In my last article, we explored the real business opportunities Excel offers, particularly in streamlining processes and making business operations more efficient. But there’s a more profound revelation hidden beneath the surface: Excel, as it’s commonly taught and used today, may be holding us back from its true potential. This article aims to dive into that paradox and address the very question posed to me by Robert Noble Warren: “Well, in that case, what am I doing in the room?”
Let’s unpack what the great Noble Warren meant. The conversation touched on the fact that many people in business today spend their time building, maintaining, and troubleshooting spreadsheets. But what if Excel itself has the capability to eliminate most of that work? What if everything you’ve been taught, everything circulating in the Excel ecosystem, is actually unnecessary because Excel, used correctly, can automate it all?
The Shocking Truth: Excel Is Built to Replace You (If You Let It)
This is a startling notion for many Excel users, particularly those who’ve built careers, expertise, and influence by mastering manual tasks. The ecosystem around Excel—YouTube tutorials, training courses, and social media content—thrives on teaching manual methods. There’s an excitement in learning formulas, creating dynamic arrays, and solving complex challenges. But here’s the irony: Excel itself, the very tool people are mastering, can eliminate much of this manual work. It is designed to automate those tasks, and yet, almost nobody is talking about that.
Why Is This Not Common Knowledge?
The reasons for this are complex. There’s an entire ecosystem of content creators, influencers, and even Microsoft marketing teams that benefit from making Excel look more manual than it actually is. There’s a vested interest in maintaining the illusion that advanced Excel skills are about learning ever-more complex manual techniques. However, the reality is that Excel can automate nearly all of this with the right know-how.
And herein lies the irony: Excel itself, when used to its fullest potential, could automate so many of the manual tasks people are being trained to do. This isn’t about some external threat, like a new IT system or some cutting-edge software replacing your job. No, it’s Excel, the very tool you’re using, that could be making you redundant.
The Excel Rebellion: Pushback and Resistance
Now, here’s the part that Robert Noble Warren was alluding to. If Excel has this capacity to eliminate so much of the manual work people are doing, then what happens to the people whose jobs rely on that work? This is where resistance comes in.
I’ve seen this firsthand in my career. At GTA Travelport, for instance, when I introduced Excel-based automation that replaced large chunks of manual processes, there was pushback. People felt their roles were being threatened, and in some cases, they rebelled against the change. This phenomenon needs to be studied because it offers valuable insights into how and why people resist when automation threatens their traditional ways of working.
The Excel Ecosystem and the Dirty Secret
The Excel ecosystem—trainers, content creators, and influencers—often encourage manual methods because that’s what garners attention and engagement. However, behind this allure is a harsh reality: Excel’s built-in automation capabilities could render many of these manual approaches obsolete. It’s almost a conspiracy, if you think about it, to keep Excel users stuck in outdated methods under the guise of mastering new “features” or “techniques.”
But those in-the-know are aware that Excel has always had the power to automate these tasks—whether it’s through built-in features or using already built-in tools like ADO. The problem is that few people talk about this, and even fewer demonstrate how to make it work.
A Case for Transformation: The Example of Michael Jr.
Take the example of Michael Jr., a case study that perfectly illustrates this point. Michael automated himself out of his job. Yes, he used Excel to remove all the tedious, manual work he was doing. But instead of becoming redundant, this automation led to him getting a new role—one he couldn’t have achieved without first eliminating the low-level tasks Excel was initially being used for.
This is the transformation that Excel’s true capabilities can offer: freeing up your time from manual work so that you can focus on higher-value activities. Yes, some will resist. Yes, some will see it as a threat. But the reality is that no one really wants to be stuck in the endless cycle of manual Excel tasks. The opportunity lies in using Excel to transform those tasks into automated processes, freeing people up to do more meaningful work.
Where Do We Go from Here?
The resistance I encountered at GTA Travelport is not unique. It’s something that will likely be faced whenever Excel’s automation capabilities are fully brought to light. There will be rebellion—from those whose jobs depend on manual Excel work and from those in the Excel ecosystem who feel their expertise is being devalued. But the reality is, the future of Excel is about automation and transformation, not manual drudgery.
The only question left is: which side are you on? Will you embrace the real power of Excel and transform how you work, or will you resist and cling to the past?
I’ll leave that question for you to ponder, and we’ll explore more in the next article—especially why the Excel ecosystem continues to push manual methods in the face of such obvious automation capabilities.
This is a podcast by Hiran de Silva. Narrated by Charlie.
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