Latest / Daily Influence / 813: Labor Day 2026: The Value of Work Is Changing. The Value of People Shouldn’t.

Transcript

813: Labor Day 2026: The Value of Work Is Changing. The Value of People Shouldn’t. · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IE Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
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• 0:38
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• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, Brian Smith here with the I&T series and your daily influence and happy Labor Day.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It has been a crazy week.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just got back from a trip overseas and I'm a bit jet lag, so having Labor Day and a day off.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: really is giving me an interesting perspective on a holiday dedicated to work, because Labor Day has traditionally been a celebration of the contributions workers make to our economy, our businesses, and our communities.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But in 2026, I think there's been a bigger conversation that we need to have.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does it mean to value work?
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: When the very nature of work is actually changing artificial intelligence is changing jobs, automation is changing processes, organizations are searching for efficiencies and employers are being cautious about hiring.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Employees are being asked to learn new technologies, produce more with the resources they already have.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And while those aren't necessarily bad things,
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: somewhere in our pursuit of productivity.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to make sure that we don't confuse the value of the work with the value of the person doing the work.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So on this Labor Day, I'm going to talk about three things.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe leaders need to remember as the workplace continues to change.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We spend a lot of time talking about productivity.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can AI make us faster?
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can automation reduce costs?
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can we eliminate unnecessary work?
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those are legitimate business questions.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as someone who has spent my career helping organizations improve processes and become more efficient, I absolutely believe we should ask them.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there's another question, leaders need to ask.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: What are we going to do with the productivity we gain?
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: If technology allows someone to accomplish in three hours, what once required A, have we created an opportunity for that person to think?
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: In other surf customers, develop other people or improve our organizations.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: or have we simply decided they should now produce two and a half times as much.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an important distinction.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Technology should remove unnecessary labor, so people can contribute at a higher level.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: The goal shouldn't be squeezing every possible minute of productivity out of a human being.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: The goal should be creating an organization where people and technology together can accomplish things neither could accomplish alone.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And look, there's a lot of anxiety about what AI is going to replace.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: The leaders need to spend at least as much time thinking about what AI cannot replace.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Judgement, accountability, trust, empathy, curiosity, context.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: The ability to challenge an idea of a courage to admit when you don't know something.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: The ability to influence another human being positively and responsibly.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've talked recently on Daily Influence about the danger of allowing technology to replace critical thinking.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Labor Day gives us an opportunity to look at that from an employee's perspective.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: If organizations want employees to adapt to AI, leaders have a responsibility to help them adapt.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't introduce a new technology on Monday and criticize someone on Friday because they haven't figured out how their role fits into the new world.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Responsible leadership means developing people alongside the technology.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Train them.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Give them room to experiment, explain why things are changing.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ask for their ideas, and most importantly, don't assume that because a machine can perform one of someone's tasks, that machine has somehow replaced the value that individual
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things I think we sometimes forget in business is that employment is fundamentally a relationship.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: The organization provides compensation, opportunity, resources, structure, and hopefully an environment where someone can succeed.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The individual provides time, talent, knowledge, judgment, energy, creativity, and influence.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Both sides have responsibilities, employees should be accountable, they should continue learning.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: They should embrace appropriate change.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They should contribute rather than simply occupy a position.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But leadership has responsibilities too.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to create clarity.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to provide the right tools.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we have to develop people.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to listen.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to recognize that the people inside organizations aren't simply another line on the income statement.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've said many times through the IM team series that every individual has influenced that includes the person running the company, it includes the newest employee, it includes the person working remotely, it includes the employee learning how to use AI for the very first time, and it includes the person whose jobs may look very different five years from now than it does today.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: The future of work is going to require organizations to change and hopefully improve, but change shouldn't require us to abandon the humanity of work.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So on this Labor Day, certainly enjoy the cook out, along weekend, the time with family and friends, or in my case, a little time recovering from a vacation.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also want us to remember what we're actually celebrating.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: People, the people who build our businesses, the people who serve our customers, our customers themselves, the people who solve problems when the process doesn't work, the people who bring ideas we hadn't considered, and the people whose influence ultimately determine what kind of organization we're going to become.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Technology will continue to change, jobs will continue to change.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: The way we work will continue to change.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: The value of work is changing.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: The value of people shouldn't.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: As leaders, our responsibility is to build organizations capable of embracing both.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember your influence matters.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Make it positive, make it responsible, and always be the best influence you can.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hope you have a great day, and we'll talk to you again soon.