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The ROI of Being Human: Why the Best Firms Invest in More Than Skills
AI tools are everywhere, and I will be the first to say they have added real value to how we work. But the more the industry focuses on what AI can do, the more I find myself thinking about what it cannot replace: the human beings who show up every day, grow with us, and make this work worth doing.
In professional services, the relationships we build inside our firms are just as important as the ones we build with clients. No algorithm celebrates a team member’s new baby. No tool mentors someone through their first client crisis. And no software feels the quiet pride of watching a colleague grow into the professional you always believed they could become.
The Moments That Actually Build a Firm
Over the years, I have celebrated alongside my team: weddings, new babies, advanced degrees earned while working full-time, and personal achievements that had nothing to do with a project deadline but everything to do with who these people are. I have also had a front-row seat to meaningful professional growth: junior staff stepping into leadership, team members confidently owning client relationships they once nervously observed, and individuals discovering strengths they did not know they had.
These moments do not show up on a revenue chart. But they are the culture. And culture is what keeps great people, and great people are what keep great clients. When your team feels genuinely seen and valued, loyalty deepens, effort compounds, and the firm becomes something people want to be part of rather than just a place they work.
The flip side of genuinely investing in people is that the hard moments hit harder too. People leave. Sometimes you have to let someone go. Those decisions are never easy when you have truly cared about someone’s growth, and they should not be. The difficulty is not a sign that you got too close. It is proof that the investment was real. Handling those moments with honesty and dignity says as much about your firm’s culture as any celebration ever could.
Simon Sinek captured it well: “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” That starts with how we show up for our people, including the hard days.
AI Is a Tool. Fulfillment Is a Choice.
This is not an argument against AI. It is an argument for balance. AI can handle repetitive tasks, surface insights quickly, and free up time for higher-value work. But there are dimensions of leadership that technology simply does not reach. It cannot replicate the trust built through years of consistent presence, and it cannot create the sense of belonging that makes someone choose to stay and grow with you rather than take their talents elsewhere.
Watching a team member grow, really grow, is one of the most fulfilling parts of ownership. When someone you believed in early on steps confidently into a role they once seemed far from ready for, that is a reminder of why this work matters. No dashboard will ever surface that feeling. It starts with leaders who are paying attention.
Three Things I Do to Keep the Human Element Front and Center
1. Celebrate personal milestones out loud.
When a team member gets married, has a child, or hits a personal milestone, we mark it genuinely. People remember being seen for who they are outside of work, and that recognition builds a kind of loyalty that compensation alone never will.
2. Create clarity about what success looks like for each person.
We have developed outcome profiles for each role in our firm: clear, specific descriptions of what excellence looks like at every level. It gives people a roadmap, so they know what they are working toward and how their contribution connects to something larger. When people have that clarity, they can stop guessing and start excelling.
3. Protect relationship time from being streamlined away.
We are all in too many meetings, and streamlining how teams communicate is genuinely important. But not every interaction should be optimized for efficiency. The one-on-one where someone shares a concern they have been sitting with, the check-in that goes off-script in the best way possible: these are the moments where real connection happens. Protecting that kind of time is not a luxury. It is leadership.
“There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in win, because the individuals make the team what it is, and how they think and what they do is important to the team. So, when you act like the individual is not important, you get it wrong.” — Nick Saban
The Bottom Line
AI will keep getting better, and the firms that use it well will have a real advantage. But the efficiency conversation should never crowd out the humanity conversation. Your team’s loyalty, growth, and fulfillment are not soft benefits on the margins of your business. They are the foundation it is built on. The most durable firms are not just well-run. They are well-led by people who understand that the human side of this work is not a distraction from the strategy. It is the strategy.
Relationships Matter Outside Your Firm Too
The same principle that drives great teams: genuine connection, shared experience, and learning from people who understand your world, applies outside your firm as well. Connecting with peers navigating the same challenges has been one of the most valuable things I have done as an owner. Collective 54 provides exactly that: a community of professional services firm owners committed to growing, scaling, and building something that lasts. If that sounds like where you are, I would encourage you to apply for membership.