“AI is actually the revenge of the English major,” said Teresa Barreira, CMO of digital consultancy Publicis Sapient. “You don’t should have a pc science degree anymore.”
That’s because the AI conversation in marketing needs to maneuver beyond tools and toward talent. As machines tackle more heavy lifting, the real advantage lies in sharpening the skills AI can’t replicate.
In a world where humans aren’t any longer the primary holders of information, intelligence will be defined less by having answers and more by asking the right questions. Critical considering may soon outrank coding as a core profession skill — giving liberal arts majors a ready answer to the old query, “What are you going to do with that degree?”
Barreira believes marketing organizations should put money into three human capabilities that technology can’t replace: curiosity, plasticity and leadership.
Curiosity
AI can detect patterns and surface data but can’t ask “why.” That’s why Barreira has built a “culture of explorers” on her team — a deliberate concentrate on creating opportunities to grow, stretch skills and experiment.
“How do you teach curiosity and embed it into every part you do?” she said. “One of the things I’m already doing with my team is constructing a culture of explorers, where we create opportunities for people to grow, stretch their skills and explore.”
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Building that culture means creating space to experiment, share failures and prioritize lessons learned over polished success stories. Barreira has implemented an annual explorer’s lab, where all work is paused for 3 days, individuals are put into teams and given an issue to resolve. It’s a “show your work” exercise that lets people see how teams approached the problem.
There are also regular “Failing Fridays” to rejoice lessons learned, with awards for experiments that didn’t work as planned.
Plasticity
Adaptability reacts to vary, while plasticity anticipates it. It’sPlasticity is the discipline of reshaping considering proactively — testing strategies, learning from emerging data and constructing change into the system so pivots feel like progress, not panic.
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“We live in an age where I don’t know what’s going to occur tomorrow, but I’m telling you it’ll be different,” she said. “So how do you teach that? I like plasticity greater than adaptability because plasticity just isn’t forced on you; you could have to do it, whereas adaptability will likely be because something happened, you could have to adapt. But how will we always adapt without knowing that we’ve to adapt?”
In marketing, this implies continually reassessing strategies, testing latest approaches, and learning from emerging data before a pivot is crucial.
Leadership
In the AI era, leadership is less about having more information than your team and more about guiding with vision and influence. Barreira argues that leadership behaviors can and may be taught — moving beyond authority to encourage, align and empower.
“There’s a difference between leadership and being a frontrunner,” Barreira said. “Leadership can be taught since it’s about behaviors. You don’t should be a frontrunner to grasp leadership. In the AI era, it’s going to be less about authority and more about influence.”
Her message is evident: the marketers who thrive won’t be the ones with the flashiest AI stack, but those that double down on human strengths — asking higher questions, reshaping themselves for what’s next, and leading with purpose. As AI handles more of the execution, the human edge will come from the ability to assume, anticipate and encourage.
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