Sarah McDevitt’s digital release of The Round Table
While companies rush to integrate AI, Sarah Stone McDevitt contends the future of employment isn’t a battle between people and technology, but rather people mastering collaboration with it.
With enterprises rapidly embracing artificial intelligence (AI), numerous executives are questioning what place humans will occupy in a workspace where machines can produce copy, streamline operations, and accelerate choices at remarkable velocity.
For Sarah Stone McDevitt, a seasoned SaaS executive, the response isn’t to oppose or dread AI. It’s to acknowledge the tasks that only humans are equipped to perform.
“There’s endless discussion regarding AI’s capabilities, yet I grew intrigued by what people still excel at,” McDevitt explains.
She believes AI shouldn’t be viewed as a straight swap for human abilities, but instead as an instrument that enables individuals to redirect focus toward competencies that technology finds difficult to duplicate: empathy, discernment, rapport-building, and a quality she terms “relational intelligence.”
This difference matters, given that numerous organizations are currently assessing AI mainly through a lens of output and cost-cutting. Though AI allows companies to operate more quickly, McDevitt contends rapidity alone isn’t sufficient. Within an increasingly mechanized environment, the capacity to generate significance and grasp human nuance will grow increasingly prized.
“AI will increasingly manage data. People will increasingly manage interpretation,” she states.
This poses a pivotal question for leaders: not merely which tasks can be mechanized, but which should stay inherently human. If companies concentrate solely on effectiveness, they risk undermining the very exchanges that foster trust, drive, certainty, and belonging.
Holding a senior role in an industry already influenced by AI, McDevitt asserts that the most prosperous organizations won’t be those that automate the heaviest load, but those that adopt tech while reinforcing the interpersonal capabilities that lend work significance.
“Tomorrow belongs to individuals who evolve into more human beings, not less,” McDevitt remarks.
Her latest book, The Round Table: How Relational Intelligence Will Become Your Human Advantage in the AI Age, examines how relational intelligence could emerge as a critical edge as AI’s proficiency expands.
Fundamentally, McDevitt explains, the core idea isn’t opposed to technology. It advocates for humanity.
“If a single concept lies at the foundation of The Round Table, it is this: as technological capability advances, our human nature becomes more vital. Tomorrow isn’t a conflict between people and AI. It’s humans cooperating alongside AI while cultivating those distinctly human traits that machines cannot easily copy.”
“The Round Table: How Relational Intelligence Will Become Your Human Advantage in the AI Age” came out through The Book Shelf Press and can now be ordered from Amazon.
About Sarah Stone McDevitt
Sarah Stone McDevitt serves as Senior Director of Partner Strategy at HubSpot, in addition to being an author, TEDx speaker, and podcast guest. Her work investigates the overlap of AI, relational intelligence, emotional intelligence, and leadership, emphasizing how companies can employ technology while preserving a strong human focus.
Ameesha Green
The Book Shelf Press
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