Everyone is asking what AI is going to take.
I want to talk about what it can’t.
Ninety-two million jobs will be displaced by AI by 2030.
The fear behind that number is real. But the same research that produced it also found that 170 million new roles will be created. The people who move into those roles won’t just be the most technically skilled.
They’ll be the most human.
They’ll be able to negotiate, influence, and have the ability to build real relationships and move people toward agreement — that cannot be automated.
This week’s content focus was about the most foundational of those skills: Relationship Building.
Here’s what we covered:
Monday: The relationship comes before the ask
Most people think negotiation begins when someone says “let’s talk.” It doesn’t.
That goodwill has to be built before you need it — through genuine acts of recognition and care, with no agenda attached.
This week, we started with the simplest possible move: learning someone’s name and using it.
A person’s name is — to them — the sweetest sound in any language. Using it signals: I see you.
That moment of recognition is the beginning of a real relationship.
The exercise: Find one person you interact with regularly whose name you don’t know. Learn it. Use it once, naturally. Watch what happens to their face.
If you haven’t already, you can download my full
Relationship Building playbook at the link below.
Wednesday: Three types of people in every negotiation
There are three types: Givers, Takers, and Matchers.
Givers contribute without keeping a ledger. They invest before they need anything. They rise to the top — consistently — because people genuinely want to help the people who have genuinely helped them.
As AI takes over more routine work, the people who thrive will be irreplaceable — not for what they know, but for how they make people feel. Givers are irreplaceable. Algorithms are not.
The exercise: find one person and offer them something small. No ask. No agenda. Just give it — and notice what comes back.
Friday: The mistakes I see most often
There are four patterns that derail relationship building — and show up more than almost anything else.
1) Waiting until you need something.
The moment someone senses your warmth is strategic, the goodwill collapses. Build before there’s anything on the line.
2) Confusing being liked with being trusted.
Trust comes from consistency — showing up the same way whether there’s something in it for you or not.
3) Giving while keeping score.
The other person can feel the ledger. Genuine giving means letting it go completely.
4) Continuing to give to Takers who never give back.
Generosity is a strategy — not something you owe everyone unconditionally. If you’ve given consistently and gotten nothing back, stop. I don’t want you to become a sucker.
Ask yourself about one important relationship right now:
Am I building this — or banking on it?
Never Settle is almost here
Everything we’re talking about — the frameworks, the stories, the tools that will change how you negotiate forever — it’s all in my new book. Preorder your copy now and be the first to get it in your hands.
What’s coming next week
Week 2 is about you — specifically what you’re bringing into a negotiation before it begins. Your emotions, your nervous system, your clarity of purpose.
Fifty-two percent of U.S. workers are worried about AI’s impact on their future. That anxiety shows up in negotiations in how you freeze, how you cave, how you say yes when you mean to say not yet. Next week we learn to name it, manage it, and use it.
I’ll release tips throughout the week on social media. Follow along at the links below. Then watch for my email recap next Saturday.
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