What Do Strategists Do When AI Can Do Strategy?

Lately, I've been having more conversations that go something like this:
"With AI now… do we still need a strategist? Do I need to pay for you, when we can ChatGPT it? Aren't you worried you'll be out of a job?"

They're fair questions. And ones I've been thinking about a lot. Probably, a little too much to be deemed healthy.

Because I've built a career by thinking both deeply and broadly.

I've worked across various industries, including banks, beer, telcos, builders, SaaS, education, FMCG, retail, and automotive, solving problems, unlocking growth, and helping clients discover opportunities they didn't know they had, and making the most of the ones they did.

That breadth gave me perspective.

The desire to delve deeply into a client's business fostered a greater understanding and trust.

It's what made the work effective and made me valuable.

But now?

Anyone can use AI to sound like they have both.

You can brief a model, get a tidy strategy, perhaps even an insight, or a polished slide to make a killer point.

So, where does that leave people like me, strategists, consultants, planners?

For me, still very much in the room.

Because tools can generate logic. However, they don't know which logic applies to your situation. They can remix frameworks. But they can't feel the tension worth exploring. They can write like us. But they don't think like us.

More importantly:
- They don't know how to help a business believe.
- AI can't read a room, sense hesitation, build alignment, or give a CEO or CMO the confidence to act.
- And while AI is on every boardroom agenda right now, most leaders don't need more hype.
- They need help cutting through the noise, seeing what's real, and making smarter, braver decisions with it.

I use AI to go faster, think wider, and pressure-test more ideas.

Being neurodiverse, it also helps focus my thinking, bringing clarity and structure to complex thoughts and ideas.

But the judgment to know what matters, what's relevant, resonant, or risky, that comes from experience.

From pattern recognition. From empathy. From asking better questions.
And in a world where everything sounds smart, the strategist's role isn't just to be clever.

It's to make it clear. To make it real. To make it resonant.

Yes, AI is indeed changing how we work.

But the best strategists won't be replaced by it.

They'll be amplified by it.

Just like the world's best chess and Go players, the strongest players now are human+AI teams.

And the value we bring?

It's not what we know.
It's how we think and how we help others believe in the thinking.

If your team is wrestling with some of these questions, or you're looking for an outside perspective that cuts through the clutter, I'd love to help.