AI feels ubiquitous now. It drafts reports, crunches numbers and spits out answers before you finish your coffee. Impressive, sure. Yet, it’s easy to forget that AI doesn’t care about consequences. It doesn’t look a client in the eye. It doesn’t feel the ripple effects of a decision. And it doesn’t take responsibility for making sure you have enough to pay your own bills.
If the answer AI generates tanks your revenue, alienates clients or erodes trust, you’re the one left holding the bill. No algorithm owns the outcome. You do.
Here are five deliberate moves you can make right now to protect your bottom line — and thrive beyond the AI prompt.
1. Sit with the fog
AI thrives on clarity. You ask, it answers. How you choose to function as a financial advisor lives in the fog, though, where sometimes messy decisions and trade-offs collide.
Should you hire an assistant, have a home office or rent a large office, focus on a target market? These aren’t clean equations; they’re ambiguous and human. AI can draft a neat pro/con list. Your job is to pause and ask: What’s missing? Who wins? Who loses? What happens next?
If you skip that step, the hidden costs could show up later as low client retention, staff churn, less work-life balance or shrinking revenue.
Picture a board reviewing a new initiative. The AI-generated summary makes the case sound airtight. But the leader who slows down asks, “What does this mean for our clients? What will this signal to them two years out?”
Try this: At your next meeting or with a trusted colleague, call a “fog check.” Ask the three questions: What’s missing? Who wins? Who loses? Don’t let the quick answer become the wrong one.
2. Keep ethics at the center
AI doesn’t care if the answer is fair, inclusive or aligned with your mission. It just optimizes. That’s your job to care about ethics.
Shortcuts that ignore ethics show up later as lawsuits, reputational hits and fractured relationships. That’s not a side issue. That’s a direct strike on your bottom line.
Try this: Before green lighting an AI-driven idea, ask: Does this align with our values? Would I defend this decision five years from now? If not, stop.
3. Think in systems, not silos
AI can speed up silos. It’s your job to look at the big picture. Savings in one area isn’t a win if it significantly creates poor client experiences. Hidden costs can eat your margin alive.
Try this: Assign or be the “system scanner” for your next initiative to look at the overall impact of initiatives.
4. Synthesize, don’t just search
Anyone can search. AI makes that trivial. But what you do isn’t about collecting inputs — it’s about creating meaning.
Think of a conductor: Every instrument makes noise on its own, but only with synthesis does it become music. You’re the one who connects the dots of data, context and lived experience. That’s where margin lives. It is not in the draft AI spits out, but in the connections only you can make.
Try this: Before proceeding, look for at least one hidden link between data, feedback and long-term strategy in your next planning session.
5. Protect the human work
AI will keep getting faster. That’s not the threat. The danger is forgetting the work only humans can do.
Machines don’t build trust. They don’t mentor. They don’t sense when silence in a room means resistance. That’s the work that keeps clients engaged, teams loyal and revenue steady. Don’t outsource it. Double down on it.
Make time for mentoring, storytelling and coaching. That’s not soft work — it’s bottom-line protection. When people feel seen and supported, they stay. Retention is the margin. Trust is currency.
Try this: Block 30 minutes this week for a conversation that’s not about tasks — only trust. Meet with a team member or client — your choice.
Looking into the future
You don’t need to outrun AI. Those who thrive now aren’t the ones who chase speed or shiny tools. They’re the ones steady enough to sit in ambiguity, disciplined enough to keep ethics central, wide-eyed enough to think in systems, skilled enough to synthesize and human enough to protect the work only people can do.
Joe Curcillo is a strategist, speaker and author of “Beyond the Prompt: Leading with Purpose in the Age of AI,” part of The Generalist Advantage Leadership Series. The book is on Amazon, but he offers it free at joecurcillo.com. A former trial attorney turned leadership advisor, he helps leaders cut through noise, break silos and lead with clarity.
To learn how MDRT members are using AI
- Read “How AI helps me by working like another assistant”
- Watch “Time-saving tips: MDRT members discuss AI” (MDRT member-exclusive content)
