THE 10-SECOND VERSION (AI SUMMARY)
Reviewed by our team
What happened: Luxury Presence CEO Malte Kramer argues AI rewards deep specialists and high-agency generalists while squeezing everyone in between.
Why it matters: Dealerships are full of people who’ve done one job well for years.
What to do: Help your team go deeper or broader, starting with a willingness to adapt.
I started writing about the auto industry about five seconds before both “writing” and “the auto industry” hit a new frontier of innovation and change.
So when I read Malte Kramer’s take on which workers will thrive with AI, I saw the wisdom in it right away. But I’d add something. Whichever camp you’re in, the glue (or the fuel, depending on the moment) seems to be care-driven adaptability: deciding ahead of time to say yes to change, with a discerning heart toward the people you serve.
We talked about Kramer’s argument on today’s episode of the Automotive State of the Union.
Adaptability is a decision you make before the change arrives.
The Three Types of Workers in the AI Era
In a column for Fast Company’s Executive Board, Kramer, the founder and CEO of Luxury Presence, lays out three categories:
THE EXTREME SPECIALIST
Knows a field so deeply that AI can’t replicate the work. Specialists also get the most out of AI, because they know what good work looks like.
THE EXTREME GENERALIST
A high-agency person who knows enough across several areas to use AI as a multiplier. Kramer’s example: one person handling email marketing, paid ads, and SEO, work that once took three people.
THE DISAPPEARING MIDDLE
People who have done one job competently for years without going deeper or broader. Their skills still have value, but that value is declining quickly.
“Value concentrates at the extremes.” Malte Kramer, Luxury Presence
When his team hires, Kramer looks for curiosity, a bias toward action, the ability to learn quickly, and above all, a willingness to keep learning at the edges of what someone already knows.
How Dealers Can Help Their Teams Thrive With AI
Dealerships are full of talented people who have done one job well for years. Kramer’s point isn’t that those people are in trouble. It’s that standing still has become riskier than it used to be.
Look for the people in your store who are already experimenting with AI, and give them the tools and room to grow. Then help everyone else take the next step, whether that means going deeper in their craft or broader across the store.
And remember what doesn’t change: experience earned over years still matters. AI can speed up the work, but it takes a person who cares about customers to know what the work should accomplish.
Learn the tech, but invest in the people. That’s where the future gets built.
Hear the full conversation on today’s episode of the Automotive State of the Union.
