Culture – mardihumphreys.com

Dark Empathy

A volunteer and I were troubleshooting the usual challenges an event brings when I said, “Misery loves company.” Without missing a beat, they replied, “Don’t be a misery partner.” This gave me pause. I wasn’t just expressing dissatisfaction. I was inviting someone into it. Is that the right thing to do? Misery loves company, but do you have to RSVP?

What It Really Means

You’ve probably heard the phrase before, but let’s be clear: “Misery loves company” means that unhappy people often look for others to share in their pain. Sometimes it’s about validation,“You feel this too, right?” Other times it’s darker. If someone is stuck in a bad mood it can feel comforting to pull others into the same mindset. Misery doesn’t just want to be seen. It wants companionship.

Why We Do It

Validation: Misery can feel isolating. Sharing it with someone makes it feel less lonely.

Mood-matching: If you’re angry or disillusioned, it can feel easier if the person next to you is too. Misery becomes a shared lens.

Identity Reinforcement: If you stay in that space long enough, you begin to expect and even seek out negative experiences. It becomes part of how you navigate work and relationships.

When It Becomes a Problem

In the short term, it feels good to vent. It builds rapport. It can even feel productive. But over time, it shifts from bonding to spiraling. For example: Let’s say you have a coworker who habitually wants to talk about how bad leadership is. Every team meeting, every direct message, it comes up. At first, you agree. But soon, you’re both repeating the same frustrations. Nothing changes. The venting doesn’t lead to clarity or action just mutual grievance. That’s misery partnering. When two or more people reinforce each other’s worst perspectives, you’re no longer helping each other process. You’re keeping each other stuck.

How to Spot It at Work

Misery partnering isn’t always loud. It can look like two coworkers grabbing coffee just to complain. It can happen in team group chats or in “just being real” sidebars. It drains your energy and clouds your decision-making. When your default mode is skepticism or complaint, even good ideas start to feel naive. You stop contributing. You play it safe. You protect your mood instead of doing your best work. If you experience any of these, then ask yourself:

Am I sharing this to feel better, or to feel right?
Does this conversation go in circles?
After we talk, do I feel lighter or more stuck?
Are we taking any action, or just blaming?

What You Can Do Instead

You don’t have to cut off every frustrated coworker and you don’t have to bottle things up. You do need to be mindful about how much airtime you’re giving to frustration and whether it’s helping. The next time a coworker starts spiraling, don’t pile on. Listen, but then steer. Ask what they need. Suggest one step forward.

Start with this mantra, “I can listen without absorbing. I can empathize without enabling. I can share my own frustrations without needing someone to sink with me.” Call it what it is: a moment, not a mindset. If you catch yourself being the one pulling others in, pause and ask yourself: “What do I actually want right now? Validation? Change? Relief?”

If you’re stuck in a loop with someone who’s always venting, try asking: “What are you thinking about doing next?” It’s a gentle nudge out of rumination and into action.

How do you avoid becoming a misery partner at work? Please share in the comments.

Take the Time

You take time off work for a vacation because it’s a culturally acceptable reason to rest and restore your body. But what about your brain? If your mind is overloaded, your work suffers. In conversations about taking a mental health day, I’ve heard opinions running the gamut from eye rolls to enthusiasm. Of course, this made me curious.

Why Take a Mental Health Day?

It’s like resting a strained muscle. Pushing through the discomfort doesn’t make you tougher, it wears you down. If you’re feeling mentally exhausted, overwhelmed, or unmotivated, this shows up in your work through mistakes, slow responses, or irritability. Would you trust your job performance after three nights of bad sleep and three days of nonstop Zoom calls? If you catch yourself zoning out in meetings, dreading small tasks, or struggling to care about the outcome of your work, it’s time to step away and reset. How often you take one depends on your workload. Does it regularly drain you? Then maybe quarterly is a good cadence. Do you usually need a break after an intense project? Then schedule one for immediately after delivery. Create a personal system that accommodates the pace of your work and makes it sustainable.

How Do You Request One?

Some people I spoke with worried taking time off for mental health would make them appear unreliable or weak. The good news is more organizations recognize that productivity depends on sustainable work habits. Unlike calling in sick with the flu, a mental health day is best planned ahead. Choose a day that doesn’t interfere with deadlines, major events, or key meetings and give your manager as much notice as possible. Communicate clearly and keep the focus on coverage and continuity.

If your workplace is supportive: Be direct. For example say, “I’d like to take a mental health day next Friday. I’ll make sure everything is on track before I’m out, and I’ll loop in [Teammate] on anything that might come up.” After your manager approves it, coordinate coverage of your projects. Let coworkers know who to contact while you’re out and make sure that person has all the resources they need. Offer to return the favor when they take a day off.

If not: Be indirect. Label your request the term your company uses for flexible paid time off. Usually it’s called a personal day or a vacation day. You don’t have to explain how you intend to use it. For example say, “I’d like to request a personal day for Thursday. My workload is covered and I’ll be back Friday.”

What Should You Do on One?

Nothing: Turn off your laptop. Watch a show. Lie on the couch. Do not feel guilty.

Spend time with people you like: Meet a friend for coffee or lunch. Visit a sibling. Talk to someone who doesn’t expect work talk. Social connection lowers stress and boosts mood.

Roam if you want to: Take a long walk, go to a hot-yoga class, or bike around your neighborhood. The goal is to boost your energy not your fitness.

Something just for you: Read a book. Cook a slow meal. Run errands you’ve been avoiding. Clear clutter. Anything that restores your sense of control.

Volunteer: Spend an hour helping someone else. This could be anything from packing food at a local pantry to helping a student learn to read. There are many local nonprofits who need help.

What is your take on a mental health day? Please share in the comments.

That’s Another Good Question

After last week’s article about good questions, the “Is It Worth Your T.E.A.M.” community had some good questions for me! I’m sharing them, along with examples, for the good of the group.

Common Question Concerns

How do you ask a technical question without sounding naive?
Focus on what you need to learn, not what you think you should already know.

“I’m still getting familiar with this. Will you please walk me through how it connects to X?”
“What’s the best resource to understand how this works?”

How do I ask my manager better questions during one-on-ones?

Ask about expectations, priorities, and growth. Avoid general “How am I doing?” questions. Be specific.

“What’s one area you think I could improve in this quarter?”
“Are there upcoming projects where I can take more ownership?”

How can I ask questions in a meeting without sounding like I’m showing off?
Focus on curiosity, not performance. Keep it brief, stay on topic, and avoid jargon.

“Will you please share the process of how you weighed the options before landing on this approach?”

How do I ask questions without putting someone on the spot?
Use softer language and offer space to think. This shows respect and lowers pressure.

“Would you be open to breaking down how you landed on this course of action?”
“Whenever you have a moment, I’d love your take on how this decision came together.”

How do I push back or ask challenging questions tactfully?
Lead with respect and aim for understanding, not debate.

“I see the benefits of this plan. What would you say are the trade-offs we should keep in mind?”
“Is there a reason we ruled out Option B? I just want to understand the full picture.”

What if I asked a question and it didn’t land well?
It happens. Don’t over-apologize. Clarify or follow up later.

“I realized I may not have been clear earlier. What I meant to ask was how the timeline impacts our testing phase.”

How do I ask better questions in time-pressured situations?
Be direct and results-focused. You don’t need context, just the information you need to act.

“Can I get a quick yes/no on whether we’re moving forward with the update today?”
“Is this blocking anything else on your end?”

How do I know when to stop asking questions?
Watch for signs like:

You’re getting short answers
The person repeats themselves
The person says, “Let me follow up later”
You’re starting to ask things you could find yourself

At that point, pause, thank them, and pivot:

“Thanks, that’s helpful. I’ll take a look at what’s documented and come back if needed.”

Practice

Asking good questions helps you make better use of your time, understand your work more clearly, and build stronger relationships. Like any skill, it improves with practice. Here are a few things you can do right away:

Rewrite one vague question you ask often. Make it clearer and more specific
During your next meeting, ask one thoughtful follow-up
Practice active listening: Summarize what you heard before asking a follow-up
Ask one question at a time
After a presentation, ask a “what’s next” question to keep things moving

Do you have a good follow-up question for the community? Please share it in the comments.

That’s a Good Question

Asking the right questions makes your job easier and your work more effective. Good questions help you make better decisions, manage your time, and build trust with your team. Poor questions, on the other hand, lead to confusion, delays, and missed details. So what makes a question “good”? How do you ask questions in a way that’s helpful and not annoying?

Characteristics of a Good Question

Good questions are clear, specific, relevant to the task or discussion, and invite a useful response. They respect people’s time and knowledge. You ask them with a goal in mind, like one of these:

Understand context or details affecting your work
Avoid misunderstandings
Move projects forward
Spot roadblocks early
Stay aligned
Build rapport with coworkers

Types of Good Questions

Knowing what type of question to ask in different situations helps you get better answers. Here are a few types followed by examples.

Open-ended questions: Invite thoughtful responses. These are useful when you want to gather input or explore options. “What are some ways we could improve this process?”
Clarifying questions: Help confirm your understanding and avoid assumptions. “When you say ‘onboarding,’ are you referring to new employees or new clients?”
Follow-up questions: Show you’re paying attention and take the discussion deeper. “You mentioned a budget issue. Can you please say more about that?”
Critical thinking questions: Challenge ideas constructively and move conversations forward or uncover gaps. “What would happen if we removed that step entirely?”
Technical questions: Dig into tools, systems, or data. “What triggers that alert in the CRM, and can we adjust the threshold?”

General Best Practices

Ask one question at a time. If you ask three things at once you’ll usually only get one answer.
Be specific, not narrow. Narrow: “What’s the deal with this project?” Specific: “Can you update me on the status of the content handoff for this project?”
Don’t interrupt. Restrain yourself from jumping in with a follow-up question until the speaker finishes their answer.
Be an active listener. Listen to understand, not just to reply. Show you’re engaged by making eye contact, giving short verbal cues (e.g., “Got it,” “Makes sense”), and base your follow-up questions on what you actually heard.

Specific Best Practices

For casual conversation, like chatting with a coworker in the hallway or sending a Slack message, ask one question at a time:

“Hey, I saw the metrics doc. Can you please walk me through what changed in Q2?”
“What’s the best way to submit a travel request?”

At meetings stick to clear, short questions that move the discussion forward:

“Can you please share how this decision impacts our timelines?”
“What’s the biggest risk we haven’t talked about yet?”

After a presentation ask for deeper detail or next steps:

“Thanks for the overview. Could you please say more about how you calculated ROI?”
“If we want to get involved in that pilot, what’s the first step?”

During a negotiation good questions help uncover flexibility or constraints:

“What leeway do we have in the timeline?”
“If we adjust the scope, would that affect the price?”

In remote settings (Zoom, Teams, email) be direct and specific:

“Can you please clarify what’s expected by Friday and what can wait?”
“I’d appreciate a quick example of what a ‘successful submission’ looks like.”

Asking better questions isn’t about sounding smart. It’s about being curious, respectful, and intentional. Because that’s what builds trust, clarity, and momentum at any job, on any level, in any field.

What is your favorite good question? Please share in the comments.

Completion Anxiety

Are you unable to step away from work until every task is checked off your to-do list and every email answered? Do you often think, “I have all these things to do and I can’t get any one of them DONE.”? This relentless drive may be more than dedication. It could be Completion Anxiety (CA).

What Is CA?

Completion Anxiety is the persistent fear of not finishing tasks or not meeting set standards. It causes stress and impedes your productivity.

What Does It Feel Like?

Overwhelmed: You feel swamped by your number of tasks or nervous about your incomplete work.
Restless: Not completing every item on your daily to-do list makes you irritable at the end of the day.
Sick: You get frequent headaches at work or at lunch time you realize you’ve been clenching your muscles all morning.
Unfocused: You can’t concentrate on the task in front of you because you’re worried about all your other unfinished tasks. You are too paralyzed to do anything so you procrastinate.
Perfectionistic: You’re afraid your work is subpar so you try again, but striving for perfection results in missed deadlines.
Dodgy: You avoid tasks that give you stress but the unfinished work doesn’t go away it just accumulates.
Exhausted: The constant pressure you put on yourself to finish projects leaves you burned out and unmotivated.
Tense: Every ding of an email notification stresses you out because you’re nervous you either won’t respond promptly enough or it means another task has been added to your to-do list.

What Can You Do About It?

Confine: Define specific work hours and stick to them. At some point during the last half of your workday, identify tasks that can wait until the next workday. Striving for completion is commendable, but not at the expense of your well-being.
Prioritize: Which tasks are urgent? Which tasks are important? Work a lot on completing the urgent and a little on the important. Schedule time on your calendar to work more on the important later in the week.
Good Enough: Done is better than perfect. Remind yourself perfection isn’t always necessary. Shift your focus from getting every detail absolutely right to making steady progress toward delivering a competent and sufficient result.
Divide: Breaking tasks into smaller steps makes them more manageable and less daunting. Take breaks between completing one step and starting the next.
Celebrate: Recognize your achievements. Acknowledging your completed tasks builds confidence and reduces anxiety. The celebration can be as small as moving a task from your to-do list to your is-done list.
Limit: Allocate specific timeframes to each task to prevent overextending yourself. Sometimes you stare at a project for so long it stops making sense and you doubt yourself. Save your work and come back to it a little later with fresh eyes.
Feedback: Get your work to a minimum viable product then get your manager’s input. This should help reduce your tendency to overwork. Your manager decides when a task meets the required standards. If your work gives them all they need, move on to the next project. If not, clarify what else needs done and keep working on it.

How do you combat Completion Anxiety? Please share in the comments.

Wave Goodbye

You’ve spent years building your career, learning new skills, and proving yourself at work. Despite your efforts, promotions pass you by, your work goes unnoticed, and you struggle to find a sponsor who will advocate for you. Should you stay and keep grinding, or is it time to move on?

You have a steady paycheck so it’s tempting to stay put and the fear of wasting your past efforts can keep you stuck. There is a name for this fear. It’s called the sunk cost fallacy. You hesitate to quit because you’ve invested so heavily in this career. But the reality is your past investment is gone. The only decision that matters is whether your future investment of more time and effort is likely to pay off.

How To Know

Promotions: You’re consistently refused advancement even when you exceed expectations. You receive good performance reviews, but leadership passes you over for less experienced colleagues.

Sponsorship: No one in leadership advocates for you. Your requests for a seat at the table are denied. No one brings you up for high-visibility projects in rooms you are not in. Without internal support your career growth is limited.

Value: You take on high-impact projects, but your contributions are undervalued, dismissed, or worse, credited to someone else.

Progression: Your path to development is blocked. When you ask about career growth with the organization you get vague answers or are told to “be patient.”

Autopilot: A single bad year doesn’t mean it’s time to quit, but If you’re no longer challenged or learning, then you’re just wasting time.

How to Reframe

Mindset: Shift from feeling like a failure to believing that your sunk cost is the tuition you paid for future success.

Evergreen: Your experience is not wasted. If you change jobs or even your career path, then your skills, knowledge, and relationships will still benefit you.

Recover: You don’t have to earn back your investment in the same place. If you’re underpaid or undervalued, staying won’t magically fix that. You can earn lost money back in a better role.

How to Avoid

Goals: Set clear career goals. Think about what your next level is and evaluate whether your job is helping you get there.

Track: Keep a record of your achievements and impact. This is your “Atta Baby!” folder. It is the file you keep on your desktop with all the documentation of the praise, recognition, and thank you emails you receive. Its purpose is to help you advocate for promotions and negotiate future opportunities.

Assess: Every six months, ask yourself: Am I growing? Am I being recognized? Am I satisfied? If not, adjust your course before your trajectory feels stunted.

Plan: If you realize your job is a dead end, don’t quit impulsively. Strategically plan your exit.

How to Prepare

Network: Connect with industry peers, attend events, and reach out to former colleagues. The best opportunities often come through relationships, especially weak ties, not job boards.

Upskill: While you’re still employed take online courses, get certifications, or volunteer at a nonprofit organization where you can work on projects that build the skills you need for your next role.

Money: Build a financial cushion so you don’t feel pressured to take the first offer that comes along.

What have you done to move past your sunk costs? Please share in the comments.

Start Me Up

Last week while talking about how to deal with some possible repercussions when you set boundaries around your time at work, I made this statement: “The workplace rewards immediate responses and multitasking. (BTW, multitasking is a myth. Do NOT get me started.)” A few subscribers took that as a challenge and, well, here we are. It’s been five years since we talked about multitasking. Let’s revisit this topic and see what’s changed.

What Hasn’t Changed

Multitasking feels like you’re getting more done, but research shows the opposite. When you switch rapidly between tasks, your brain struggles to maintain focus, which not only degrades the quality of your work over time, but also negatively impacts your mental health.

The brain’s working memory is like a mental clipboard, temporarily storing information as you work. When you constantly switch tasks, you don’t give your brain enough time to process and properly store that information. Research from the American Psychological Association indicates constant interruptions reduce working memory capacity, ultimately impairing learning and the ability to retain crucial information.

For example, let’s say you’re updating an inventory report while also handling a customer’s question over the phone. Your fragmented attention means not only do you struggle to answer the customer’s question to their satisfaction, but you may mess up the inventory report too.

It isn’t just about errors. Multitasking has a significant impact on your physical and mental well-being. When you try to multitask throughout the day you experience higher levels of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, which raises your blood pressure. The cumulative stress from constant task switching can lead to chronic anxiety, reduced job satisfaction, and physical health issues.

So, it’s important to understand the trade-offs. While multitasking seems to boost your productivity, studies show the brain’s constant task switching actually results in slowing your productivity because it impedes your attention and comprehension. When you concentrate on one task at a time, you get more done, reduce errors, and improve the overall quality of your work.

What Has

Multitasking often involves you responding to notifications from email, instant messaging, and phone calls while working on a project. Some tech companies acknowledged this challenge and introduced tools designed specifically to help you focus. Apple’s Focus Mode, Windows 11’s Focus Assist, Slack’s “Do Not Disturb” settings, and Microsoft Teams’ quiet time features make it easier to protect your deep work sessions. These tools aren’t magic bullets. They require discipline. But when used consistently, they help create an environment where distractions are minimized allowing for more sustained concentration and better quality work. Even a short period of uninterrupted focus leads to measurable improvement in your efficiency and job satisfaction.

Strategies to Reduce Negative Impact

Eliminate: In addition to using focus-assisting tools, turn off non-essential notifications or set your workspace to “do not disturb” mode during critical work periods.

Prioritize: Start each workday by identifying the single most important task that will drive your work forward and do it. Make it non-negotiable.

Establish: Set expectations with colleagues about response times. For example, designate specific hours for checking emails rather than reacting immediately.

Adopt: Moving away from multitasking isn’t just about getting more work done. It’s about producing higher quality output while maintaining your mental and physical health. Adopting a monotasking mindset makes you more productive and your work environment less stressful.

What works for you? Please share in the comments.

The Priority the Sequel

After last week’s discussion around framing time management as self-respect, I received some good questions: “What do I do about the guilt I feel for saying no?” “What do I do about pushback?” “What if I miss out on a golden opportunity?” Let’s explore some answers.

Guilt

You may feel guilty about declining tasks or invitations to join project teams because you worry saying no will make you appear unhelpful or it will damage your relationships with your managers. But saying yes to everything spreads your energy too thin and makes you less effective in the tasks that are important.

Try: Shift your mindset. Saying no to low-priority work isn’t about avoiding responsibility. It’s about ensuring you contribute your best work to what really matters. Intentionally prioritize tasks based on their impact on your organization’s mission and their alignment with your role.

For example: If a team lead asks you to sit in on a meeting that doesn’t directly involve your work, you might say, “I’d love to help where I can. Will you please send me a summary of the key takeaways instead? That way, I can focus on my current deadlines while staying informed.” This approach keeps you engaged without overloading your schedule.

Pushback

The workplace rewards immediate responses and multitasking. (BTW, multitasking is a myth. Do NOT get me started.) This makes it difficult to set boundaries. When you start managing your time more effectively, you will face resistance from coworkers and/or managers who expect you to be available at all times.

Try: Set clear, realistic expectations with your team. If you need uninterrupted time to focus on deep work, then proactively communicate. For example, when you’re working on a report let your team know you’ll be offline for two hours and will check messages afterward.

For example: If a manager frequently assigns last-minute tasks, try saying, “I can take this on, but it will push back my other deadlines. Which task would you like me to prioritize?” This puts the decision back in their hands while reinforcing that your time is limited.

FOMO

You overcommit because you worry turning something down may mean missing a career-changing opportunity. Some opportunities are time-sensitive, but saying yes to everything prevents you from focusing on what best aligns with your long-term goals.

Try: Get clear on your priorities. If an opportunity excites you but doesn’t align with your goals, it may not be the right one.

For example: If you’re invited to join an extra project that sounds interesting but doesn’t directly contribute to your career path, you could say, “This sounds like a great initiative! Right now, I need to focus on my core projects, but I’d love to be considered for similar opportunities in the future.” This keeps the door open while ensuring you don’t overextend yourself.

Experiments

Before accepting a meeting request, ask for an agenda. If there isn’t one, ask what’s expected of you. If they can’t define your role, the meeting may be an email.
Limit open-ended commitments. If someone asks for help, instead of saying, “Sure, I can do that,” try, “I have time for a quick 15-minute call, would that help?” This keeps your contribution focused.
At the end of each workday, take a moment to evaluate: What did I accomplish today? What tasks drained my time unnecessarily? What changes can I make tomorrow to work more efficiently? Reflection ensures you continuously refine your time management approach based on what’s working and what isn’t.

How do you deal with workplace boundary encroachments? Please share in the comments.

Even Keeled

Last week we talked about how to become aware of our emotions, what triggers them, and how they affect our decision making. Now that you know what they are and why they happen, let’s talk about moving from self-awareness to self-regulation.

You Are in Charge

When you start to feel out of control, what can you do to get ahead of your emotions and constructively respond?

Pause – For example, you are tasked with removing the bottleneck from one of your organization’s workflows. You email the project manager an idea. The reply you receive is harshly critical and dismissive. What do you do? You want to fire off a defensive response. Instead, take a breath, step away, and revisit the email later. The pause gives your rational mind a chance to kick in.

Reset – When stress builds, your decision-making suffers. Techniques like deep breathing or a quick meditation can help in the moment. On days you have to make important decisions, take a break to move your body in addition to those tools. Even a short walk around the block can make a difference. Give yourself a 15-minute “reset break” to clear your mind.

Adapt – Asynchronous work environments demand flexibility. For example, a teammate’s delayed reply may derail your plan. When it does, remind yourself that staying open to new solutions helps maintain momentum in the long run.

Get Social

Strong relationships pave the way for problem-solving as well as career advancement. Building those relationships takes deliberate effort.

Communicate – For example, you’re on a video call with your team putting together an agenda for a client update and they are all distracted. Instead of letting your annoyance show, try saying, “I’d love everyone’s input on this. What else do we want the client to know that I don’t have on this list?” Inviting engagement respectfully can shift the tone of the meeting.

Share – Teams thrive when credit is shared. If you’re leading a project, make it a habit to highlight contributions from teammates, even in small ways like Slack shout-outs.

Learn – Disagreements happen. It’s how you handle them that matters. Focus on solutions instead of assigning blame. For example, if someone misses a deadline, instead of saying, “You messed up,” try, “Let’s figure out how to avoid this in the future.”

Support – If you notice a team member struggling with a task, offer to be a resource. A small gesture, like volunteering to review their work, shows commitment to the team’s success.

Galvanize – Even when projects get messy, a positive outlook can help your team keep going. For example, if a new tool isn’t working as expected, reframing the setback as a learning opportunity can keep morale from plummeting.

Practice – Start with one small action each day. For example, pause before replying to an irritating email or ask a colleague how they’re feeling before diving into work. Over time, these habits become second nature.

Next Steps

Remember the emotion log you kept last week? Pull it out. Knowing what you know now, how do you wish you would have responded in those situations? Now you have an option to experiment with the next time those triggers go off. Here are a few ideas to maintain your progress.

Reflect – Spend five minutes at the end of each workday reviewing your emotional responses and interactions. If there is something you wish you’d done differently, make a note of it. If you responded instead of reacted to a trigger, pat yourself on the back.

Experiment – Try one self-regulation technique during a challenging moment. For example, box breathe, or silently count to three before speaking. Find what works best for maintaining your composure.

Ask – Request feedback from a trusted colleague on how you handle stress during collaboration. This is a private conversation maybe over coffee.

How do you self-regulate to function better at work? Please share in the comments.

Natural Intelligence

For 2025 our conversations will focus on Power Skills (the skills formerly known as “Soft”). Why? To future proof our jobs. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes the planet, we face a unique challenge: Staying relevant in a workplace where technology automates repetitive tasks. AI excels at technical, hard skills tasks like data analysis, coding, and project tracking. Eventually quantum computing will do hard skills jobs at enterprise-level scale. But AI can’t yet replicate humanity like our ability to adapt, connect, and relate. Power skills like flexibility, empathy, and communication, aren’t just nice to have anymore. They’re essential tools you need for surviving in the future of work.

Finding the Gaps

AI creates opportunities to offload repetitive tasks, freeing you up to focus on solving complex problems, working with others, and making decisions that require emotional intelligence. Power skills fill the gap where technology ends. What does that look like? Here are some examples:

Time management: AI can organize your schedule, but it can’t prioritize tasks based on your unique team dynamics.
Productivity: Automation tools can handle routine updates, but they can’t motivate a team to overcome roadblocks.
Decision-making: Algorithms can analyze data, but interpreting how it impacts people often requires human judgment.

Filling the Gaps

In what areas can you grow where AI struggles? Empathy, adaptability, and effective communication are hard to automate because they require context, emotional nuance, and creative problem-solving. Let’s say you’re a project manager leading a team during a major transition. AI can help forecast timelines and budgets, but it can’t address your team’s concerns about job security or coach them through adapting to new tools. That’s where your emotional intelligence and leadership come in, ensuring the transition is productive and supportive.

Foiling the Gaps

Upskill: Platforms like LinkedIn Learning offer courses on communication, leadership, and conflict resolution. Start with a course that aligns with your current challenges.
Practice: Actively listen to colleagues by summarizing their concerns before responding. This shows you’re not just hearing but also understanding them. For example, during a team meeting, you realize you dominate discussions. You adjust your approach to create space for quieter teammates to contribute, leading to better outcomes. This self-awareness and empathy are skills AI does not have.
Adapt: Volunteer for cross-functional projects or tasks outside your comfort zone. It’s a great way to build resilience and learn to pivot under pressure. For example, your company adopts a new AI-based tool. Instead of resisting, you learn its features and become the go-to resource for your team, showcasing your value.
Lead: Launch small initiatives for your team, like organizing brainstorming sessions or mentoring a colleague. For example, you take the lead on a high-visibility project. You rally the team with clear goals and encouragement making everyone feel invested in the outcome.
Evaluate: Use your 1:1 meetings with your manager to request honest feedback about your communication, adaptability, or leadership. Ask for specific examples and tips for improvement.

The workplace is evolving fast, but your ability to flex, empathize, and communicate will keep you in demand. The future of work is about using AI as a tool so you can do what it can’t. Be human.

What power skill did I forget? Please share in the comments.