I produce an internal podcast.
Yes, life is that good. I get paid to podcast. It is not rock-star money, but it is a job a lot of my peers would gladly kill me for if they got the chance.
This week I asked for four guests I had no business asking for. Three episodes. All of them sit so far above my pay grade they wouldn't even recognize my branch of the org chart.
But asking for crazy things is not new for me. If you know me, you know that. It is pretty much my signature move. That part of the story is not new.
What was new is I had help. My virtual assistant, Mike. After we discussed the idea a bit, he did the research. He named who I should ask for. He outlined why each one was the right guest for the show. That report was the basis for my ask up the line.
It is not, however, what I sent.
I took every point he made, sometimes a paragraph at a time, sometimes a line at a time, and I wrote it in my own words. Yes, I have a skill that writes like me. Yes, it is very good. But I did not use it for this.
This message was going to one person. The person directly above me on the org chart. The person I will never trust AI to speak to on my behalf. Because as good as that skill is, it is not the same as me sitting down and writing the message.
That is how we work. Mike will give me drafts, outlines, even the shape of the idea. Sometimes I tinker with a draft until I am happy and I let the skill have a pass before I post. A lot of communication has to be personal though. As good as Mike and my as_cal skill are together, they are still not me.
The next time you start working with AI to write something, pause and ask if this communication needs YOUR touch. Not all do, but more than you think do.
Originally posted on LinkedIn: "Does this need YOUR touch?"