What is your job and will it survive AI?
What is your job and will it survive AI?
Earlier this summer Intuit announced layoffs and cited artificial intelligence as one of the reasons they are shifting to a smaller workforce. This wasn’t a shock. Numerous other companies including IBM, Chegg and Dropbox have done the same.
If you’re not wondering how artificial intelligence will impact your career then you probably aren’t paying attention to what is unfolding.
But asking if your job is going to be replaced by artificial intelligence is the wrong question. Instead, ask yourself a deeper question: what is my job, really?
AI is going to force many of us to ask that question.
Clearly, AWS CEO Matt Garman is thinking about that question. He recently shared this during an internal company meeting with AWS engineers:
“Being a developer in 2025 may be different than what it was as a developer in 2020 … each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we're going to try to go build because that's going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code.”
A similar shift is underway with many jobs, including in partnerships. And “getting in tune with what a customer needs” starts with dissecting the core elements of your job.
If you lead partnerships, like I do, then there are three core elements of your job and mine: (1) sign the partners, (2) shape the partners, (3) sync the people.
1. Sign the partners
Often it is signing up partners that the CEO, CMO, Sales VP and others look to the partnerships team to deliver. This includes:
Partner strategy - which partners should we prioritize and why? How should we sequence pursuing various partners?
Partner acquisition - How do we convince and close the right partners? How do we scale partner acquisition and onboarding?
Partner negotiations - How best to maximize upside / mitigate downside risk of this partnership contractually?
But in reality, signing partners is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to partnerships. There are two other elements that typically require more time and have an even bigger impact on an organization …
2. Shape the partners
This is nearly everything you do with a partner outside of closing the deal. In my experience, this is where so much time is spent within a partnerships team:
Partner relationships - How do we build and maintain trust with our partners?
Partner incentives - How do we motivate partners?
Educating and enabling partners - How do we equip partners with the knowledge and materials to succeed in driving impact for our business?
Partner operations - How do we track and measure partner impact?
3. Sync the people
Signing and shaping partners is pointless if x-functional teams are not aligned to make the partnerships successful. These questions sound simple but they take so much time to unpack and address effectively.
Planning - Who internally is accountable for what and by when?
Shared goals - How will we measure success with partners?
Team management - What is our team’s vision for the future? Who should focus on what to achieve that vision?
Ongoing communication - Where are there gaps in how our teams are collaborating?
The key ingredient in partnerships: trust
There is a single thread that runs through each core elements of partnerships: trust. Trust flows directly into signing partners, shaping partners and syncing people.
Trust is the tool that partnership leaders use to innovate and accelerate building solutions for end users.
Trust is the glue that binds two people together … and two companies.
Trust is a partner texting you feedback after the big meeting. Trust is a partner sending you their internal org chart. Trust is convincing your partner to pitch their CEO to fund your partnership.
AI will automate certain elements of partnerships. But we are still a very long way from automating trust.
How to prepare for the changes that are coming
For now, here are a few ways you can best prepare for the changes that automation via AI will bring:
Pick the industry & company - In a growing market and in a growing industry, there will be a need for new partnerships to uncover new growth. Find your way to growth by picking the industry and the company(s) where you invest your time and energy.
Always be learning - AI is going to change how you work. By experimenting with various AI tools inside and outside of work, you can be more prepared for the coming changes.
Automate your work before it automates you - AI need not be something that happens to your job. AI can be something you incorporate into your job to make yourself more efficient and more creative. What aspects of your work rely upon structured data? What tasks that are repeatable and predictable? Where can you apply AI experimentation outside of work to the tasks you face at work?
Note: below you can find some of my predictions for which elements of partnreships will be automated.
My AI predictions for partnerships
Ripe for automation:
Signing the partners
Partner identification - finding companies to partner with
Customer account mapping - effectively automating Crossbeam
Financial modeling - forecasting the financial potential of a partnership
Scaled contract negotiations - aligning on contractual terms (for scaled/templatized agreements)
Shaping the partners
Scaled onboarding - giving many partners access to shared materials
Technical integrations - connecting back systems to unlock new experiences/workflows
Measuring partner incentives - assessing which partners deliver the most impact
Reporting partner metrics - collecting data on the impact partners are delivering
Co-marketing - creating joint collateral
Syncing the people
Scheduling times to meet
More difficult to automate:
Signing the partners
Partner strategy - forming hypotheses on which partner segments and why
Building partner pitches customized to the specific audience
Identify new growth areas - new markets, seeing around the corner
Shaping the partners
Building trust - convincing partners to believe in the potential opportunity together
Capturing nuanced customer feedback
Building compelling partner trainings / enablement programs
Syncing the people
Defining and aligning on team and company goals
Determining roles & responsibilities across and within teams
Recruiting & motivate and coach talent
Navigating ambiguity - this is a catch-all for everything from conflicting priorities within the business to conflicting personalities within the team
Related resources
Podcast: Shell Game - interesting podcast about experimenting with AI tools