The Human Part of the Job — Storytelling, Empathy, and Creative Grit
By Justin Naidoo | Marketing Career Coach | Strategic Marketing Consultant
“Built to Lead: Marketing Careers in the Age of AI”
It gets mentioned a lot about what AI can do in marketing—but not enough about what it can’t.
Sure, it can generate decent copy, summarize insights, optimize media plans, even build wireframes. But there’s a core part of this profession that no tool can replicate. At least not in the way a human marketer can:
The ability to tell a story
To feel what a customer might be feeling
To take a fragile creative idea and fight for it
This is the human part of the job—and we’re at real risk of losing it
Fast Doesn’t Mean Resonant
In my early days in marketing, we didn’t have AI tools to write up email copy or social carousels in minutes. We wrote draft after draft. We got it wrong. We learned what made people click and what didn’t. We learned how to write for someone, not just for a brief.
That process built creative muscle. Grit. Intuition. And most importantly: empathy.
Today, I meet incredibly sharp junior marketers who can produce more content in an hour than I could in a week back then but they often struggle with the emotional core of the work. Their content checks the boxes. But it doesn’t stick. Not because they’re not talented, but because they haven’t had to wrestle with the human part of the craft.
AI Can Mimic Style—Not Soul
Let’s be clear: AI is a powerful creative partner. I use it. I encourage marketers to get fluent in it. It saves time and unlocks ideas.
But the prompts we feed it? They only work well if we understand what actually moves people.
If we haven’t built our own bank of human experiences listening to customers, pitching ideas in the room, rewriting the same headline 20 times to make it land, we can’t truly lead the creative process.
And that’s the risk: a generation of marketers who are fluent in prompts but unpracticed in persuasion.
The Intangible Edge
I often coach mid-level marketers transitioning into brand, content, or strategy roles. One pattern I see: a quiet crisis of creative confidence.
They’ve always been “doers”great at execution, organized, efficient. But now, they’re expected to think bigger, to ideate, to lead creative direction.
And they’re stuck.
Why? Because they never had the chance to build the intangible skills that make great creative leaders:
Knowing how to advocate for an idea that feels risky
Writing from a place of real insight, not keyword stuffing
Reading a room, reading a consumer, reading between the lines
That stuff isn’t on the resume. But it’s what separates “runs the campaign” from “inspires the campaign.”
So… Can We Train This?
Yes and no.
You can’t prompt your way to empathy. But you can build it, if you’re willing to slow down, reflect, and get support.
I’ve seen coaching unlock something powerful in marketers who thought they “weren’t the creative type.” We work through mindset blocks. We explore their stories. We practice reframing rejection and taking risks.
Suddenly, the voice comes out. The story lands. The confidence shows up.
And they realize: “Oh. I am creative. I just never had the space or the support to develop it.”
For the Marketer Reading This...
If you’ve ever felt like you’re “just executing” but not creating, I want you to know: that feeling is valid. And it’s solvable.
If you’re a manager, ask yourself: Are your junior team members learning to write for real people, or just optimizing for outputs?
If you’re a senior leader, reflect on this: The next wave of brand builders will only be as good as the human skills we help them preserve.
Let’s Keep the Craft Alive
Marketing is evolving and so should we. But let’s not forget the parts of this job that make it worth doing:
The goosebumps when a campaign just hits
The customer story that brings tears in a pitch meeting
The feeling of making someone feel seen
AI can help us work smarter. But it’s up to us to make the work matter.
If you're a mid-senior level marketer looking to build more confidence in brand, content, or creative strategy, I coach professionals like you every day.
Let’s unlock the voice, vision, and grit that got you here (and will take you even further)