analyze, automate, and execute at speeds no human can match. 

Organizations see opportunity — and they should. But too often, the conversation stops there. What we don’t talk about enough is what happens to the people doing that work. For decades, many organizations implicitly trained their people to equate their value with task completion, output volume, responsiveness, availability, and being “the one who knows how to do the thing.”

AI disrupts all of that.

If we don’t help our teams redefine where their value comes from, we risk creating a workforce that feels anxious, replaceable, disconnected, resistant to change, or quietly disengaged.

That’s not a technology problem.
That’s a leadership problem.

Work to Worth is about intentionally moving people from seeing themselves as doers of tasks to creators of value.

It asks leaders to help teams answer different questions:

• Not “What do I do?” but “Why does this matter?”
• Not “How fast can I complete this?” but “What outcome am I responsible for?” 
• Not “Can AI do this?” but “What part of this still requires human judgment, context, empathy, or creativity?”

When people understand their worth beyond the work itself, AI becomes an ally instead of a threat.

We provide customized human resources solutions tailored to the needs of your business. From recruitment and onboarding to performance management and employee engagement, we can help you build and maintain a high-performing team.

While writing Transformation Engines, I didn’t set out to write a book about AI.

But AI kept showing up anyway. Not as the centerpiece — but as a force that exposes weak systems and unclear cultures.

One of the core ideas in the book is that transformation doesn’t come from frameworks alone. It comes from creating an environment where people can thrive — where clarity, trust, ownership, and purpose exist before automation enters the picture.

The AI + Human Value Engine in the book connects directly to Work to Worth and reinforces a simple truth:

AI should handle repetition | Humans should handle meaning. 

When organizations skip the human preparation step, AI adoption feels disruptive. When they don’t, it feels empowering.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

• AI will not eliminate leadership problems — it will amplify them.
• Teams without clarity will feel lost faster.
• Cultures without trust will resist harder.
• Metrics without meaning will become more hollow.
• People without a sense of worth will disengage sooner.

Work to Worth isn’t a “nice to have” initiative anymore. It’s a leadership responsibility. Preparing people for AI doesn’t start with tools, licenses, or pilots.

It starts with conversations.

You don’t need to have all the answers to begin.

But you do need to start asking better questions:

• Where does my team believe their value comes from today? 
• Which parts of their work are about execution vs. judgment? 
• Have we given people permission to let go of tasks AI can handle? 
• Are we reinforcing worth through outcomes — or activity?

The organizations that thrive in the AI era won’t be the ones that adopt fastest.

They’ll be the ones that prepare their people best.