Automation Is Changing Everything—But People Still Matter Most

It’s no secret that automation is reshaping the utility industry. From self-healing electric grids to real-time analytics in water systems, the pace of technological change is remarkable. I’ve had a front-row seat to this transformation—first helping build one of the country’s most advanced electric grids in Chattanooga, and later overseeing smart infrastructure upgrades for Austin’s water system.

We often talk about automation like it’s the answer to everything. And while it’s true that automation makes our systems faster, more resilient, and more efficient, there’s a risk in assuming the technology can lead itself. That’s where human leadership comes in. No matter how smart the grid gets, it still needs people—people to guide, interpret, govern, and question.

As we step further into this new world of intelligent infrastructure, I believe our greatest challenge isn’t technical. It’s human. The grid of the future will only succeed if we pair advanced automation with thoughtful leadership, ethical awareness, and policy that keeps up with the pace of change.

Automation Is Only as Smart as Its Design

One of the most exciting advances in recent years has been the development of self-healing grid systems. These systems can detect outages, isolate faults, and reroute power—all in seconds. That’s a game changer for reliability and safety. But those systems don’t run on magic. They run on data, logic, and design choices made by people.

In Chattanooga, we didn’t just install smart devices—we built the logic that told those devices how to respond. That meant long, complex conversations between engineers, IT teams, and field crews. It meant anticipating edge cases, understanding how systems might fail, and defining what “normal” even looks like in a highly dynamic environment.

No algorithm decides those things for you. People do. And those decisions matter because they define how the grid behaves in the real world. Leadership in this space isn’t about writing code—it’s about asking the right questions before any code gets written at all.

Ethics and Equity in the Age of Automation

With automation comes power—the power to prioritize certain outcomes, allocate resources, and make decisions at scale. That’s not just a technical issue; it’s an ethical one.

Let’s take outage prioritization as an example. When a system is capable of automatically deciding which parts of the grid get restored first, that decision must be rooted in more than just efficiency. Hospitals, nursing homes, low-income neighborhoods—these aren’t just dots on a map. They represent lives, vulnerability, and social equity.

As utility leaders, we must make sure our systems reflect our values. That requires engaging with policymakers, community leaders, and the public. It also requires internal conversations about bias, transparency, and responsibility. The best technology in the world can’t make those decisions for us. It can only act on the parameters we define.

Policy Has to Keep Pace

One of the biggest tensions I’ve seen in my career is the gap between technological capability and regulatory readiness. We often build faster than policy can respond.

In Texas, when I worked at ERCOT, I saw firsthand how difficult it is to align emerging technology with market structures and regulatory frameworks. It takes a careful balance of innovation and patience. You can’t just throw new tech into a regulated environment and hope it works.

This is where human leadership is absolutely critical. CIOs, CISOs, and utility executives have to act as translators—explaining what’s possible, what’s risky, and what’s responsible. We have to work closely with state and federal agencies to shape policies that allow innovation while protecting the public interest.

Human Judgment Still Wins the Day

I’ll be the first to celebrate a well-designed dashboard or an automated incident response system. But no matter how good our tools get, they can’t replace the experience, intuition, and wisdom that comes from years in the field.

When something goes wrong—and it will—people still have to decide what to do. They still have to interpret data, weigh trade-offs, and make calls under pressure. That’s not going to change.

In Austin, when we introduced predictive analytics into our water distribution system, we had to work hard to build trust between our data teams and our field operators. The models were great, but the human judgment was essential. It’s one thing to know a leak might happen—it’s another to know how to act on that insight in a way that’s safe, cost-effective, and practical.

Leading Through the Unseen

Much of the leadership in infrastructure technology happens behind the scenes. Most people will never see the complexity behind a functioning electric grid or a safe drinking water supply. But they’ll feel it when it fails.

That’s why leadership in this space must be steady, principled, and forward-looking. It’s not just about chasing the latest innovation. It’s about building systems that are trustworthy, sustainable, and fair.

The grid of the future will be smarter, no doubt. But the real strength of that grid will come from the people who lead it—the ones who understand that automation is a tool, not a replacement for human responsibility.

Keeping the Human in the Loop

I believe the next generation of utility leadership must be as much about ethics and empathy as it is about engineering. As we build increasingly automated systems, we need to stay grounded in the human purpose behind them: to serve, to protect, and to improve lives.

Technology may move fast, but leadership is what keeps it aimed in the right direction.