We Built Work for Machines. AI Could Finally Make It Human.

AI, future of work, leadership, employee engagement, workplace culture, burnout, productivity, and human-centered leadership are changing what it means to work.

I sat down with Patrick Manigault, author of Humanity at Work, for a conversation that started with his first job and eventually landed on one of the biggest questions we are facing right now:

As AI makes us faster, more productive, and more efficient, what happens to the human being?

Patrick started his career as a physicist.

Today, he works with leaders, teams, and organizations as an executive coach, helping people rethink the way we work together.

And one idea kept coming up throughout this conversation.

For a long time, we designed work around machines.

Efficiency.

Productivity.

Processes.

Output.

And somewhere along the way, people started being treated like another part of that machine.

Now, AI is entering the workplace and becoming incredibly good at the things we spent generations optimizing ourselves to do.

So maybe the opportunity isn't simply to do more.

Maybe the opportunity is to ask what we want all that efficiency to give back to us.

More time with our families.

More space to think.

More creativity.

Better relationships.

Better leadership.

Workplaces where people actually feel seen, heard, and valued.

Patrick and I also talk about burnout, 60 and 80-hour workweeks, the difference between high-performing and high-functioning teams, why asking people for their ideas changes engagement, and why caring may become one of the most valuable leadership skills we have.

One thing I've learned through building businesses, working with authors, and becoming a dad is that efficiency is only valuable if we do something meaningful with the time it gives back to us.

The future of work will have more technology.

The bigger question is whether it will have more humanity.