😅 That Time I Let AI Handle My Client Emails (Plus: The Leadership Hack That Saved My Week)

☕️ Your Friday Dose of Caffeinated Wisdom

Hey Leadership Lounge Family! ☕️

As promised, I'm back with that embarrassing AI story – but first, THANK YOU for all the responses to last week's edition! It turns out that I'm not the only one who's had AI adventures gone wrong (shoutout to Rachel who had an AI schedule back-to-back meetings with herself for 8 hours straight 😂).

🎬 The AI Email Incident

So, picture this: Last month, I discovered an AI tool that promised to handle all my client emails "with human-like precision." Being the productivity-obsessed coffee addict I am, I thought, "Perfect! More time for actual work!"

Narrator: It was not perfect.

Here's what happened:

• The AI responded to 47 emails in 3 hours (impressive!)

• It scheduled 4 meetings (efficient!)

• It also accidentally agreed to speak at a conference in Antarctica (wait, what?)

• And somehow got into a philosophical debate with our biggest client about the nature of productivity (yikes!)

But here's the plot twist – this massive fail led to my biggest leadership insight this week.

💡 The "Human in the Loop" Revelation

After damage control (and many, many apologies), I realized something crucial about leadership in the AI age:

It's not about choosing between AI or humans – it's about mastering the handoff between the two.

🔥 What's Working Now

I've developed what I call the "AI-Human Handoff Framework" (a fancy name for a simple idea I scribbled on a coffee napkin):

1. Let AI Handle the Heavy Lifting

   • Data analysis

   • Initial drafts

   • Meeting summaries

   • Calendar management

2. You Handle the Human Moments

   • Final decision-making

   • Emotional context

   • Relationship nurturing

   • Strategic thinking

3. The Handoff Points

   • Review AI outputs before they go out.

   • Add personal touches to AI-generated content.

   • Use AI insights as conversation starters, not enders.

🛠️ Tool of the Week

Remember my Antarctica incident? Here's the tool combo that's working for my email management now:

• Claude for drafting responses (it's more nuanced than others I've tried)

• Superhuman for email management (worth every penny)

• My human brain for a final review (still undefeated!)

📈 Real Results Corner

Last week's "Human-AI Sandwich" meeting structure? The team took it and made it even better:

Before:

• 60-minute meetings

• 3 people checking emails

• 2 people "multitasking"

After:

• 35-minute meetings

• Everyone present

• Better decisions

• And Mark (bless him) automated the follow-up emails.

🧪 The Experimental Corner

This week, we tried "AI-Free Fridays" – no AI tools for one day. Results?

• More laughs

• Better conversations

• One slightly panicked intern

• And we all remembered how to do basic math.