How much time do you spend talking about why Harry hates Sally? How to untangle relationships you didn’t even know existed, and worrying if you cc’d the right people about a meeting? Lots. We all do. Should I cc or bcc Tom? Did I passive aggressively somehow forget to invite Henry to the offsite? Should I record tough conversations because everyone knows that Lucas never tells the truth about what happened during important – and even unimportant – meetings? When should I call HR when something inappropriate occurs? “Welcome to my life,” is what we hear managers sigh all day long.
So how much time do you spend watching relationships? Who does the CEO like – and dislike? How many people hide from the CEO – and everyone? How many “colleagues” don’t really work very hard? How many define work solely around meetings, lunches and coffee? You could list them by name in two minutes. You’ve adapted to them and especially their relationships. How many of the quiet things are never said out loud?
Rank describes most of this. It’s easier to offend Directors than Vice Presidents who worry more about Senior Vice Presidents than SVPs worry about Executive VPs, and so it goes. On ground zero – where real work happens – everyone worries about their immediate bosses. But listen to this from Abbajay:
“Despite the $15 billion companies spend annually on managerial and leadership development, bad bosses are common in the American workforce. A study by Life Meets Work found that 56% of American workers claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic. A study by the American Psychological Association found that 75% of Americans say their ‘boss is the most stressful part of their workday.’”
Is this normal? It sure is:
“At least half of all employees have quit a job at some point because of their supervisor. People complain of bosses who bully them, micromanage, steal credit, hoard information, and otherwise make them unhappy – which threatens their productivity and the organization’s success.”
Other surveys validate the findings.
But why are there so many toxic bosses and unhappy employees? Can AI help?
Human Nature is Human Nature
Humans are wired in some very specific ways. While we love to talk about how wonderful people are, we know better. Research suggests that humans are a pretty dark species characterized by greed, dishonesty, jealously, self-centeredness, arrogance, xenophobia and more. But the insights discussed in BigThink are especially revealing:
- “We view minorities and the vulnerable as less than human
- We already experience schadenfreude at the age of four
- We believe in Karma – assuming that the downtrodden of the world must deserve their fate
- We are blinkered and dogmatic
- We believe our opinions are superior to others
- We would rather electrocute ourselves than spend time in our own thoughts
- We are vain and overconfident
- We are moral hypocrites
- We are all potential trolls
- We favour ineffective leaders with psychopathic traits”
These “people” run organizations, make executive decisions and manage employees.
Could it be worse? You bet it could:
- “Lizard people run the government – According to Public Policy Polling, there are roughly 12 million Americans who believe that our public officials are really shape-shifting alien creatures.
- Chocolate milk comes from brown cows – Roughly 10% of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows, according to the Washington Post.
- The government hides information on UFOs – According to ABC News, 36% of Americans believe that UFOs exist and four-fifths of respondents said they believe that the US government conceals information about UFOs from the public.
- The Earth is the center of the universe (literally) – A national survey revealed that roughly 18% of people in the US believe planet Earth lies in the center of the universe.
- Devil possessions – In a Gallop poll, 42% of Americans admittedly believe that ‘people on this Earth are sometimes possessed by the devil.’
- Humans and dinosaurs co-existed – According to CNET, 41% of survey respondents believe that humans were not only alive when dinosaurs were still alive, but that they peacefully lived together.
- Global warming is a hoax – In a survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, 37% responded that they believed global warming is not real and another 12% said they weren’t sure.
- Aliens have visited Earth – According to a survey, roughly 47% of Americans believe that aliens have walked among us.
- The Earth is flat – According to Forbes, nearly one-third of millennials are ‘flat-earthers.’
- Ghosts are real – According to a Gallup poll, 32% of Americans believe ghosts are real.
The combinations here are downright frightening. What if your vain, hypocritical, troll boss believes you’re an alien? Too funny, right? (I must confess that I’ve learned way too much about colleagues and bosses over the years to guarantee that they’re not lizards.)
Stop the Insanity – with AI
What if we could eliminate or at least reduce the impact that vain, hypocritical, troll bosses (who believe you’re an alien or a ghost) have on management?
Let’s stipulate that “AI” – machine learning and generative AI – is not and cannot be perfectly objective and unbiased. But let’s also stipulate that explainable AI makes it possible to largely open the data/algorithm black box. But – and most importantly – let’s also stipulate that across many problem domains AI can be more objective than humans and that AI can deliver more objective, more accurate, more consistent and more explainable solutions than vain, hypocritical, troll bosses who might just believe they’re walking among aliens and ghosts on the flat center of the universe. Do I trust algorithms trained with tons of data to accept/deny loan applications than humans? Yes, I do, and so should you (unless you’re a fan of redlining bias). The same will soon be true for MRIs, audits, legal search, HR and lots of what today we describe as “analytics.” Strike zones will soon be separated from human umpires and machines will soon decide whether it’s really a first down, a charge or out a bounds.
If you accept the range of human frailties (and how could you not) and the possibility of insane interpretations of reality, then there’s a lot AI can help us with. It’s at least worth a try across a growing number of domains. The first step is not to try to coach humans, fix humans or de-fake them. There’s just not enough time or money to succeed. Instead, the first step should be to identify the tasks and problem domains to which AI is best suited and where bias is the least likely and most observable. Then run some tests. You might be surprised – or mad as hell at how insufferably arrogant the machines are. In any case, the objective is to remove as many humans from the problem-solving process as possible. They’re just not that good.