A recent McKinsey report estimates that generative AI could add up to 4.4 trillion dollars annually to the global economy. But for leaders, the real question isn’t about how much AI can produce. It’s about how it will reshape people, purpose, and the very design of work.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, Joseph Fuller, Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, joined hosts Stephen Sakach, Mike Liwski, and Tullio Siragusa to explore how AI is redefining the workplace. As the co-lead of the Managing the Future of Work Project and founder of Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte), Professor Fuller has spent decades studying how demographic shifts, technology, and cultural change intersect to shape the future of organizations.

The AI Acceleration Gap

Half of all Americans already use AI, but mostly outside of work. Professor Fuller calls this the “science project effect” people experimenting at home while their companies lag behind. Many organizations are adopting AI more slowly than expected, even though the technology itself is improving faster than anticipated.

This gap highlights a core challenge: simply bolting AI onto existing systems doesn’t work. “You have to rethink the way you’re doing things and reorganize the process to maximize the AI,” Fuller explained. “You can’t just add it on top.” The implication is clear. Success with AI is not just about software, it’s about systems design, culture, and the courage to reimagine how work gets done.

The Next Productivity Revolution

AI, Fuller argues, is the most transformative technology for organizations since electricity. It promises to make work more productive, but it also requires a new kind of workforce readiness. With the U.S. facing zero population growth and low workforce participation, productivity growth will be essential to sustain economic progress.

That means AI’s role is not just to replace tasks but to amplify human capability. By automating statistical analysis, data management, and repetitive tasks, AI can free people to do what humans do best: think critically, collaborate creatively, and lead empathetically.

Fuller believes this could make work more inclusive. “If AI handles the technical side, it widens the pool of qualified candidates,” he said. “It helps people without traditional credentials demonstrate value in new ways.”

The Organizational Challenge: From Control to Collaboration

While AI has the potential to democratize knowledge, many organizations risk using it to reinforce old hierarchies. Tullio Siragusa raised a key concern: could AI unintentionally deepen command-and-control structures instead of enabling autonomy and empowerment?

Fuller’s answer was clear: “There’s no reason it shouldn’t be a major boon to both.” He pointed out that fear and misunderstanding often drive corporate hesitation. Leaders worry about data privacy, intellectual property, and risk, but this caution slows learning and innovation.

AI, when used well, can flatten hierarchies by giving every employee access to insight and creativity once reserved for specialists. It can also make decision-making more dynamic, improve communication, and even coach employees in real time with near-human accuracy.

The question isn’t whether AI will change organizations. It’s whether leaders will allow it to change them for the better.

The Data Problem No One Talks About

When it comes to failed AI initiatives, Professor Fuller doesn’t mince words. “Eighty percent of AI experiments fail — and that’s actually a good number,” he said. “We’ve never done this before.” The main culprit isn’t the technology itself but the data feeding it.

Fuller describes corporate data systems as “polluted lakes” filled with inconsistent, poorly tagged information drawn from incompatible systems. “Some pipes come from beautiful freshwater springs,” he explained. “Others come straight from sewage plants.” Until data quality improves, AI outcomes will remain unreliable.

Another issue: lack of training. Many employees running AI experiments haven’t been properly educated in how to use it. Combine that with limited vendor support and you get a pattern of disappointment. But Fuller sees this as a temporary phase, much like the early days of the internet. “Every major technology shift starts with messy experiments,” he said. “What matters is that we keep learning.”

Reimagining Workforce Access

One of Fuller’s most compelling insights is how AI could finally break down degree inflation. For decades, companies have relied on proxies, like college credentials or years of experience, to filter talent. But these filters often exclude capable candidates with nontraditional backgrounds.

AI-driven assessment tools can change that by evaluating real skills and performance data rather than assumptions. “Recruiting has always been a relative process,” Fuller noted. “It’s not about whether someone is qualified, but who seems like the best choice. AI can help make those choices more objective, if we train it right.”

He warns, however, that bias is still possible. “AI will reflect the data it’s trained on,” he said. “So if the data is biased, the results will be too.” The solution isn’t to avoid AI but to use it consciously, aligning its outcomes with organizational purpose and human values.

Purpose as the Anchor in an AI World

As the conversation turned to purpose, Fuller reframed the discussion: “You have to be very cognizant of your purpose as you deploy AI.” Organizations must ensure that technology decisions align with their core values, not just profit motives. He used an example from the insurance industry, where AI might recommend low settlement offers for claimants, as a warning. “AI doesn’t get paid for nuance,” he said. “It follows the data, not the ethics.”

Empowering employees to act on purpose-driven principles becomes essential. When people understand that the company stands for something more than efficiency, they are more motivated, more innovative, and more loyal. “Purpose keeps culture human,” Fuller explained. “And that’s what makes AI sustainable.”

The Human Edge: Skills That Can’t Be Automated

For younger professionals entering the workforce, Fuller’s advice was simple: focus on what AI cannot do. Social and emotional intelligence — skills like empathy, communication, and judgment, will only grow in value.

He coined a new term for the future of human work: context engineering. Unlike prompt engineering, which focuses on inputs, context engineering is about understanding the broader environment in which work happens — customers, culture, systems, and ethics. “Context engineers will be the ones who train AI well,” he said. “They’ll know what good looks like and why it matters.”

The Role of Love in Leadership

When asked what role love plays in business, Fuller reflected on his experience as a leader, teammate, and mentor. Love, he said, is about caring deeply for outcomes, for people, and for the shared mission. It’s the difference between treating colleagues as partners versus counterparts. “That capacity to empathize and see the best in others,” he said, “is integral to high-performing teams.”

In his view, love is not sentimental, it’s strategic. It builds trust, fosters collaboration, and sustains performance long after the novelty of technology fades.

Key Takeaways

• AI is the most transformative technology since electricity, but its success depends on human systems and data integrity.
• Emotional intelligence and social skills will define the next era of leadership.
• Purpose alignment ensures AI enhances rather than erodes culture.
• Context engineering is the future of human work in an AI-driven world.
• Love and empathy remain the most powerful technologies of all.

Final Thoughts

Professor Joseph Fuller reminds us that the future of work is not about replacing people with machines, but about redesigning work so people can thrive alongside them. Generative AI may change everything we do, but it cannot replace who we are. The organizations that will lead the next era are those that treat technology as a partner in human progress, not a substitute for it.

Check out our full conversation with Professor Joseph Fuller on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Harvard Business Review found that leaders with high emotional intelligence outperform their peers in decision-making, collaboration, and resilience. Yet in today’s boardrooms, emotional intelligence often remains undervalued, viewed as a “soft skill” instead of a strategic advantage.

On The Bliss Business Podcast, Dr. Ron Stotts, a three-time bestselling author, psychologist, and leadership mentor, shared how true emotional intelligence begins with self-awareness. Through five decades of integrating psychology, neuroscience, and ancient wisdom, he has helped thousands of leaders awaken to a deeper kind of success, one rooted in love, purpose, and consciousness.

A Journey from Fear to Awareness

Dr. Stotts’ journey began with a moment of reckoning. While serving in the Marine Corps, he was confronted with the reality that training for combat meant learning to harm others. That experience became a catalyst for his life’s work, understanding the mind, healing the heart, and helping others discover who they truly are.

He soon realized that leadership transformation begins not in strategy, but in stillness. When people pause long enough to listen to what is happening inside, they uncover the patterns that drive their reactions and shape their relationships. Fear, ego, and old conditioning often block leaders from connection, empathy, and creativity.

As Dr. Stotts explained, most executives operate from the neck up, analyzing problems and chasing results. But true leadership happens when the heart and mind work together. Awareness becomes the bridge that connects performance with presence.

From Achievement to Fulfillment

Dr. Stotts described how many high achievers build success through grit, ambition, and willpower, qualities that serve them early in life but often create burnout and disconnection later. The same drive that fuels performance can become the barrier to fulfillment if it is not balanced by emotional intelligence.

He calls this the “shift from doing to being.” When leaders stop identifying solely with their achievements and begin to understand who they are beyond their titles, they naturally lead with more compassion and clarity. This doesn’t make them less effective; it makes them more authentic. Their energy shifts from control to collaboration.

Through his coaching work, Dr. Stotts guides leaders to look inward and recognize the fears that keep them from openness — fear of failure, fear of not being enough, fear of vulnerability. Once these are acknowledged, they lose their power. What replaces them is presence, and from presence comes true leadership.

Emotional Intelligence as a Competitive Advantage

In today’s organizations, emotional intelligence is not a luxury, it is a requirement. Dr. Stotts shared examples of companies that transformed their cultures simply by helping leaders understand themselves. When employees feel seen and valued, they give their best. When leaders model humility and self-awareness, they inspire trust and loyalty.

Emotional intelligence drives better communication, sharper decision-making, and more cohesive teams. It also impacts the bottom line. Studies from Deloitte and Korn Ferry show that emotionally intelligent leaders produce teams with up to 50 percent higher productivity and 37 percent higher retention.

Dr. Stotts noted that emotional awareness is contagious. Leaders who cultivate mindfulness and empathy create ripple effects throughout their organizations. Meetings become more collaborative. Feedback becomes a dialogue rather than a defense. Even conflict turns into an opportunity for understanding.

The Courage to Evolve

One of the most powerful insights Dr. Stotts offered is that emotional intelligence is not about perfection, it is about evolution. Every time a leader chooses to pause, to breathe, or to listen instead of react, they are reshaping how they lead.

He spoke about “the sacred pause,” a practice of noticing before responding. In that moment of pause, emotion transforms into insight. Leaders who master this practice find that they can guide their teams with calm, even amid chaos. They become the steady presence others rely on.

Dr. Stotts also emphasized that this evolution requires courage, the courage to face oneself honestly and the humility to grow. Leaders who embrace this journey unlock a deeper kind of freedom. They stop striving to prove their worth and start serving from it.

Leading with Love

In a world that prizes speed and scale, love may sound out of place in business. Yet Dr. Stotts believes love is the most transformative force in leadership. Love, in this context, is not sentimentality, it is the ability to see and support the potential in others.

When leaders genuinely care, they create psychological safety. Teams innovate more freely, take risks more confidently, and recover from setbacks more quickly. Love brings humanity back into systems that have become mechanical. It is the foundation of empathy, trust, and purpose.

Dr. Stotts shared stories of executives who shifted entire cultures by practicing love in action, listening without judgment, celebrating growth, and leading from presence rather than pressure. These changes did not just improve morale; they redefined success itself.

Key Takeaways

• Emotional intelligence begins with self-awareness and the willingness to confront fear.
• Awareness connects the head and heart, turning ambition into authenticity.
• Conscious leaders create environments where trust, empathy, and collaboration thrive.
• Emotional intelligence is measurable and directly tied to business performance.
• Love is not a weakness in leadership, it is the foundation of courage and connection.

Final Thoughts

Dr. Ron Stotts reminds us that the future of leadership will not be defined by control, but by consciousness. Emotional intelligence is the bridge between success and significance. It transforms leaders from achievers into inspirers, and organizations from structures of compliance into communities of purpose. The path to conscious leadership begins with awareness, and that awareness begins with you.

Check out our full conversation with Dr. Ron Stotts on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

Modern healthcare often measures success in numbers, efficiency, patients seen, prescriptions written. But behind every chart is a person seeking understanding, not just treatment. On The Bliss Business Podcast, Craig Larsen, Co-Founder and CEO of Excel Medical and Dr. Peter Fotinos, its Chief Medical Officer, shared how they are reimagining medicine through connection, education, and empathy. Their story challenges an outdated “sick care” system and offers a model for proactive, purpose-driven health leadership.

 

From Sick Care to Self-Care

For Dr. Fotinos, the realization that traditional healthcare had lost its human touch came early. “I felt like I was putting bandages on problems, not fixing anything long-term,” he explained. Instead of preventing illness, medicine had become reactive, focused on symptoms, not systems. At Excel Medical, his mission became clear: empower patients to take charge of their health through prevention, hormone balance, and education.

Craig Larsen echoed that transformation from a business perspective. Once a patient himself, he experienced firsthand how personalized hormone therapy changed his life. What began as a search for better health turned into a calling to scale access to this kind of care. “I saw an opportunity to get other men and women like me the help they needed — and to do it in a way that puts people, not profit, at the center.”

 

Scaling Connection in a Digital World

In an era dominated by telehealth, one of Excel’s greatest challenges was how to maintain trust and intimacy with over 100,000 members while operating virtually. The solution wasn’t just technology, it was thoughtful design. Patients meet with providers every 60 days and can communicate asynchronously through a digital system that monitors symptoms and progress. Providers review data regularly and proactively reach out when something seems off.

To make the process even more personal, Excel created at-home blood testing kits, allowing patients to manage their care conveniently while maintaining clinical oversight. “We digitized the system,” Craig said, “but we never removed the relationship.”

 

Redefining Medical Education and Leadership

While most companies invest in technical training, Excel is working to take it a step further. Dr. Fotinos is expected to soon announce the creation of the Society of Proactive Medicine, an organization that develops evidence-based guidelines for hormone replacement and preventative health, areas long neglected by traditional medicine.

Comprehensive Training with In-House Providers a Differentiator

Every provider undergoes four weeks of onboarding, followed by weekly training sessions, case reviews, and biannual summits. “We don’t just teach medicine,” he said. “We teach compassion. Our goal is to help providers unlearn the authoritarian model of care and become partners in healing.”

 

Building Purpose into Practice

Purpose is the thread that runs through Excel’s work. For Dr. Fotinos, it’s about dismantling stigma around hormone replacement therapy and showing that aging doesn’t have to mean decline. “People think getting older means losing energy or joy,” he said. “That’s not true. We can live with vitality at every age.”

For Craig, purpose comes through leadership that treats employees with the same compassion extended to patients. When he learned an employee was living in her car, he didn’t defer to HR policy, he invited her into his home. “We’re not selling washing machines,” he said. “We’re dealing with people’s health, something deeply personal. Love has to be part of how we lead.”

 

Love as a Leadership Principle

Both leaders agreed that empathy is not just a moral choice, it’s a business advantage. By increasing pay for medical liaisons and investing in their well-being, Excel strengthened engagement and retention. “When people feel cared for,” Craig said, “they care more about others.”

Dr. Fotinos shared how Craig’s mentorship transformed his own leadership style. “I wasn’t always patient with staff. Craig taught me that compassion shouldn’t be something you turn on for patients and off for your team. It should always be on.”

 

Key Takeaways

• True healthcare begins with prevention, not reaction.
• Connection can scale when technology serves empathy, not efficiency.
• Education is empowerment, for both patients and providers.
• Purpose-driven organizations treat people as whole, not transactional.
• Love in leadership builds loyalty, trust, and long-term impact.

 

Final Thoughts

In a system too often ruled by metrics and medication, Excel Medical is proving that compassion and community are the most powerful forms of medicine. Their work reminds us that leadership in healthcare, like in any business, starts with a simple truth: love heals.

Check out our full conversation with Craig Larsen and Dr. Peter Fotinos on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog

In business, as in sports, greatness doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built through discipline, teamwork, and an unwavering belief in purpose. On The Bliss Business Podcast, Will Bartholomew, Founder and CEO of D1 Training, shared how he transformed a career-ending injury into one of the fastest-growing fitness movements in the country.

As artificial intelligence reshapes how we live and work, a fundamental question has emerged: how can organizations design work models that empower both people and AI to thrive together? 

On The Bliss Business Podcast, Liza Adams, CEO of Growth Path Partners, joined hosts Stephen Sakach and Mike Liwski to share why the next era of business will depend on human-AI collaboration, not competition. With decades of experience leading transformation at companies like Smartsheet, Juniper Networks, and Pure Storage, Liza helps leaders reimagine work in a way that enhances both productivity and humanity.

The Evolution of Work Models

Liza has witnessed multiple waves of disruption, from the internet and SaaS revolutions to the current AI transformation. Yet she believes this moment is different. Unlike past shifts, AI challenges not just tools but the very structures of how organizations operate. Traditional hierarchies and silos no longer fit a world where both humans and intelligent systems collaborate fluidly toward shared goals.

She describes four key dimensions shaping this change:

1. Mindset Shift: Moving from seeing AI as a Q&A tool to treating it as a thought partner.
2. Beyond Productivity: Using AI not only to speed up work but to elevate quality and creativity.
3. Human-AI Teaming: Evolving from using tools to guiding AI teammates within workflows.
4. Work Charts Over Org Charts: Replacing hierarchies with flexible, cross-functional networks centered on outcomes.

This transformation, she explains, is not optional. Companies that cling to old models risk irrelevance as competitors learn to scale empathy, agility, and innovation with AI.

Breaking Down Silos to Build Connection

For Liza, innovative work models begin with breaking old patterns. She emphasizes that customers don’t care about internal divisions between sales, marketing, or engineering. They care about seamless experiences. AI, unlike humans, is indifferent to titles and silos, it connects data and workflows effortlessly. Organizations that embrace this fluidity can deliver more cohesive outcomes and respond faster to customer needs.

Interestingly, she observes that the most innovative companies are often the smaller ones. With fewer resources and less bureaucracy, they must reinvent work out of necessity. Their constraints become catalysts for creativity. Larger enterprises, by contrast, struggle to unlearn ingrained habits.

Leading with Empathy in the Age of AI

Despite the power of AI, Liza insists that the hardest part of transformation isn’t the technology, it’s the people. Leaders must meet employees where they are, recognizing the spectrum of emotions around AI adoption. Some fear job loss; others race ahead without understanding ethical implications. True transformation requires empathy, grace, and thoughtful upskilling.

She cautions that the costliest AI investment is one employees don’t know how to use. Building AI literacy must happen alongside compassion for human limits. Leaders should make space for learning, reprioritize workloads, and help employees see how AI can empower rather than replace them.

Designing Human-AI Organizations

Liza envisions the future workplace as a network of humans supported by distinct AI teammates, systems trained to augment specific roles. A marketer, for example, might build an AI for content ideation, another for persona development, and another for campaign analysis. When these “teammates” are shared across teams and orchestrated into workflows, the result is exponential impact.

She believes that most companies’ lack of ROI from AI stems from failure to integrate it into workflows. When properly orchestrated, humans act as conductors, checking, refining, and guiding AI outputs, which unlocks new levels of efficiency and creativity.

Purpose and Love in the New Era of Leadership

When asked what role love plays in business, Liza described her mantra: People first, AI forward. Love, she said, is expressed through empathy, trust, and compassion, all essential to responsible innovation. She urges leaders to measure success not only by product-market fit but also by trust-market fit. Even the best product fails without love and credibility behind it.

AI, in her view, acts as an amplifier of what already exists. It will surface both the best and worst of human behavior. If companies lead with authenticity and care, AI will magnify those strengths. If not, it will expose every flaw. As Liza put it, “Be an amazing human being first, and then be an amazing businessperson in the era of AI.”

Key Takeaways

• The future of work depends on human-AI collaboration, not competition.

• Innovative work models flatten hierarchies and connect teams through shared outcomes.

• Empathy and AI literacy are vital for successful transformation.

• Integrating AI into workflows creates scalable impact beyond individual productivity.

• Love and trust are as essential to business performance as technology itself.

Final Thoughts

Transformation is no longer about adopting new tools but about reimagining how we work together. Liza Adams reminds us that the next generation of successful companies will not just build smarter systems but more compassionate ones. The organizations that thrive will be those that see AI not as a replacement for humanity, but as its reflection.

Check out our full conversation with Liza Adams on The Bliss Business Podcast.

Originally Featured on The Bliss Business Podcast Blog