Bring your Human to Work in the Age of AI
With Author, Speaker, and Workplace Strategist Erica Keswin
“Creating a truly human workplace is not just good for people and great for business, but it just might change the world.” - Erica Keswin
Following last week’s conversation with Scott Barry Kaufman and Chris Shipley on human-centered leadership and Leading for Tomorrow, this week’s episode of How We Future is about how to “bring your human to work.”
Erica Keswin is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and executive coach who has written a human-centered leadership trilogy: Bring Your Human to Work, Rituals Roadmap, and The Retention Revolution. She is a fierce and tireless champion of the human spirit.
Class Exploration: How to Bring your Human to Work in an Age of AI
Instructor: Erica Keswin
What to Listen For:
Erica is one of the best translators I know of research to pragmatic action.
As you listen, you’ll see why supporting relationships isn’t “soft stuff” but a measurable business strategy and her roadmap for being a great human leader in the age of AI.
1. Connect to Purpose
According to Erica, companies whose people feel a genuine sense of purpose outperform the stock market by nearly 7%.
She recounted the famous story from 1962 when JFK walked into NASA and the first person he met was a man with a broom: “What do you do here?” JFK asked. And the janitor said, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” Every person in that building was connected to a greater mission.
Do you know your organization’s purpose? Its reason for being?
The invitation here is to ask: does every person on your team know how what they do connects to something worth doing?
I’m lucky to teach at the Stanford d.school. Founded over 20 years ago, we recently updated our mission statement - which I think of as our Statement of Purpose.
It reads, “We aim to build a world that acts for more people, made by more people, and driven by human imagination, innovation, and ingenuity.”
I am not overstating when I say that every time — and I really mean every time — that I read that vision statement I get re-energized about what we do.
2. Connect to Each Other
Human connection and performance, it turns out, are not in tension, but teammates.
Erica cited a study that she came across when writing her first book by a Cornell professor Kevin Niff (go Big Red!) who was studying team performance. As the son of a firefighter, Kevin often spent time around the firehouse. He was curious if firefighters that spent more time together performed better.
As Erica shared, “the firefighters who were the most dedicated to the ritual of the firehouse meal– sitting around the table, connecting as humans– those firefighters actually saved more lives. And so what he found was that there was a correlation between human connection and bottom line performance.”
3. Connect to Yourself
Erica does a lot of work with athletes. We’re talking Olympic athletes and elite champions. As former collegiate athletes, we both know how crucial it is to stay grounded through training and competition.
One thing Erica stresses is the importance of knowing yourself - your values and your own mission as a form of motivation and resilience.
This perspective is needed for all leaders who are navigating a time of AI. It can feel unsettling, but being honest about yourself and your own growth and development amid technological disruption is a critical approach to finding clarity amid the complexity.
Bonus: Erica and I discuss The Spaghetti Project, an initiative she started for people to come together to share a meal and build connection. At every gathering she asks, What’s one thing you could use help with from this group? It seems simple, but it can be transformative.
Head to Erica’s website to learn more about her work and read her newsletter!
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