---
id: "action-shift-to-creative-roles"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Reinforce the complementary relationship with AI."]
tags: ["talent-management", "workflow-design"]
related: ["concept-human-ai-complementarity", "quote-amplify-human-potential"]
action: "Reassign employees from automated repetitive tasks to creative, customer-facing roles requiring human judgment."
outcome: "Deepened employee engagement, improved retention, and enhanced company value proposition."
speakers: ["Jeffrey P. Shay", "Donna Kelley", "Mahdi Majbouri", "Thomas H. Davenport"]
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-ext-20-entrepreneurs-scale-with-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/08/how-ambitious-entrepreneurs-can-use-ai-to-scale-their-startups"
sourceTitle: "How Ambitious Entrepreneurs Can Use AI to Scale Their Startups"
---
# Shift Employees to Creative Roles

**Action.** As AI takes over repetitive, rules-based tasks, actively transition team members into more **creative, customer-facing roles** that require empathy and judgment. Frame this transition clearly to employees to deepen engagement and improve retention. This realizes [[concept-human-ai-complementarity]] (step 2 of the [[framework-entrepreneurial-ai-adoption]]) and the framing of [[quote-amplify-human-potential]].

**Expected outcome.** Deepened employee engagement, improved retention, and an enhanced company value proposition.