Don't Blame The Bot

Another week, another organisation announcing “AI-enabled restructuring” or “downsizing.”

Translation? Fewer people. Better margins. Let’s be clear. AI doesn’t cut jobs. Boards and CEOs do. Algorithms don’t sit in strategy off-sites modelling redundancy scenarios. Executives do.

News flash:

If you’ve decided to reduce your workforce, own the decision.

Don’t mask it in innovation theatre.

Don’t sell it as an inevitability.

And don’t insult intelligent people by pretending the machine demanded it.

Technology is a lever. Boards, CEOs, and Executives choose how hard to pull it. Leadership — real leadership — is about judgement, not camouflage.

Yes, AI will reshape work. It should improve productivity. It may remove some roles. But when “transformation” consistently lands on frontline workers before it lands on bloated leadership layers, navel-gazing strategy teams, and shiny vanity projects — that’s not progress. That’s convenience.

AI isn’t your scapegoat.

It’s your mirror.

It shows exactly what you value.

And whom you don’t.