Lionel Messi's left foot doesn't need AI

There’s a story I love about Lionel Messi. You’ve probably heard it before—he’s arguably the greatest footballer of all time, but here’s the part that always stuck with me: the man has one foot.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration. Technically, he has two. But he’s so dominant with his left that defenders know exactly what he’s going to do—and they still can’t stop him. It’s not that he’s balanced. It’s that he leans all the way in to what makes him brilliant.

That story came up again when I was reading Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham. One of the key takeaways from the book is this: you don’t need to fix all your gaps to be great. In fact, the best performers usually have obvious weaknesses—they’re just so ridiculously good in their zone of genius that it doesn’t matter.

That hit home for me. I’ve spent years managing and coaching teams, and this idea—amplify strengths, don’t obsess over gaps—is something I’ve seen play out over and over again.

But here’s the thing. In a lot of companies, especially those with rigid career matrices, promotions are all about checking boxes. To get to the next level, you’re expected to be consistently good across a broad set of skills. And if you’re not? Well, here’s the feedback: “You’ve got some gaps we need to work on.”

Here’s my take: sure, some gaps matter. You need a baseline level of competence in some areas to not be a bottleneck for the team. But beyond that? Trying to make everyone well-rounded often ends up making everyone average.

The book also draws a sharp distinction between talent and strength. That was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.

• Talent is something you’re naturally good at. It comes easy.
• Strength is something that gives you energy when you do it. It makes you feel stronger.

They’re not always the same thing. For example, I’ve always been good with SQL. I could slice and dice data, write queries in my sleep. But being good at it didn’t mean I liked doing it. And before I knew it, I was the “SQL guy,” stuck writing endless reports instead of doing the work I was actually hired for.

That’s the trap.

You become known for your talents. But if those talents don’t line up with your strengths, your work drains you instead of fueling you.

So, what’s this got to do with AI?

Well, think of AI—particularly the kinds of models we’re using today—as a fast path to average. They’re not perfect, but they’re very good at generating a solid, median output, especially in areas you don’t want to be spending your time anyway.

That’s where it starts to get useful.

Take product management, for example. A big part of the job is being present—really listening, being in the moment, catching the nuance in what someone says. But for years I’d sit in meetings, frantically trying to take notes while also processing what people were saying. Someone would drop a gem of insight and I’d be scribbling so fast to capture it, I’d miss the next one.

Now? I use AI transcription tools. They let me stay fully engaged in the conversation, knowing I can go back and catch the details later. It sounds simple, but it’s been a massive unlock. I’m not splitting my focus between listening and documenting—I’m just listening.

Or take another one: relationship building and community stuff on LinkedIn. Important? Definitely. High leverage? Sometimes. But is it where I do my best work? Not really. And yet I found I was spending a surprising chunk of my day there—writing responses, following up, doing low-level admin. So I started automating it with AI. Not the whole thing, obviously, but enough to get back time for the stuff I actually want to be doing.

That’s the power here. AI helps you outsource the stuff that drains you, so you can double down on the things that fuel you. It’s not about laziness. It’s about intentionality—designing your workday to match your strengths.

But, and it’s a big but, there are places where AI doesn’t belong.

Sales outreach is one of those. We tried using AI to help with cold emails. You know what we found? They sucked. People already get enough beige, templated, obviously-automated garbage in their inbox. Cutting through that noise requires craft. You need to be thoughtful, targeted, personal. That’s not a job for “good enough.” That’s a job for being great.

Sometimes It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination

There’s another important angle here: just because something isn’t a strength doesn’t mean you should always hand it off to a machine.

Some tasks—especially the ones you’d classify as procedural or repetitive—carry hidden value in the doing of them. That value isn’t always obvious until later.

There have been times when I’ve forced myself to do something that didn’t feel high-leverage in the moment—digging through data, writing out reports, reading someone else’s reports, manually tracking something over a few weeks. None of it particularly fun, none of it the thing I want to be known for. But in hindsight? That work gave me context. It let me spot a pattern I wouldn’t have noticed if I’d just skimmed the AI summary. It sharpened my instinct for where problems were brewing. It made later strategic decisions better.

So yes, outsource the grind—but don’t lose the feel for the craft.

Sometimes slogging through something inefficiently is how you build intuition. Sometimes the act of doing the work is what connects the dots. Sometimes you gotta “do the work”.

The trick is knowing when you’re learning versus just laboring. When the task is helping you build judgment, you want to stay close to it. When it’s just draining your energy, that’s your cue to delegate or automate.

Embracing our left feet

So here’s the simple rule I’ve landed on:

• Use AI to close gaps where “good enough” is actually good enough.
• Use it to offload talents that aren’t strengths.
• Don’t use it to automate the things that are supposed to be your superpower.
• And every now and then, choose the long road—because the long road teaches you things the shortcut can’t.

This isn’t about being 5% more productive. It’s not about squeezing in one extra task before lunch.

It’s about flipping the entire equation of how we work. It’s about carving out the crap so you can spend the biggest chunk of your day in your zone. Swinging with your left foot. Leaning into the things you love. Being Messi.

AI isn’t just a shortcut. Done right, it’s a reallocation tool—one that lets you outsource your mediocrity and insource your brilliance.

And that’s where the real magic happens.

Published: 12/05/2025