Today’s thoughts are mostly rhetorical. I had both a productive and a well-rested Sunday, and my mind is wandering between the past and the future.

People become parents without prior training. People become managers without prior training. Parenting is a phase. Leadership is a phase. People need to evolve.

It’s a strange paradox. We demand certifications for electricians and pilots, yet we hand a human being a crying infant or a team of ten employees and say, “Good luck, figure it out.“

You can read a book to gain theoretical knowledge. But you cannot read your way into field expertise.

The Invisible Boardroom

As I think about roles, I realize we have missed a massive category of leadership that has been hiding in plain sight.

I’m thinking about the women who raised us, our grandmothers, mothers, aunts. I have seen them pour everything into a single Sunday lunch. They would bring out the finest chinaware – plates so delicate they were saved for years, waiting for this specific moment.

Bringing out those plates wasn’t just setting the table. It was a strategic maneuver.

It was the exact equivalent of a CEO prepping for a board meeting, or a founder polishing a pitch deck for a VC.

• The Guest List was the Audience.
• The Menu was the Product.
• The Chinaware was the User Interface.

Just because a homemaker’s office is a dining room does not mean they don’t care about preparation, execution, or recognition. They sought the same nod of approval from a difficult relative that a manager seeks from a difficult stakeholder. The stakes were emotional, but the pressure was professional. They knew their audience. They prepared.

The Great Regression

This is where the generations drifted apart. The Homemaker of the past often had immense training. They were apprenticed by the village. They knew the field expertise of hospitality implicitly.

The Manager (and Parent) of the present often has zero training. We have lost the apprenticeship. We promote people to Manager because they are good at coding or sales, not because they know how to lead humans. We have parents who are isolated, trying to solve complex behavioral problems with Google search bars.

We moved from a world where home roles were highly trained apprenticeships to a world where corporate roles are treated like amateur hobbies we pick up on the fly.

The AI Pivot: What Happens Next?

So, where does this leave us in the age of AI?

If you can read a book to gain theoretical knowledge, AI is the ultimate book. It has read every management theory and every parenting guide in existence.

• AI can write the menu for the dinner party.
• AI can draft the agenda for the executive meeting.
• AI can tell you theoretically how to handle a toddler’s tantrum.

But AI cannot hold the room.

AI cannot feel the tension when the Chinaware clinks and the conversation goes silent. AI cannot sense when an employee says I’m fine but actually means I’m quitting.

In the upcoming years, the logistics of roles will be solved. AI will be the best Executive Assistant and the best Household Planner you’ve ever had. This will strip away the excuse of I didn’t know the theory.

When knowledge is free and instant, the only thing left is Intentionality.

The future belongs to those who treat their role – whether it’s raising a child, leading a team, or hosting a dinner, with the seriousness of a craftsman.

• The accidental manager will disappear because AI will expose their lack of empathy.
• The unprepared parent will have a co-pilot, but will still need to provide the love.

We are moving toward a world where the Chinaware matters again, not the object itself, but the effort behind it. The care.

Whether you are facing a VC or an old aunt, the requirement is the same: Show up prepared. Respect the audience.