FFC NL 2025 TALKS

This is a talk about your value in the age of AI.

AI is transforming our work, but some things won't change. This talk is about the one surprising, constant skill we will likely need more of - which we can never delegate to AI, by definition.

Team leaders need to balance the needs of stakeholders and their reports - it is a fundamentally human job, that relies on interpersonal trust and understanding. Leaders that can't bring others with them, can't move fast.

Some aspects of that job are poised to be automated by AI. But not the core of interpersonal relationships. That core is empathy.

Empathy is key to trust in teams, to understanding the needs of those around us, and to building the relationships we need to bring our ideas to reality.

And empathy, by definition, requires us to *feel* emotions. That means it *cannot* be outsourced to AI.

This talk is about the growing importance of empathy for high-trust teamwork and fast flow, and how we as leaders can begin growing that skill today.