KPI Me Softly.
Exploring the invisible work that drives long-term impact — and why it’s often missed by today’s metrics.
AI is coming. But what it recognises, and what it doesn’t, may define your future career.
As always, a technological disruption comes with high-contrast predictions: the future of work is gloom. Or bright. Market forecasters did not have any shades of grey on their palette.
As always, the truth probably lies in between. AI won’t be pervasive overnight in any case. There is time to prepare for its advent, but this time is now.
That’s why I’m revisiting the idea of relevance I explored in my last article — this time by imagining a plausible near-future scenario.
AI agents already are a mind-boggling reality, and fully AI-powered businesses may launch sooner than we think. But they will coexist, collaborate and compete with hybrid workplaces — AI-infused, yet human-run.
This new breed of companies won’t have all the traditional corporate functions as we knew them. They will be lighter, leaner, livelier.
Scary — if AI is coming for you.
Empowering — if AI is coming to you.
No matter what your stance is, this new business construct will make space for a new operating model. This is an opportunity to rebalance human relevance.
Leave the quantitative to AI — it’s unstoppable.
Own the qualitative — that’s where you’re unbeatable.
There’s a big caveat, though. Corporate world and financial markets live and breathe hard metrics.
KPIs? The paragon dashboards to dash to spurious judgments.
Numbers? Perfect short circuits for brains wired for shortcuts.
As contradictory as it sounds, intangible work matters.
Influencing a CEO to reallocate some marketing dollars to R&D?
The anticipated revenue increase won’t show in the company’s books. The share price may even take a temporary hit. But it may well pay off large dividends in the longer term.
Convincing a difficult client to adopt a lower tier of your product?
It will frustrate the organisation. Underachieving targets, you will be tagged as a low performer. And yet, the diligent and active listening effort you put in will likely translate into more customer loyalty. And more revenue.
Fundamentally, there is nothing new here: this is the usual immediacy imperative most businesses face.
What will change, though, is the time allocated to intangible work. To crafting business stories. To connecting dots we thought unconnectable. To colleague-to-colleague discussions. To vendor-to-client conversations.
We don’t just need new KPIs. We need new eyes — to see the real value of what humans bring.
AI can’t do everything. Some areas of human relevance are — and should remain — off-limits.
Have you ever done work that felt crucial — but wasn’t recognised because it didn’t show up in KPIs? What do you think will be the new markers of human value?