My 93-Year-Old Mother-in-Law Taught Me How Not to Be Replaced by AI
A few days ago, my 93-year-old mother-in-law decided it was time to replace her dishwasher. After 40 years of faithful service, the old machine had given up the ghost.
No question of ordering online, of course. Her destination: “her little shopkeeper on the village square. Because we need to keep him in business.”
I accompanied her on this shopping trip, and what I observed in that 40m² store fascinated me. Without knowing it, this saleswoman was giving me a masterclass on resisting technological disruption.
A Lesson in Automation Resistance
The scene was striking:
- The saleswoman called ALL customers by their names
- To open each dishwasher, she had to move 3-4 other appliances in the cramped space
- At checkout time: “Madam, you’ll pay when my brother comes to install the machine”
This interaction perfectly illustrates what economist Robert Reich describes in “The Work of Nations.” He divides work into three categories that determine your vulnerability to automation:
“Routine Producers” → Easily Replaceable
If the essence of your work consists of reviewing Excel spreadsheets, processing data repetitively, or following standardized procedures, your job will sooner or later be automated. AI excels at these routine tasks.
“In-Between Person Services” → Difficult to Relocate
Hairdressers, nurses, home care workers, salespeople… These professions require physical presence and relational intelligence. Your survival strategy: excel in relationships AND know your local terrain perfectly.
This is exactly what this saleswoman was doing. She wasn’t just selling a dishwasher, she was selling:
- Her intimate knowledge of each customer’s needs
- Her ability to adapt to local constraints (narrow stairs, technical specificities of old installations)
- Complete service including delivery, installation, and deferred payment
- A trust relationship built over years
“Symbolic Analysts” → Self-Relocatable
You manipulate concepts, produce new ideas, analyze complex systems. You can work from anywhere. Your strategy: become the best in your field, cultivate unique and irreplaceable expertise.
Excellence as a Survival Strategy
Faced with AI, two paths open up:
Option 1: Locally Anchored Relational Excellence Like this saleswoman, you become indispensable through your fine knowledge of your local ecosystem, your ability to create authentic human connections, to adapt to the specificities of each situation.
Option 2: World-Class Conceptual Expertise You develop such sharp mastery of your domain that you become an essential reference. This is the path I’ve chosen as a speaker specialized in chaos theories applied to organizations.
My Own Anti-AI Strategy
As a “symbolic analyst,” my survival depends on my ability to stay at the cutting edge. Here’s how I proceed:
- Intensive Reading: 100+ books per year to maintain a conceptual advantage
- Technology Watch: following each new technological emergence
- Unique Specialization: being THE reference on applying chaos theories to organizational challenges
- Original Synthesis: creating unprecedented connections between different domains
This approach allows me to help organizations navigate uncertainty with tools that AI cannot (yet) reproduce: intuition, systemic vision, creative adaptation to unique contexts.
Your Personal Diagnosis
Faced with this reality, the urgent question for you is:
Which category do you fit into?
- Routine Producer: danger alert!
- In-Between Person Services: bet on relational excellence
- Symbolic Analyst: become irreplaceable through your expertise
What is your strategy against relocation or automation?
If you realize you’re in the red zone of “Routine Producers,” it’s time to pivot. Either toward more relationality and local anchoring, or toward more conceptual expertise.
The Hidden Opportunity
Paradoxically, this transition can be an opportunity. In an increasingly automated world, truly human skills—empathy, creativity, systemic vision, adaptation—become more valuable than ever.
My mother-in-law’s saleswoman may not have known it, but she was already applying the winning strategy: cultivating what makes us irreplaceably human.
Your Next Move
The future belongs to those who cultivate either locally anchored relational excellence or world-class conceptual expertise. The middle ground—routine production—is disappearing fast.
The question isn’t whether AI will transform your industry. It’s whether you’ll be prepared to ride the wave of change rather than be swept away by it.
And you, what is your strategy to remain indispensable in an AI world?
→ 5 tools to thrive in uncertainty
Bruno Marion is an expert in chaos theory applied to leadership and management. An international bilingual English-French keynote speaker, he works with executives and organizations in more than 40 countries. He is the author of Chaos, A User’s Guide and Not Everyone Will End Up with an Axe in the Forest.
