Hey Reader,

Welcome to the 9th edition of the 3-2-1 (check out previous issues here). I took some extra time off over the holidays, because that first week back was a hectic one, wasn't it?

But we're back, and I'm excited you're here reading this.

Today, we’re talking about why AI rewards thinking instead of replacing it.

Let’s get into it.

3 Things for Work (in L&D)

​When Working With AI, Act Like a Decision-Maker—Not a Tool-User (HBR)

• AI’s speed and confidence are seductive. People increasingly rely on AI-generated summaries rather than engaging with the original information. The author's solution: four leadership anchors that keep you in the driver’s seat. The best one: “Did I get where I want to go?”
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 8 min read

​AI Won’t Make the Call: Why Human Judgment Still Drives Innovation (HBS)

• A study of Kenyan entrepreneurs found that access to AI alone did not improve business performance. High performers saw profits increase 10-15%. Struggling entrepreneurs saw performance decline 8%. The difference? Judgment about which AI advice to follow. Access to AI cannot overcome gaps in decision-making skill.
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 6 min read

​What Actually Makes You Valuable in an AI World (Bersin)

• Bersin’s take: “It won’t be your ‘skills’ but rather your mindset, approach, and attitudes” that maintain relevance as AI accelerates. Static expertise won’t cut it. Adaptability and learning orientation matter more than current technical credentials.
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 25 min listen

2 Things for Life

​Admonymous​

• Anonymous feedback from friends and colleagues. The premise: people can’t deliver honest feedback without social risk, so remove the risk, and you get the truth. I set one up at admonymous.co/andrew-barry if you want to give me feedback. Useful for uncovering blind spots you can’t see yourself.

​Deliver Me From Nowhere​

• The Bruce Springsteen movie about the making of Nebraska. Jeremy Allen White’s performance is incredible. The scene where they cut “Born in the USA” is worth the watch alone. But what stayed with me was the storyline about Bruce’s complicated relationship with his dad. It made me reflect on my relationship with my dad and how I want to show up as a father for my two kids.

1 Idea from Me

AI doesn’t replace thinking. It rewards it.

Everyone says AI makes you dumb by thinking for you. So why are the people getting the best results thinking harder than ever?

Over the holidays, I used Claude Code to build a financial dashboard for Curious Lion. It started badly. Failed attempt after failed attempt. Boatloads of tokens burned.

The trouble was, I was being lazy. Typing vague instructions and hoping AI would figure out what I actually wanted.

It didn’t.

Then I finally sat down and mapped the whole thing out. Every single metric. How to get it. How to calculate it. What it should look like. Where it should sit.

Wrote up a precise plan and fed it in.

It one-shotted it.

Done.

The irony is thick. You can outsource your thinking to AI if you want. But the easy button crowd gets exactly what you’d expect: mediocre output that needs constant fixing.

The people who think through the problem first? Who understand it deeply before explaining it? They get better answers, faster.

This maps to what we’re seeing in capability development. The HBS research above found the same pattern: AI access alone doesn’t improve performance. Judgment about how to use it does. High performers benefited. Struggling performers got worse.

The gap isn’t access to tools. It’s "thinking" skill.

So here’s the question for anyone in L&D: How are you codifying what good thinking looks like? And who in your organization is already doing it?

Because AI is about to make that the most valuable thing you can teach.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your Sunday!

I’ll be back in two weeks ✌️

Andrew

P.S. 👉 In December, I turned my client calls into an L&D budget planner specifically for leadership development programs. Hit reply to let me know if you want a copy.