Hi Reader,

What do you feel when you open your computer in the morning?

So many leaders I coach say they feel tired, even in the morning. While others say they feel energized and happy doing the work.

AI was supposed to help with the tired part. It saves time and makes us more efficient. Still, a lot of people don’t feel helped. They feel it gives them more work and pushes them to deliver faster, bigger, more.

Why?

Every job needs a certain kind of energy, whatever your title is and whatever your job description says. You either have that energy or you don’t. We’re intelligent people, so we can learn to do almost anything. We push through and we deliver. Over time, that ends in fatigue and burnout.

When AI changes how the work gets done, it also changes which energy the work needs. An engineer who loved building now spends the day checking what AI built. An instructional designer who loved producing content now spends the day consulting with stakeholders. The title stays the same, but the energy the job asks for is different. The shift gives one person a boost and drains another.

What people discover when they look at their energy

I use the GC Index to make this visible. It measures five energies for impact: Game Changer, Strategist, Play Maker, Implementer and Polisher. Below are three moments from recent debriefs. I’ve left out the names.

1. “Does that mean I’m lazy?”

An L&D specialist was a month into a newly created role. Her profile showed a 3 on Implementer next to 7s on Strategist and Play Maker. Her first question was: “Does that mean I’m lazy?”

It doesn’t. A low score means that kind of work drains her. It says nothing about whether she can do it. Her plan had been to push herself into execution mode across the board to prove herself in the new job. She changed the plan. Now she breaks each project into stages, finds the stages that need execution, and puts her effort there. For stakeholder work and program design she uses her Play Maker and Strategist energy, which come naturally to her. In her words, the profile shows a natural tendency, “but we choose to use these as per the requirement.”

2. “For me, it’s basic.”

A Head of People at a fast-growing startup scored 9 on Play Maker, her highest energy. When she guessed her own profile, she didn’t mention it. About Play Maker she said: “For me, it’s basic.”

Our strongest energy often feels so natural that we don’t count it. Then we don’t use it when we need it most.

She wanted to be part of strategic conversations, and she thought that meant she had to become a Strategist. In the debrief she saw that it isn’t about learning a new skill. To get into those conversations, she can lean on her Play Maker energy and build connections.

3. The team that kept missing deadlines

A product team had five people high on Game Changer and one person with a strong Implementer score. They kept missing deadlines because there was always another feature to add. The team profile showed why. The one Implementer had the energy the team was missing, and when he said it was time to move on, nobody listened. Once they saw this, they made sure his voice counted when it was time to move from ideas to delivery.

Join me on October 8: Beyond AI Adoption: Redesigning Work for Human Impact

📅 October 8, 5:00 PM CET / 11:00 AM EST

Register

On October 8, I’m inviting you to look at how energy helps you and your teams deliver.

Your teams are already using AI here and there, one tool at a time. The harder part is making sense of it. Where’s the value? Where’s the ROI? Is AI creating capacity, or just more activity?

When AI changes how the work gets done, it also changes what the work asks of people. That’s the focus of this session.

It’s a hands-on, 60-minute session for HR, People and L&D leaders, for team leaders, and for anyone who wants to learn about energy at work.

What we’ll cover

What happens to a role when AI redesigns it, and why the same change can energize one person and exhaust another.
The GC Index®, the world’s first organimetric. It measures how people are energized to make an impact, beyond the skills they have.
A live, anonymized team profile built from participants’ own input, read across the five GC Index proclivities: Game Changer, Strategist, Play Maker, Implementer and Polisher.
Practical ways to use energy alongside capability to guide development plans, team design and performance conversations.

Before you join (10 minutes)

Complete the GC Index® questionnaire ahead of time. Your answers build the live, anonymized team profile we’ll explore together.

Complete the GC Index® questionnaire

Good to know

Up to 30 participants can get their own personal GC Index® report at no cost (normally $300). I’ll explain how to qualify at the end of the session.

So tell me: what do you feel when you open your computer in the morning? Hit reply, I read every answer.

Cheers, Daria

☑️ How did I do?