The world of work is changing. Artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics will make this shift as significant as the mechanization in prior generations of agriculture and manufacturing. While some jobs will be lost, and many others created, almost all will change.

The fear of the future can be a powerful deterrent to change, as shown by a recent McKinsey Global Survey about the spread of automation in the workplace. Almost half of the respondent executives who rated their current automation programs a success nevertheless identified two factors—managing employee resistance to change and attracting talent—as their biggest challenges to adopting automation over the next three years.

We’ve all seen that the Internet has forced sales people to approach potential buyers in a more thoughtful, personalized and intelligent manner. They must provide value beyond just what buyers could find online. They need to know everything about the customer’s industry, their specific business issues, as well as individual stakeholder dynamics, and offer unique insight.