The other day, I was explaining my take on the difference between a farmer and a hunter in sales.
At some point, I remembered one of the most important professional lessons I have ever learned.
Nino taught me.
Nino was the building caretaker’s five-year-old son. Whenever he saw me, he would ask questions that sounded simple but that I struggled to answer:
“What do you do for work?”
I tried to explain.
No luck.
A few days later, the same question.
Until one Friday, I had what seemed like a brilliant idea:
If I can’t explain what I do, I’ll show him.
I took him to the office with me.
At the time, I was running a technical sales office, constantly moving from one room to another: meetings, people, problems, discussions, decisions.
Four hours later, we headed home.
On the way, feeling rather pleased with myself, I asked:
“So, Nino, do you understand what I do now?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t sound entirely convinced.
But that was good enough for me.
When we got home, his mother asked him the same question:
“So, did you understand what Mr Giuseppe does?”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, she pressed him:
“Then explain it to me. What does he do?”
Nino thought for a moment.
Then he delivered his verdict:
“He tests chairs all day.”
He was right.
From his point of view, he had spent four hours watching me walk into an office, sit down, stand up, walk into another office and sit down again.
I thought I had shown him my work.
I had only shown him my movements.
Which brings us back to the other day.
As I talked about farmers and hunters, I thought of Nino again.
Because we keep asking to be understood, valued and recognised for our work.
But often, the people watching us see only our activities.
They don’t see the problem we are solving.
They don’t see the value we create.
They don’t see why what we do should matter.
This may be the main reason we should all learn how to use AI, rather than wait for others to do it for us.
Nino’s lesson is simple:
If people don’t understand the value of your work, you can’t expect them to recognise it—much less expect AI agents designed and built by someone else to fit the work you actually do.
And if you can’t explain what you do through the results you produce, other people will come up with an explanation of their own.
Sometimes it will be wrong.
Sometimes it will be unforgiving.
And sometimes they will simply think that…
you test chairs all day.
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