I've realized something about myself this year:
I am really good at talking to AI.
Not in the sci-fi sense.
In the "I can explain what I want, react to what I see, steer the direction, and refine the thing until it matches my brain" sense.
And the more I play in this space, the more I think this is an actual professional advantage — not just a quirk.
I'm Not a Designer — But I'm Great at the Loop
I'm an artsy person, but I've never been a visual creative. Photoshop? Nope. Canva? Makes me want to scream. Even "easy drag-and-drop tools" somehow feel like assembling IKEA furniture.
But put me in a conversation with an AI model — text, images, ideas — and suddenly the whole creative process feels natural. I don't need to be the designer. I just need to know what feels right when I see it, and give clear feedback. The strength is in the back and forth. Following up. Challenging. Steering the conversation.
That's my strength: I'm good at communication
I can't always name the aesthetic, but I know exactly what I want once it's on the page. And I know how to keep following up until we get closer to the right output.
With AI, that skill goes from "nice to have" → actual leverage.
This Is Why I've Always Been a Good PM
These skills work not just for creative work with AI, but also product work.
Product management is basically:
- Seeing something rough
- Asking better questions
- Turning ambiguity into decisions
- Iterating the version
- Guiding people toward clarity
- Making trade-offs and prioritizing
- Putting the consumer at the heart of everything
- And having opinions when it matters
AI works the same way.
The tools are fast, patient, and endlessly tweakable — which means people who are naturally iterative communicators (hi, me) suddenly move 10x faster.
I don't need to spend three days wrestling with requirements for a simple tool feature. I can sketch a draft with AI in minutes. Then I do the part I'm actually good at: editing, steering, refining, deciding. Checking for usability. Making sure the feature solves a real problem.
The Real Shift: The Value Moves From "Creation" to "Direction"
Everyone keeps saying AI will replace creative jobs and product jobs. But what I'm seeing is the opposite.
AI puts a spotlight on the people who can:
- articulate taste
- notice when something is off
- give useful feedback
- hold a vision
- communicate nuance
- iterate in public
- and not settle for the first draft
If creativity used to be about mastering the tools, now creativity is about mastering the conversation. Same with building products. Now with AI, you don't need to be able to code, you just need to know how to have conversation about what you want to build. This doesn't mean AI completely replaces all coding work or all design work either. We should shift the low value work, the tedius work to AI. And give people more time to refine and brainstorm.
And if you've spent your career guiding teams, clarifying ideas, shaping stories, or making judgment calls — AI is gasoline on those strengths.
So What Does All This Mean?
It means this era finally rewards people like me — and probably a lot of people who never identified as "creatives" or "builders."
You don't have to push pixels. You don't have to write code. You don't need to master some complicated design app.
You just need:
- taste
- curiosity
- clarity
- communication
- and the willingness to iterate
AI handles the tedious part. We handle the human part. AI rewards persistence, precision, and the ability to keep a thread alive. The people who don’t give up — who follow through, reframe, and keep asking better questions — gain real leverage. Storytelling isn’t a soft skill anymore; it’s the interface. And if women appear naturally fluent with AI, it’s not coincidence. It’s years of communication, coordination, and translation finally becoming visible as power.
And honestly? I kind of love that.