If You Believe You Will Be Disintermediated by Technology, I Agree.

If you believe that you will soon be disintermediated by technology, I agree with you; you will be disintermediated by technology.

If you believe that you cannot provide greater value than a technological solution, then you are certain to lose to technology. If you see technology as a threat to your role, you are already lagging here.

If you believe that people will prefer to buy from a computer pretending to be a person than from you, you are probably correct. Maybe you’re not a people person. Maybe you don’t even like people. Maybe people who prefer not to deal with people who are trying to take advantage of them will feel differently about an algorithm programmed with the same intention that caused the stereotype that still plagues salespeople now.

If in your heart of hearts, you know that you lack the resourcefulness, the imagination, and the creativity to help people generate new ideas, technology just might be a better decision than choosing you. If you are not a creative resource, the technology to transact is already moving ahead of you.

If the best you can do for another person is replicate what technology can already do, you are going to find it very difficult to create any real, compelling, differentiated value. If you don’t provide a reason to choose you, there is no reason to choose you. You are now the value proposition.  That means your value prop must beat an algorithm.

If caring about other people, being thoughtful, and being proactive is beyond any commitment you might make as it pertains to serving others, then you are missing the same things that technology is missing, namely humanity.

Since the beginning of our time on Earth, people charged with making decisions have always turned to trusted advisors for help. The trusted advisor now and in the future will be aided by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data. But more than just being a flatlander, they will possess the wisdom necessary to make good decisions, adding the subjective context to the decision they help to shape.

Those who believe they will be disintermediated most certainly will be. Those who believe they will not be replaced by a technology will find a very similar role to the role they have now available to them in the future. A few of us may, in fact, help you shape the decision as to what to automate, how to program your artificial intelligence, and from whom you should buy this exciting new technology.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.