It used to be a technical skill. Now it’s a communication skill.

Recently, I was asked to automate a daily process in Excel.

Every day, someone on the team exported data, organized it across multiple tabs, formatted each tab so it would print correctly in portrait mode, and then printed it. The whole thing took about an hour every single day.

Because this was a repeated task, automation made sense.

Traditionally, this kind of automation is a technical skill. You need to know Excel well, understand macros, record actions, clean up code, test, troubleshoot, and tweak until everything works exactly the way you want it to.

That’s been my approach for years.

Normally, I’d start by using Excel’s macro recorder to get the foundation, then I’d go into the code and adjust it. That process usually takes me about four hours to get right.

This time, I did something different.

Instead of opening Excel first, I opened ChatGPT.

I described exactly what I wanted to happen…how the data should be organized, how each tab needed to be formatted, and how the final output needed to print. I explained why the automation mattered and who it was for.

ChatGPT wrote the macro.

I copied and pasted it into Excel… and it worked.

Fifteen minutes later, I had a fully working automation. I made a couple of small adjustments to column widths, which took just a few more minutes, and that was it.

And I felt excited. Proud. Accomplished.

But it also felt a little strange.

Normally, that proud feeling comes after hours of trial and error. After troubleshooting. After finally figuring out why something wasn’t working and watching it click into place.

This time, there was no long struggle.

The pride didn’t come from fighting with the solution, it came from how clearly I explained the problem and how effectively I was using AI.

This is another example of what I’ve been saying all along…

It used to be a technical skill to build something like this.
Now, it’s a communication skill.

What made this work wasn’t knowing VBA syntax or remembering where macros live in Excel. What mattered was that I could clearly explain:

• What I was trying to do
• Why it needed to be done
• Who it was for
• What “done” should look like

I didn’t need to write code.
I needed to explain the problem.

Even more interesting? I didn’t actually need to know that a macro was the right solution in the first place. AI could have helped me figure that out too. And if I hadn’t known where to paste the code or how to run it, ChatGPT could have walked me through that step by step.

My experience didn’t disappear in this process. It guided the AI.

That’s an important distinction, especially for non-technical professionals and corporate teams who feel uneasy about AI.

AI doesn’t replace your expertise. It translates it.

The value you bring isn’t in memorizing tools or knowing every technical detail. It’s in understanding the work, recognizing inefficiencies, and being able to clearly articulate what needs to change.

We’re in the middle of a shift.

The people who will thrive aren’t the ones who know the most software. They’re the ones who can think clearly, explain context, and communicate outcomes.

If AI feels intimidating, don’t start by asking, “What tool should I learn?”

Start by noticing where you’re still doing things the hard way.

Pay attention to the tasks that drain time and energy. Practice explaining what makes them frustrating, what you wish would happen instead, and who it impacts.

That skill, clear communication is quickly becoming one of the most valuable skills you can build.

And the good news?

You’re probably already closer than you think.