Empathy is the Differentiator
The AI-X Movement
Every CPA has that one client who isn’t just a line in your book, but someone whose trust you’ve earned. They invite you to big family milestones and turn to you when times get tough. These are our “ride or die” clients. Those clients who make this profession special and the reason most of us love what we do.
But most firms can only truly serve a handful of these clients with that level of deep, personal connection. There’s simply too much human limitation — time, energy, mental space. It’s rare air.
But what if that changed? What if this “dream client” relationship could be the norm, not the exception? That’s the dream I want you to see, and AI is the answer. AI isn’t just about automation or efficiency; it’s about helping us scale empathy in ways we could only dream about before.
Why empathy matters & why we can’t fake it
If you ask an accounting professional why they do what they do, you won’t hear, “Because I love software.” Well, not usually anyway.
We do it for people. And it’s why so many of us have been wary of too much technology. We don't want to lose what makes our work so meaningful, which is real relationships. Unlike the FinTech world, where everything is productized and automated, our calling is rooted in trust, emotion and care.
The problem with that is that empathy doesn’t scale easily. You can automate a tax return, but you can’t automate giving a damn about someone’s life, or noticing they sound “off” during your quarterly check-in. Or can you?
AI: The empathy multiplier
This is where AI blows the doors wide open. Think of what Amazon does. It knows your patterns, your preferences and anticipates what you need. Now, imagine using similar AI tools to understand your clients’ financial and emotional patterns.
What if the advisor-client “love language” could be codified, repeated and felt at scale? AI can spot patterns in your interactions, pick up shifts in client behavior, and even remind you when a client might need a personal check-in.
Now, suddenly, that “special” client relationship doesn’t have to be reserved for a lucky few. It becomes repeatable, teachable, shareable. It’s baked into how your whole firm operates.
AI tracks not just numbers, but feelings and patterns.
It translates intuition into repeatable action.
It allows us to deliver that “ride or die” energy to every client, not just the ones we have the stamina to support with the level of empathy they deserve.
From solo act to scalable firm
When you combine AI’s pattern recognition with your own intuition and empathy, you multiply what makes trusted advisors irreplaceable. It’s not about turning people into robots. It’s about letting technology free you to focus on what matters — connection. Your firm becomes scalable not because it becomes impersonal, but because it’s more deeply human than ever before.
This is how we stay relevant, even as technology reshapes everything. By putting AI in ourselves first, then in our firms and then using it to build a profession, it allows us to lead with the heart as much as with numbers.
That’s how we move from one “ride or die” client to a whole community of them. All while keeping the soul of this profession alive for the long haul.