When your idea isn't fully yours

I’m always paying attention to where communication breaks under pressure. It’s an acutely uncomfortable scenario. 

A workshop facilitator was recently challenged on an inconsistency between what she was showing and what she was saying. She couldn’t explain it. The session collapsed. Someone then told his entire network on X about the whole thing. 

She didn’t own her material. And that is a problem we’re seeing more and more of.

I’ve started using AI more and more as a pitch partner.

It’s useful. I’m sure as many of you reading this have realized. Very useful.

But I’ve also seen the downside personally.

A few months ago, I was in a business school session. I shared an idea I’d developed with ChatGPT. It sounded right when I read it. It totally made sense.

But when I had to explain it live, something didn’t hold.

A student raised his hand. Then another.

I paused. Re-read my notes. Collected my thoughts.

Two minutes of silence.

I came back and repaired it. But it was uncomfortable.

The idea wasn’t fully mine yet.

AI is excellent at generating concepts. It helps structure thinking, explore angles, and accelerate preparation.

But it doesn’t replace the work of owning the idea. Nor will it always give you workable concepts in a live session with other people. 

And I’m starting to see a pattern.

The message is clear.

Well-structured.

Technically sound.

But there’s a gap.

A gap between the person speaking and what they think they know with what the audience is hearing. 

If it hasn’t been fully thought through.

If it hasn’t been tested under pressure.

If hasn’t already been carried in a room live to other people, you carry the risk of hitting a wall. Losing credibility and passing a pretty lonely moment in front of your audience. 

AI can help you build the argument.

But it can’t hold it for you.

And in these situations, that’s exactly what people are reading.

Not just what you say.

But whether you can carry it when it’s tested.