The Emails That Miss the Point: Why Human Communication Still Wins in the Age of AI
There’s a moment after every difficult meeting—a silence that hangs in the air like fog. People gather their things, avoid eye contact, and retreat to their inboxes. Later, the emails arrive. They’re polished, polite, and perfectly phrased. If you read only those messages, you’d think everything was fine.
But everything is not fine.
This is the paradox of our age: we are surrounded by tools that make communication easier, faster, and more efficient—and yet, we are communicating less effectively than ever. The culprit isn’t just technology. It’s our growing dependence on artificial intelligence to do the emotional labor of leadership.
AI can write emails. It can summarize meetings, generate follow-ups, and even mimic tone. But it cannot read the room. It cannot detect the subtle shift in someone’s posture, the hesitation in their voice, or the quiet withdrawal of a once-engaged colleague.
In a recent study by Wakefield Research, 74% of business leaders said they trust AI-generated advice more than insights from colleagues or friends. Thirty-eight percent would trust AI to make business decisions on their behalf. These numbers are staggering—not because they show how far AI has come, but because they reveal how far we’ve drifted from the human core of leadership.
Communication is not just about transferring information. It’s about building relationships. And relationships are messy, emotional, and deeply human.
The 2024 State of Business Communication Report, conducted by The Harris Poll and Grammarly, found that strong communication increases productivity (64%), customer satisfaction (51%), and employee confidence (49%). Poor communication, on the other hand, leads to longer timelines, higher costs, and a 40% drop in productivity.
These are not abstract metrics. They are the daily realities of teams that feel disconnected, misunderstood, and undervalued.
Imagine a media sales team at a local radio station. They’ve just lost a major account. The manager sends out an AI-generated email: “Let’s regroup and refocus. We’ve got this.” It’s upbeat, encouraging, and utterly tone-deaf. What the team needed was a moment of honesty, a space to vent, and a leader who could say, “I know this hurts. Let’s talk about it.”
Leadership is not a software update. It’s a practice—a rhythm of listening, responding, and showing up. And there are five essential skills that AI will never master:
1. Building Genuine Human Connection
AI can recognize patterns, but it cannot make people feel seen. It cannot foster belonging or remind someone that they matter. That’s your job.
2. Navigating Complex Emotions
People bring their whole selves to work—grief, anxiety, ambition, and hope. Leaders must be able to read those emotions and respond with care. AI can’t do that.
3. Earning Trust Through Experience
Trust is built over time, through shared challenges and honest conversations. It cannot be outsourced to a chatbot or generated by an algorithm.
4. Exercising Moral Judgment
AI can reference policies, but it cannot weigh values. It cannot understand cultural nuance or make ethical decisions in gray areas.
5. Being Authentically Accountable
AI doesn’t apologize. It doesn’t take responsibility. Leadership requires ownership, humility, and the courage to say, “I got that wrong.”
Local media sales is not just about selling ad space. It’s about relationships—with clients, with colleagues, and with the community. When a rep walks into a local business, they’re not just pitching a campaign. They’re listening to a story. They’re understanding a need. They’re building trust.
If that rep starts relying on AI to write follow-up emails, generate proposals, or respond to objections, something vital is lost. The client may get the information they need, but they won’t feel the connection. They won’t feel heard.
And in local media, feeling heard is everything.
Local businesses don’t buy media because it’s efficient. They buy it because they believe in the rep. They trust that person to understand their goals, their budget, and their audience. That trust is built through conversation, not automation.
Agencies thrive on creativity, collaboration, and chemistry. The best ideas don’t come from templates—they come from tension, debate, and shared insight. When AI starts writing client updates, internal memos, or campaign briefs, it may save time. But it also flattens the emotional texture of the work.
A junior strategist may hesitate to speak up in a meeting. An account manager may feel burned out but keep replying “All good!” to every email. AI won’t catch these signals. It won’t pull someone aside and ask, “Are you okay?”
That’s the job of a leader. And in agencies, leadership is not just about managing projects. It’s about managing people.
Agencies that rely too heavily on AI risk losing their edge. Clients don’t just want results—they want insight, empathy, and partnership. They want to know that someone is thinking about their brand, not just running it through a machine.
There’s one habit that separates great leaders from good ones: the check-in.
A five-minute conversation. A quick call. A walk around the office. These moments may seem small, but they are the glue that holds teams together. They allow leaders to catch problems early, offer support, and build trust.
If you haven’t been doing regular check-ins, start now. You don’t need a script. Just say, “We haven’t talked in a while. I’d love to hear how you’re doing.” Be ready for discomfort. Be open to feedback. And be willing to act.
In local media and ad agencies, where teams are often lean and fast-moving, these check-ins are even more critical. They prevent burnout. They surface ideas. They build loyalty.
AI is here to stay. It will continue to transform workflows, automate tasks, and support productivity. But it will never lead for you.
Your success as a leader still depends on how you listen, engage, resolve conflict, and respond to questions. It depends on how you connect.
To build a team that thrives, focus on:
- Modeling strong communication: Teach your team how to listen, speak up, and handle conflict with clarity and respect.
- Prioritizing real conversations: A short call or in-person check-in reveals far more than a polished email.
- Creating a culture of trust: Go beyond surveys. Create space for honest dialogue and know how to respond when it counts.
In the end, this is not a story about technology. It’s a story about humanity.
It’s about the quiet power of a leader who notices when someone is struggling. It’s about the courage to have hard conversations. It’s about the wisdom to know that efficiency is not the same as effectiveness.
Smart leaders are investing in AI. Smarter ones are investing in communication.
And in local media and advertising—where relationships are everything—that choice makes all the difference.
Source: https://www.inc.com/debra-roberts/heres-why-you-should-not-use-ai-to-write-emails/91224195
