Will Humphreys reflects on AI’s accelerating impact—notably that some companies aim to eliminate virtual assistants—and describes how his team reacted with concern. He argues businesses should focus on creating value through brand, purpose, vision, and values, adapt operationally while preserving core mission, and that leaders should communicate (e.g., speaking publicly) to help entrepreneurs navigate change.
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One company yesterday told me that we are here to eliminate the need for virtual assistants. And so for me, there was obviously an impact of that. I've known this is coming. This isn't a surprise to me that virtual assistants are going to be replaced in some degree, if not a large degree, by AI. So I am completely and totally aware that this is coming. It is coming faster than I had anticipated, and I thought it was going to come fast, but I have to spend some time with my executive team on this. My executive team legitimately was freaking out. They're like, what are we going to do? And I said the same thing we always do. We are going to focus on creating maximum value for our clients and we are going to build a brand. The brand of our company can overcome anything else. There are things in businesses that change over time, but there are certain things in businesses that will never change. What we do and how we do it will have to pivot and evolve. The book, who Moved My Cheese? All of that. But when it comes to purpose, vision, values, team, those things never change. And the brand is our ability to communicate effectively that purpose and vision to our customers and to our market. So for me, it just means I got to get on more stages, share the message that every business owner can do it. Every business owner with the right support, the right people and processes can overcome any challenge. And it's my core belief that most business owners are doing business for the right reasons. They just need the right support. Truly, no one starts a business that I have met who doesn't get dramatically humbled by the pain and the operational components of owning a business. But when we are able to overcome those challenges and we feel success, the first thing most entrepreneurs do is they give back to their communities.
