This past Monday, the Chamber held its first AI workshop for small businesses with over 70 attendees. This is the first of six sessions that we will hold from now through the end of 2027. The workshop is sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce and registration is free. I’m guessing that most of us are using AI at some level in our businesses. This has made me wonder how leaders can best leverage the vast advantages of artificial intelligence while ensuring that they attend to the right tasks. 

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “What AI Can’t Do: The New Job of Leadership,” raises an important question: If AI can do more of our tasks, what should leaders shift their focus to? The answer is not less leadership. It is better leadership.

AI is very good at patterns, information and repetitive tasks. Leadership is about judgment, priorities, relationships and purpose.

That distinction is important in Gillespie County, where almost all our businesses are small and owners often work alongside their employees every day. A winery owner, Main Street retailer, restaurant operator, contractor or professional-service provider may have only a handful of employees. There is little room for unnecessary administrative work, but there is also little room to lose the personal relationships that make a small business successful.

Consider a retailer preparing for a busy holiday weekend. AI can analyze previous sales, suggest social-media content, draft an email to customers and help determine which products should be promoted. That can save hours. But AI cannot walk through the store and notice a longtime customer seems frustrated. AI is unable to decide that an employee deserves recognition for handling a difficult situation particularly well. And it cannot determine whether a new promotion feels right for the business or fits the expectations of the customers who have supported it for years.

Those decisions belong to leadership.

The same applies to hospitality. A restaurant can use AI to manage reservations, answer frequently asked questions and analyze sales. A winery can use it to segment its customer database and personalize marketing. A hotel can automate many routine communications, but visitors don't come to Fredericksburg simply for efficiency. They come for an experience. They remember how they were greeted, whether someone took the time to answer a question, the story behind a bottle of wine, or the employee who recommended a restaurant for dinner.

Those human interactions generate loyalty.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that small businesses increasingly are using AI to save time and improve operations but also emphasizes that human judgment remains essential. For Gillespie County business owners, I believe the leadership challenge is to ask three questions before adopting an AI tool.

First, what work should we automate? Start with repetitive tasks that consume valuable time but don't require judgment.

Second, what work should remain human? Protect the activities involving relationships, creativity, difficult decisions, employee development and customer experience.

Third, what can our employees do with the time AI gives back? This may be the most important question of all.

If AI saves an employee five hours a week, use that time to improve customer service, develop new business, train employees or build relationships with customers.

The future of small business isn't AI versus people. It is people using AI wisely.

The businesses that thrive in Gillespie County will not necessarily be those using the most artificial intelligence. They will be the ones whose leaders understand where technology creates efficiency—and where human leadership creates value.

AI can help us work faster. Good leadership determines what is worth doing in the first place.