Faisal Hoque is an award-winning entrepreneur, world-renowned technologist, tech executive, and best-selling author with over three decades of experience working with leadership at some of the world's most iconic - and complex - organizations. Faisal goes deep into his impressively deep bag of AI "tricks." (Go here for the full conversation - from his inspiring personal journey to why "persona management" will be a thing in 2025.)

Dr. Anna Tavis is a Clinical Professor and Chair of the Human Capital Management Department at the NYU School of Professional Studies, where she leads MS degree and certificate programs in Human Capital Management. She is also the co-author of Humans at Work: The Art and Practice of Creating the Hybrid Workplace and the newly released bestseller The Digital Coaching Revolution—a must-read for professionals navigating AI-driven coaching, digital assistants, and personalized learning in the age of automation. This week I'm joined by my cohost, straight outta Tokyo, Mr. Michael Piker, VP, Global Total Rewards for Shiseido, the global beauty giant. We discuss:

1. How Anna has managed to navigate leadership roles in the corporate sector and academia.
2. The one or two indispensable characteristics leaders across all sectors need to be effective in this environment.
3. The evolution of human capital management over the years (with shout-outs to Peter Drucker, Milton Friedman and neoliberalism’s influence, etc. )
4. Her latest book, The Digital Coaching Revolution, which explores AI-driven coaching.
5. As agentic AI matures and takes its place in the organization, what must leaders do to keep employees in harmony with their robot cohort?
6. Why Anna urges HR people to learn to code - yes, you heard that right! HR people should learn to code.
7. Advice Anna gives to young people early in their HR careers as they navigate this new world of AI-augmented work.

Class is in session!

This introduces a new feature we’re calling Bag Check, inspired by the Tennis Channel’s recurring segment by the same name, wherein tennis players are asked what they’re carrying in their bag (it’s far more interesting and revealing than it may seem). The Bag Check segments are excerpted from our longer form AIX Factor interviews - we think you’ll find it strangely fascinating and brimming with great ideas for using AI tools in your work and life.

On this, our maiden segment, Harold Ford, the Practice Director for the Employer Solutions Practice at Net at Work and a regular AIX Factor co-host, shares his experiences using Chat GPT's operator mode, which can handle tasks such as booking appointments and scheduling haircuts without human interaction. Harold also mentions his use of Grammarly and Writesonic for crafting emails and articles, and how the “humanizer” tool in Writesonic helps him write in a more conversational voice. He also describes how he has used Google's Notebook LM for creating a podcast based on white papers and remarkably life-like YouTube videos.

Check it out and let us know what you think of our new segment!