Technology Changes. Rigor Doesn’t.
We’re in the middle of a massive technological shift, and you can feel the anxiety in every boardroom, courtroom, and client meeting. But before we declare the end of the professional class, let’s take a breath — we’ve seen this movie before.
Back in the 1980s and ’90s, white-collar work went through a seismic change. Financial analysts, accountants, and operations teams watched as green-bar reports and manual reconciliation gave way to integrated ERP and accounting systems. It’s no exaggeration to say that Oracle became a giant by automating what used to be entire departments. This isn’t a new story. Technology has always disrupted business practice.
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Today, artificial intelligence is the new disruptor. But here’s the truth: the real risk of AI isn’t job loss — it’s laziness.
I remember the late 1990s, when companies scrambled to replace their legacy systems ahead of Y2K. There was real turbulence — not because the systems failed, but because people failed to use them well. The old adage held then, and it holds now: garbage in, garbage out. It doesn’t matter whether you’re feeding data into an ERP system, a legal filing, or an AI model — if the inputs are wrong, the outputs will be worse.
That’s why I don’t trust AI to do my job. To paraphrase the brilliant and gone-too-young Comedian Richard Jeni, I’d rather give birth to a live flaming porcupine than let a machine write my analysis. Getting into the weeds — really understanding the financials, the operations, the conflict — that’s what delivers value. That’s how expertise is built.
But I’ll still use AI. I’ll feed it my expert report and ask it to cross-examine me like I’m on the witness stand. Not because I trust it — but because it’s a tool, and like any tool, its value is only as strong as the hand that wields it.
In restructuring work, rigor and precision still matter. AI won’t save you if you don’t do the work. And it won’t replace you if you do.
