Navigating Humanity in the Age of Hybrid Workplace

living in an environment dealing with challenges that appear to be insoluble offer opportunities for amazing people to think and act in amazing ways we're not yet seeing the fullness of that we're not yet experiencing that but that these are areas no no structure and no technology is going to solve the problems of the Middle East it's going to have to be solved by human beings [Music] now leaders are often thinking well we can just have environments where folks can do things on their own and we're moving and we're growing and that's really valuable as well but what does processes procedures does it still have the same role as it did 20 years ago what is the employees Guiding Light on how we function in your opinion I think that will differ from industry to Industry the the industries where where process is is absolutely Paramount if a pilot is flying a plane that I'm a passenger in I would want to know that he's following the process um but I would also want to know that he has the capacity to make a decision to override the process and that's where trust comes in it was quite interesting I don't know if you remember the early days of the of the Airbus and there was some bad bad accidents at the time there were bad crashes of the time but what was interesting it was such a very different philosophy between at that time Boeing and Airbus Airbus was trying to create a an aircraft that didn't need the opportunity for human error was was minimal and that was fine when things went well but when things weren't going well it was almost impossible for the pilot to override the system and sometimes it was because the system is so powerful and sometimes because the pilot had become so reliant on the system that that muscle was not was not well developed and Bing had a very different philosophy at the time I'm sure now things have merged and that there's not that much difference between them I'm not sure but those two models that on the one hand there are certain industries where you really want process to be Paramount and there are certain interest where process is there just to support and to help but in all cases you don't want the person to lose their Humanity the the danger with artificial intelligence is not the machines and the robots I'm not scared of them I'm scared of the the people who have become robots that's much more damaging that I as a person have to use process as a tool that's really important and the and the better the process and the finer the process and the more efficient the process the better it is but when I just become a factor in that process and not master of the process uh that's when I start to lose my Humanity I remember once in the days when one could go into the cockpit of a plane taking my daughter into the cockpit and talking to the pilot and asking him about an island down that we saw through the window and he wasn't sure what it was or where it was and he just said I don't need to know what what that is or where that is I can tell you to the second what time we're going to land and to the meter I can tell you where we're going to land the rest of it the machines take care of that I found troubling in a sense that the that the process is so dominated by technology that the human element is actually extracted from it completely so I think we have to As Leaders we have to look at that and say what is the role of the human element and how do we redefine the human element so chat GPT can write my articles now does that mean that I abdicate the article writing to chat gbt or does my role become a different one A more created one since chat GPT can out check my grammar and all of that stuff do I put most of my effort now into Innovative content and how do I push the boundaries there in ways I didn't have time to do before because i' spent some time on on the grammar which not can be done quickly for example earlier you spoke about the change in the new wave and you know in the future things are going to be considered with technology or with AI what are some of the things that you noticed that we need to prepare for or we need to be aware of especially with social interest social interest not relying solely on technology versus our communities creating strengths within our employees team and having some of that the wheel in the center and the wheel on the outside um analogy you use so what do you forecast what do you know what should we consider and what should leaders now start to review and focus on as we move into this AI it's it's here and we need to just adapt and figure out how we're going to use this technology I mean we have to embrace it this is where we're going and I'd love to hear your idea is about that so let's stay with the aircraft analogy for a moment so now my pilot friend is sitting in the he's b as bored as anything uh he's taken off he's got a long flight he's set the flight path he's got to check things he's got to listen in to what's happening around but but basically it's robotic I don't know what the pilots do with their time and and how they spend their time I'm sure they're things for them to attend to but not to use the fullness of who they are as people and the training and the uh and the intellect that they have as as as human how would it be if the pilot said well I don't need to fly the plane anymore because the robots are doing that better than I could do it uh and I've got the co-pilot here who's just taking care of things let me go and talk to the passengers and the pilot walked through the plane and stopped and spoke to to people and explained things to them and noticed that somebody was nervous and helped them and spoke about the company and why our company is amazing and and and what we do so he would now be doing things that weren't in his job aren't in his job re really at all but he's free to do those things he could be building connections with passengers in such a way that I come off that plane and say to myself I'll never fly on another airline I had no idea that they're so thoughtful that they're so caring because there was a connection between a senior person on the on the he has the time to do that why doesn't he do that because it's not his job so we we've categorized him we're turning him into a robot instead of saying my goodness we've unleashed the power of a human being who's sitting idle for an8 hour flight when he could really be marketing our company he could be creating connections with people in a magnificent way and I think that applies to to everything we do how can I use technology to do the things I don't need to do I think Yogi one has to be inherently lazy I think there's an enormous value in laziness and and by laziness I mean I take myself an example if I can find something that somebody else can do better than me or as well as me or almost as good as me I really don't want to be doing that thing why would I want to spend my time when there's somebody else who could do it do it better so I'm just so ready to to delegate whether it's to machines or to other people there's a certain Delight in me in getting rid of monotonous work but where the laziness ends is I don't then say well now I can go and lie on the couch the the question is so now I'm got a whole lot of time and capacity freed up what can I do that nobody else can do and if we would adopt that mindset I think we would be on the verge of such Innovation not just in the area of robotics but we would find cures to diseases we would find new ways to educate people and and these areas aren't aren't changing that far take the school system it's a 100 years or more old it hasn't been updated forever and and yes so now you plug some iPads into and you're doing the same old stuck with some new technology but we haven't yet adjusted to the fact that students don't need information anymore so now the school teacher has to say if if my student doesn't need me for information because they have access to better teachers than me they can plug into the best teachers in the world in my in my subject they don't need me for that so now comes a very difficult soul-searching purpose question because you're repurposing so what is my purpose it's no longer to give the student information my purpose is now to inspire the students curiosity how do I go about now imagine if all the teachers in the classrooms were doing that instead of dishing out this information with the students are able to get much more efficiently yeah in all these areas I think we've got to say to ourselves what can I delegate to machines and and celebrate that just be so relieved that that can be delegated but now how do I do something that machines and even other people can't do as well take that area of writing are we losing the whole capacity to write and and writing is a process of developing self not just of producing an out output but of self-development being able to journal being able to write a piece to be able to translate one's thought thought processes into writing are we losing that capacity how do I make sure that I don't that I keep that but but still use technology to be able to do it more effectively and more efficiently so whereabouts are you living are you in New York are you abroad right now I'm living in a very um hot spot at the moment I'm living in Israel so I'm right in the in the Middle East and and as you know it's a an incredibly intense it always it always has been intense there's an intense Society it's an intense place and the issues the country is faced with and the region is faced with are issues that that um appear to be almost insoluble so living in an environment dealing with challenges that appear to be insoluble offer opportunities for amazing people to think and act in amazing ways we're not yet seeing the fullness of that we're not yet experiencing that but that these are areas no no structure and no technology is going to solve problems of the Middle East it's going to have to be solved by human beings and human beings are are able to build trust human beings are able to inspire one another it's one of these areas where I'm really watching leadership and Leadership failure hour by hour never mind day by day or week by week ordinary people doing amazing things amazing acts of leadership and leaders doing things that are incredibly done and and just realizing how tenuous the the art of leadership really is is and and how fragile it is thank you for sharing David and yes indeed being from outside we can sense the chaos the challenges that folks may be experiencing if you like the content of this video please don't forget to follow and also if you want more information visit the website Yogi AEL t.com [Music]