The $100 Million Bet on Human Skills in the AI Era

EY is investing $100 million in employee rewards for future-focused skills, including judgment, adaptability, collaboration, leadership, innovation, and exceptional client service. In an AI-powered workplace, that is more than a bonus program—it is a signal about where business value is heading.

In this episode of the Customer Service Revolution, Denise Thompson and John DiJulius examine why human skills are becoming more important as AI handles more routine work. Technology can increase speed, analyze information, and automate tasks, but it cannot independently create the trust, empathy, judgment, creativity, and personal responsibility that build customer loyalty.

AI Can Improve Efficiency, but Humanity Creates Differentiation

Technology rarely creates a lasting competitive advantage because competitors can adopt similar tools. The way employees use technology—and how they make customers feel—remains far harder to replicate.

John explains why companies should stop treating empathy, curiosity, listening, rapport-building, and service recovery as secondary “soft skills.” The DiJulius Group calls them service aptitude skills because they directly influence customer experience, employee experience, brand loyalty, and business performance.

The more automated customer interactions become, the more important human judgment becomes when a situation is emotional, complex, high-risk, or outside the standard process. AI may provide an answer, but a skilled employee must interpret what that answer means for an individual customer and communicate it with clarity and care.

Your Reward System Reveals What Your Company Really Values

Many organizations say they value teamwork, empathy, and exceptional customer service, yet reward only speed, volume, and efficiency. Employees notice the contradiction. If leaders praise one behavior but pay for another, the compensation system wins every time.

Recognition should be tied to observable behaviors and measurable impact—not charisma, personality, or popularity. Leaders can examine whether employees listen without interrupting, prevent unnecessary escalations, recover dissatisfied customers, collaborate across departments, and use sound judgment when a script or process does not fit the situation.

How to Build Service Aptitude Across Your Organization

John outlines ten service aptitude skills organizations should consider when hiring, onboarding, coaching, and recognizing employees:

1. Empathy
2. Friendly, kind, and caring behavior
3. Curiosity
4. The ability to connect and build rapport
5. A happy, positive, optimistic outlook
6. Great listening
7. Genuinely liking others
8. The ability to defuse an upset customer and make a brilliant comeback
9. Enthusiasm
10. Energy and charisma

Some qualities should receive greater attention during hiring, while others can be strengthened through training and continuous reinforcement. Either way, technical training alone is no longer enough. Employees need the confidence and service aptitude to create human connection internally with colleagues and externally with customers.

One practical training tool is a Day in the Life of a Customer exercise. By examining different customer personas, pressures, pain points, high-five moments, and expectations, employees gain the context required to respond with real empathy rather than a memorized line.

A 30-Day Action Plan for Leaders

Leaders do not need a $100 million budget to make human skills matter. They can begin by auditing four systems:

1. Hiring: Identify the human qualities required for success and use behavioral interview questions to assess them.
2. Training: Balance technical instruction with empathy, listening, curiosity, rapport-building, judgment, and service recovery.
3. Measurement: Define the observable behaviors and outcomes that demonstrate strong service aptitude.
4. Recognition: Celebrate and reward employees who create meaningful improvements for customers, colleagues, and the business.

AI is not making technology less important. It is proving that technology alone is not the differentiator. The organizations that win will use AI to improve the task while preparing their people to own the relationship.

Key Takeaways

• As automation increases, human judgment and connection become more valuable.
• “Soft skills” are business skills that directly affect customer loyalty and employee performance.
• A company’s incentives communicate its real priorities more clearly than its values statement.
• Human skills should be translated into observable, coachable, measurable behaviors.
• Technical onboarding must be balanced with continuous service aptitude training.
• A Day in the Life exercise helps employees understand customers’ circumstances and respond with empathy.
• Leaders can begin by auditing what the company hires for, trains, measures, and rewards.

Memorable Quotes

• “The more automated we become, the more human we have to become.” — John DiJulius
• “No one is loyal to a brand because of technology.” — John DiJulius
• “You don’t have to have charisma to be a rock star.” — John DiJulius
• “Empathy is a superpower that can’t be visited and trained enough.” — John DiJulius
• “Technology may change how service is delivered, but humanity determines how that service is experienced.” — Denise Thompson

Chapters

• 00:00 EY’s $100 million investment in human skills
• 01:31 Labor Day and Cleveland’s best season
• 02:35 John’s reaction to EY’s announcement
• 03:53 Why greater automation demands greater humanity
• 06:25 Why empathy and people skills matter now
• 08:47 Why “soft skills” is the wrong label
• 11:14 The human source of competitive advantage
• 13:55 Where judgment and empathy matter most
• 15:26 Investing in people alongside technology
• 16:41 What happens when rewards contradict company values
• 18:11 Recognizing observable behavior—not popularity
• 21:19 The ten service aptitude skills
• 23:19 How organizations can teach empathy
• 27:59 A 30-day action plan for CEOs
• 29:29 Hiring for customer experience potential
• 32:17 Why humanity still determines the experience

Resources Mentioned

• EY’s announcement about its $100 million employee rewards investment
• Interview Questions Designed to Gauge Service Aptitude Potential
• Customer Experience Executive Academy
• Experience Revolution Membership and workshop library
• The Employee Experience Revolution

Links:

Experience Revolution Membership:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/membership/