Relationship Building in the Age of AI: Why Human-to-Human Connection Always has a Role to Play

Welcome to the inaugural session of our community-hosted webinar series, sparked by the energy of unDavos 2025. We’re continuing the conversation with bold topics—from AI and finance to sustainability, storytelling, and beyond.

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​May 14th Session Overview

​Title: Relationship Building in the Age of AI: Why Human-to-Human Connection Always has a Role to Play

​Description: Isn’t it fascinating how technology, especially AI, is changing the way we connect? Yet, despite all these advances, there's still nothing quite like human-to-human interaction, right? In this discussion, I'll dive into why those personal connections are more crucial than ever. We'll explore practical ways to use AI as a tool that enhances our interactions rather than replaces them. It’s all about finding that perfect balance to ensure our relationships remain strong and genuine in the digital age. Let’s chat about how we can keep the human touch alive and well in our networks!

​Format: Fireside Chat

​Speakers: Melissa Stires

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Transcript

Hey everyone, and welcome to the unDavos webinar series. For those of you that are new to unDavos, we are a community driven conference that runs alongside World Economic Forum in Davos.

And our purpose is to give everyone a stage to democratize, humanize, and bringing action to Davos. Now, our new webinar series aim to continue the conversations between the summits. We have a lot to talk about and we would like to now keep the pulse alive year round through bite-sized high energy sessions where our community turn ideas into action.

We will head into the first session and up next is Melissa. She is a bestselling order founder of Maya AI and a newly minted CEO of the Fundamental Wellbeing Foundation, whose specialty is [00:01:00] turning, cutting edge tech into deeper human connection.

She will unpack relationship building in the age of ai, showing how we can let the machines help while keeping the magic of person to person bond from to center. And with that, I invite you, Melissa, to stage welcome. Hi everybody. Thank you so much. Nothing like hearing your bio read to make you feel super uncomfortable.

I am so excited to see so many faces and names that I know, and all the new faces and names that I'm going to meet. We are just really excited. I'm Robin and I, we've been connecting and with the Davos team I love unDavos and the movement that they're doing. So I'm so thrilled that you all are involved today and this is a test run for all of us.

This is the first one. And so I'm also like I am the chief Global Growth officer at my ai and so an AI company, and of course I'm having technical problems, so I'm like drafting into the blue background that I cannot get rid of no matter what. [00:02:00] And I'm using two different screens to read off of.

That is okay 'cause we are just gonna go with the flow. I hope that you will be super interactive. I have, my amazing colleagues are actually on this call. Louisa is one of them. She is just a genius in everything. And so Louisa's gonna help me monitor the chat because I'm going to share my screen a lot and so I won't be able to see questions.

But if there are questions, comments, if you wanna come on and talk with me about something, if you have a question that you wanna ask and you don't feel comfortable, drop it in the chat. Let's stay active because this is all about relationship building in the age of ai. And so to do that, like we have to talk to one another.

So first and foremost I can see Robin, I can see a few of you all. Can you guys see my screen? Okay? Is that good? All right, so disconnecting my phone 'cause my phone is now let's see here. Sorry, am I mute? So my phone is trying to be my camera. I'm gonna stop sharing for one second. [00:03:00] Turn my camera back on here.

Let's see. Okay, and I'm gonna try this again. Let's do this. All right. Relationship building in the age of ai. This is me. If you wanna connect with me on LinkedIn, I would love to connect with you, long bio, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But find me on LinkedIn. Find me in the chat afterwards. Let's be friends because I'm all about relationship building.

This is because I'm Type A. You can see what we're gonna be doing today. Going through it is hopefully going to be fun. Hopefully you guys are gonna make it interactive and I think we're gonna have a really good time. But I like to give people a little bit so they know what they're getting into this quote.

We've heard it a lot. It is, I've learned that people will forget what you said. They will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. And I'm gonna stop sharing the screen for a second.

'cause I wanted us to be able to look at each other and you can scroll through and see each other, whoever, whichever face you prefer to look at, there's at the top. And I wanted to ask you a question just to [00:04:00] reflect on, when in your life was a moment for you that someone showed you an extra deal of kindness?

An extra moment of kindness. That could have been yesterday. It could have been when you were five years old. It could have been any time in between. But when in your life has someone gone out of their way to show you kindness? And I want you to just think about that and find that memory for yourself.

I shared a picture of baby Melissa. That is Melissa in Washington DC I shared with somebody in the chat that I lived in DC for a while. That was my first year in Washington, DC after college. And that was the great poet and author Dr. Maya Angelou. I was actually a volunteer for the Christmas Pageant of Peace hosted by the US President.

And they do a big Christmas tree lighting and they have Santa, and they have. Singers and musicians, and they brought in an author. I was Santa's little helper for two days and his escort, but that sounds weird. And so I got to be backstage with all the talent. And Dr.

Angel was backstage. And so [00:05:00] this is also this is fun because this is before there were like selfie selfies. This is when there were still disposable cameras. So that photo was taken with a disposable camera. I know. I don't look that old, but yes it was. And I went up to Dr. Angel just said, what an inspiration she was, how awesome that she was.

My mother at the age of 49 was going to college for the first time in her life to get her degree in elementary education. And I shared with Dr. Angelou just how much she had inspired family. Dr. Angel was wonderful. Took a photo with me, was so kind and just amazing. and that in and of itself was beautiful because she didn't have to do that Unbeknownst to me, she had gotten her assistant and her assistant went to the car and came back and she called me over and she said, Melissa, what is your mom's name? And I said, my mom's name is Kathy. She had sent her assistant to the car to pull out one of her poems, phenomenal Woman. And that was printed and she wrote on the poem for me to Kathy with Joy Maya, love Maya and Melissa.

And [00:06:00] so I was able to wrap that poem up, give it to my mom for Christmas. And my mom always gets to tell people that Dr. Maya Angelou encouraged her during her college journey. And so when I say, think about the kindnesses that were done to you, unexpected, that was a super unexpected rare kindness. But talk about leaving Atlasian impression and not only changing the course of my life, but also.

Changing my mom's college career course, and then the course and the way she looked and treated others. It was just a ripple effect. And so when we talk about relationship building in the age of ai, it's just relationship building. That's all it is. It's just we're in a different era. We don't have the, we don't have the throwaway cameras anymore, but we still have our human to human connections.

And I hope that today that we have those connections as well. I am with Mia AI Mission Impact Academy. Mia AI stands for Mission Impact Academy, and we are on a mission to empower people and businesses to truly unlock [00:07:00] the skills of the future with ai. And we're doing that with a dynamic team from all over the world.

We are in about 65 countries. We have trained over 5,000 people. We have a network of about 10,000 in our community. And our women, our men, our organizations that we work with are really rock stars, and some of them are even on this call. Shout out to Blue. Hello. We just have people from all over the world that have learned with us and.

That are joining the AI journey with us, and we're so excited to be a part of their journey. I love sharing this slide because we are still a baby yet at Mia ai we are only about two years, two and a half years old. But we have had the honor to be on some really amazing stages, platforms, publications. One of my favorite is this past November we were in.

Cutter with NDPs women global Leadership Academy for Women was fantastic. We will, again be at Cannes Lions. If any of you all will be there, we would love to see you. And we would love to connect [00:08:00] with you there. So I like showing who we are before I show what we do in the landscape of what's happening.

So where are we with this day and age of AI We are in, we're in this, we're in a whole totally new era, and I cannot believe that only last, like it feels like yesterday, but it's been six months since we were all at Davos together. 

But in January of 2025, the future of jobs report came out from the World Economic Forum. And it was really fascinating to see everything that they were saying. And in this photo here, you're gonna see, this is my co-founder, the co-founder and CEO of Mia. She is speaking with Sheree Blair, and they were talking about women empowerment in the age of AI at Davos which was super.

And I lost my notes for a second, so sorry about that. Oops. But the future of jobs is looking something like this. There is going to be a lot of disruption. There is going to be net job growth of about [00:09:00] 7%, which is exciting because that means 78 million jobs are gonna be in the ecosystem by 2030.

And that means a lot of them are gonna be the frontline jobs that the green economy jobs. What we're gonna see happen though, is the clerical roles are gonna be declining, and you may have already felt that impact. Obviously skills transformation is going to be huge. Something that I love to point out about this is that what the report shared is that the skills that are most important and still needed are going to be those analytical thinking, those resilience, those leadership skills.

Back in the day, people would call those soft skills, which really ticks me off because they're not soft skills. Those are power skills and they are needed now more than ever, and. Says that 39% of jobs are going to need this skill transformation. About 59% of the workforce is gonna need reskilling and upskilling by 2030.

And with all these technological advances, there's gonna be so much on the horizon in terms of broadening digital [00:10:00] access and really making sure that employees and employers really are able to be transformed by what is happening in the world of the digital world. There's gonna be a really high demand for people in AI and big data and cybersecurity.

There is a lot going on and it's exciting and it's a little bit new. There's always, I don't know what the word is, not challenge, but maybe, the newness can be scary sometimes, but I hope that we're embracing it with optimism and hope.

And AI is everywhere right now, right? AI is in our copy. It's in our phones. It's telling us what to wear. It's telling us what hair color looks best on us. It's telling us who to date. It's telling us what algorithms to follow on Instagram. We're all over the place with technology.

We no longer have those really cool phones that you send off the film and you get it back in 24 days. And if you took a bad selfie with your eyes closed, you get that? No, we have a immediate gratification. And yet now, more than ever, despite this hyperconnectivity in our digital lives [00:11:00] many are feeling a profound sense of disconnection.

And this like digging into this a little bit more, broke my heart just a little bit. I'm using some stats that are from the US and I also have some global stats in there as well. But approximately half of US adults right now report experiencing loneliness with some of the highest rates are among young adults globally.

Nearly one in four adults are experience loneliness in the us. Again, 52% of people report feeling lonely with young adults. That's ages 18 to 24 being the loneliness. And these are the ones that are on TikTok all the time. They're on all, they're on red, they're on all the cool apps and everything, and yet they are the loneliness.

And so I just wanna reach through this camera and give you guys the biggest virtual hug right now because I think that we're all hurting and we're all going through this journey together. And if you are one of those people that feel lonely or you encounter your friends and colleagues feeling lonely, guess what?

[00:12:00] Belonging is a biological need. It is not a bonus. And I wish that I could say that this is my brilliant saying. It's a biological need, not a bonus. But it's actually, it is scientific that we need to feel like we belong. And I think that we know this kind of in the back of our foreground, but we forget it so much that when individuals feel like they belong, they're more likely to engage, they're more likely to contribute, and they're more likely to thrive.

And in this digital age, especially, fostering genuine connections requires intentionality and requires presence. And this is why I love what UN Davos is doing. This is why I'm so proud of the work they're doing, because they have made Davos this really intense like. Super duper hard ecosystem to navigate.

They've made it. They've not only made it where you can navigate, they've made it where you can be apart and your voice can be heard. And there is a lot of science that backs up this data that belonging is a biological need. Neuroscience backs this up. [00:13:00] And this was something cool, I don't know if you knew this, but that need of belonging that activates the same brain regions as physical pain when it goes unmet.

So according a research article published by the NIH social rejection, when you feel social rejection. It triggers activity in the anterior singular cortex. Okay. In a place inside your brain. It is the same area that literally is activated when you break your foot or when you have slammed your funny bone on the corner of something.

When you are dealing with that loneliness, when you feel that rejection, that same kind of pain is felt inside your brain, that is how it equates. So this is a big deal that we are feeling disconnected and lonely. It is messing with us. There's a Harvard study out there that, that says something that I think is also we know this, but I love seeing the scientific proof that people that [00:14:00] have strong relationships, that is the single greatest predictor of happiness and longevity.

Fear the end UCLA. You can see the loneliness, the loneliness index. About 61% of Americans are feeling still lonely and isolated. Better up. Did a report in 2022, which I think counteracts, or just reaffirms, like living longer, being happier. Those employees that feel a strong sense of belonging report 56% higher performance, 50% lower risk of turnover, and 75% fewer sick days.

So I don't know who of you are running and managing teams. I don't know if you have the ear of your leadership. I don't know if you run volunteer groups or book clubs or whatever, but. If you are making sure that whoever you're working with feels like they belong, feels like their voice is heard, you are going to get more out of them.

I know that fear is a big motivator, but what this statistic tells me is also love is also a motivator, and that connectivity is absolutely a [00:15:00] motivator. If you are on Instagram, I know Instagram could be it. It can be the best of times or the worst of times. Peaceful mind, peaceful life.

They're an amazing organization, and I love this quote because I, it very much sums up who I am. Someone asked me, what's your favorite place? And I replied, I don't have a favorite place. I have my favorite people. And whenever I'm with them, that becomes my favorite place. And that isn't really how I feel about life, but what the statistics are telling me is that's not how everybody feels.

And don't worry if you do not have a bajillion friends, because guess what? Research shows, once again, thank you Instagram, that we really only need three to five close friends. To have a happy social life. And so your nervous system, that internal drive of belonging, again, it's not looking for a huge Kim Kardashian fan base.

Yuck. But it is looking for real connectivity and resonance. And a small circle is sacred and, I hope that you all are able to find that. I also hope that as we [00:16:00] are still diving into this and as we're looking at ourselves, but also looking at what others might be needing because maybe none of us are feeling the loneliness, but if we are not feeling the loneliness, someone else that we very close to us is.

There was another Instagram post that went viral that I saw all over my feed that said something. It only takes a 12 minute conversation with a friend to reset somebody's mental health or something. It was a pretty big statistic, but it said only 12 minutes of conversation really can take you from a dark place to a bright place.

And people were posting that and they were also saying, so please remember that I always have time for you. And so I thought that's a really good and really good little metric for us to write down. And remember the number 12, 12 minutes for somebody that we care about. 12 minutes for somebody that might be struggling.

12 minutes for somebody that you haven't talked to in a while, carve out that time for them. I wanted to see if we could do a poll really quickly, Robin. I'm gonna stop sharing. Is there a way that you're ensuring that [00:17:00] you foster genuine connection?

So is that possible? And I'm being told that I need to slow down because I'm talking super fast because I'm so excited. So thank you Luisa. But feel free to come off mic and tell me. what are you doing in your lives right now that guarantees you foster genuine connection and maybe you're like, Melissa, I'm not doing anything, that's why I'm here.

That is fine too, but I just curious to see what you might be doing to foster that connection. Are you taking 12 minutes? I think I have a friend that literally puts on his calendar, reminds him to reach out to somebody because he is not good at remembering. Or do you leave little messages or what do you do to help yourself remember to stay connected?

I'm curious if anybody has any answers. If not, that's okay too. I'm gonna keep sharing my screen, but I was just wondering if you all had any insight to give. If you do later, please share it. Humans, we're not just here to be used and abused by ai. AI is a tool for us, right?

So AI is this new [00:18:00] technology. Yes, it's this great new technology, but your heart. Is still the power source. And at Mia we talk and we work a lot about in the world of automating and streamlining businesses, making organizations and people work faster and smarter. But at the end of the day, it's humans.

It is still you that are closing the loop, that are reading the nuances that are saying, Melissa, you're talking too fast. Slow it down, feeling the vibes. AI is a great tool to amplify your gift. It is not to replace it. And I was, Robin and I were talking earlier, poor Robin. I'm gonna pick on him like 12 times during this session.

But we were talking about improv and acting and everything. And I told him I was basically born on a stage. I've been on a stage in some way, shape or form since I was two years old. And I love being the star of my life and I love helping other people be the stars of theirs and shining a spotlight on them.

There is a great movie, it's a romantic comedy that I love from years ago. It's called The Holiday, and [00:19:00] it's with Kate Winslet and Jack Black. it's this fun romcom, but there is a line in it where a movie producer looks at Kate Winslet and he tells her, you should be the leading lady of your own life.

You should be your own leading lady. And I think that's such good advice for all of us. We should be the leading lady, the leading man, the leading person in our own story, right? We should be the ones that are leading the charge. Let AI handle the lighting. Let it handle the script.

Let it handle the set. But you are still the ones that the audience came to see, right? Just a microphone can amplify your voice, AI should amplify your clarity, should amplify your empathy, should amplify your efficiency. But do not hand over your microphone to the tool, right? Let it make your voice louder.

Don't let it take over for you. And I think something that probably we've seen a lot and I'm curious. Thank you guys for speaking, [00:20:00] chatting, adding in the chat. I love this. The comments are, y'all are saying, linkedIn's really good at knowing, and I think we are starting to see it too, is when people let AI do all the talking for them.

We know we're talking to a computer, we know we're talking to a robot when we are. If you ever want to see me frustrated, which is not a pretty site because it's energy goes wild, it's get me talking to a chat bot that cannot answer my questions, right? If there is any way to get rage in, involved in us is putting us on a help desk with a chat bot that cannot help us.

So don't hand all your power over to ai. It is not the solution. Your intuition, your strategy, and what I believe your soul is that is. The things to me that are irreplaceable. AI can give you suggestions, but it can't really discern context and culture and chemistry the way that you can.

AI can predict even what to say in an email, but it can't feel the right thing to say. [00:21:00] it can't know or have seen somebody in the cubicle next to them that's looking like they're down And figuring out a way to point that out. It's not going to automatically know the right things to say when someone had a killer week and you wanna champion them.

Something fun, when Robin and I first started working together, he told me he send a lot of gifts. That's how I communicate and I love his gifts. They light up my life, they light up my day. I'm a words of affirmation person and I also like funny things. so maybe Robin essentially could set up an algorithm and have AI send Melissa a funny and positive gift like once a day.

But even him going to the extreme to do that, which he hasn't done would be at least that human to human that human interaction of using AI as a tool and not just letting AI do it for you. Something that we did. I'm letting all these comments, I wanna save them 'cause I love it.

Real world. Virtual. Virtual versus virtual. That's such a great point. Nishant. I can't wait to read all these comments because these are so good. And the intentionality that you hit on right now. Andrea yes. Intentionality matters so [00:22:00] much one time at mia. We are a startup.

we are a baby startup. And so startups if you didn't know this, we are not flowing in the cash flow, right? So when we wanted to do something fun for our employees, we ended up, and this is before the cute little pictures of AI came out and made you look like. All awesome with like your three little things.

This was last year. We had little avatars made of each employee, and then we had a quote written out about that person. So Louisa, who I've already picked on once today, she is a genius with organizational skills and she's brilliant, and she keeps us all on time and just in line. And so we did a really awesome quote with her cute little avatar, and that was a way that AI helped us build a relationship, say thank you for your great work.

And it also was very affordable. I just wanna read this one comment right here. I love this. It says, in our culture in South Africa, it is very important to greet and find out how someone is doing before getting into the business of the day. I love that so much. So fun fact about me, I'm looking at my bookshelf that you all can't see.

[00:23:00] I'm actually a trained protocol officer. So in a past life I actually worked in protocol, which is all about understanding international cultures, international etiquette, and how to do things the right way. And I think that is so important, and I agree with you that in this day and age of the quick response, the immediate, like looking at your phone, whatever, we go right into business and we don't build the relationship aspect of what we need to be doing in business and also even in personal life.

I've seen this in, at networking events. Something that I was very intentional of moving to Orlando three years ago. I lived in South Florida before and I was working in Washington, DC for a lot of that time. And so I would fly to DC and then fly back. And so I felt like I always had community in DC and a little bit of community in South Florida.

So when I moved to Central Florida, I made it a point that I went to events to meet people, not to sell them something, not to be promoted, not for anything else, but [00:24:00] to build relationships and be intentional. I see somebody else, Darlene, you just moved to Florida and you have family members and you wanna reconnect you're gonna do game night.

I love that. Like all of those things are Exactly. Being intentional and making sure that you are putting the relationship and the human first. And that is what we, that's what we teach at Mia. That's really what we believe is that. Honestly, the winning combination is AI and human skills.

And at the core, at the center of those is going to be people. It's always people. You can have the coolest car ever. I don't know, I'm learning cars. still don't know what a cool car is, but you can have the best cool car, but if you can't drive stick shift, like what does it matter?

It's just gonna sit there. So if you have all these great AI tools, but you don't know the right way to use them to continue to build relationship, what is that gonna do for you? But the schools of the future and going back to what the World Economic Forum reported, really it is, those power skills.

Because [00:25:00] when we dive into the values in balancing emerging technologies, it becomes increasingly important that we better embrace our humanity. Because if we do not focus on these human Centric areas. What we're gonna see is skewed data, skewed ai, biased inaccurate hallucinations, false news running all over the place, right?

Because we still have a role to play in ai. We can have all the data in the world, we can have all the engineers in the world, all the AI in the world, but if we do not have people that know how to communicate that can bridge that gap of understanding between technical and non-technical, we are going to lose the human ace.

We're gonna lose the human aspect, and things are gonna feel fragmented. And so you may not necessarily have technical skills, but you have the human skills to bridge the gap with those leaders, with those decision makers, with the data analytics team, with the AI engineers.

And that's a really important [00:26:00] part in this day and age, because we have to remember that we cannot. There are things that we just cannot automate. We cannot really use AI for leadership. We cannot really use AI for empathy like AI Can give us tools, can give us tips for trust building, but at the end of the day, it is going to be us at our core with that intentionality that you mentioned with that strategic thinking of, I'm gonna do a game night.

I'm gonna learn how their family is before I jump into business. That is going to keep us on the road to having relationships and not being a land of robotic lonely people. And what is slowing down the AI adoption? I love this. This quote is from Andrew ing, he is.

Such a respected thought leader in ai, and he's someone who is passionate about people and talent. And it's true. the scarcest source right now, and what's actually slowing down AI is talent. Because AI has to be customized for your business context. It has to be [00:27:00] customized for what you are working in, for what you are doing.

And I think that's a really important we talk a lot about how AI stands for augmented intelligence. Humans bring the innovation. AI can make the scale big, it can impact a lot, but without humans bringing the innovation, we're still at a loss. This is funny. I had chat.

GBT Help me. I love CS Lewis quotes. I love all sorts of quotes, but it even put it in the picture for me. This is a CS Lewis inspired quote. Tech can simulate personality, but it cannot replicate. Soul. And you guys are doing such a great job in the chat. I have another question for you.

I love what you just wrote again, Andrea, but my question for you is, what does presence look like for you right now, in this moment? What does presence look for you right now? I think for a lot of us it's being on camera, it's being active. It's being in the chat and saying, Melissa, it's talking too fast, or I am not learning anything.

Or, oh my gosh, I want to connect with Frederika and I wanna talk to Joanne and [00:28:00] I wanna find them on LinkedIn because they're based in Florida and I'm over here in France, and I'd like to learn what does being present look like? You right now? What does that look like? You no phones and active listening.

Oh my goodness. No phones. No phones ever. You're right. I love it. I love it. An active listening. An active listening is really important. Yes. Responding by chat, emojis, camera, active listening. How much do you just love a heart emoji in the middle of your presentation or somebody to do a celebration thing when you've just shared a win online?

Those little tiny things that is just a press of the button they can make or break. How a person, how a colleague, how a friend feels in a meeting or in a conversation. Yeah. So I was just curious how you guys were feeling about presence in this day and age. I asked for you to think of a moment when someone showed you big kindness.

And what I wanna ask you to do now and you don't have to share it with us, but I would love for you to think of a moment when [00:29:00] you. Showed kindness to someone else when you actually took a moment to see someone. I know what the slide says, when did someone see you? But when was the last time that you actually took a moment to see your barista and look them in the face, read their name tag and say, thank you, Colin, for the drink, or the DoorDash person.

Or maybe you're at the executive level and you work with interns and you work withnewly appointed people on your team. Are you taking the time to actually see them and not allow for, like it was said earlier, for technology and the phone and multitasking to take away of that moment to actually make a person feel seen and heard and known?

A superpower that I think a lot of us have and can tap into is when you're able to anticipate what people need before they need it. I think that when we are able to do that and what the statistics are saying right now is that people are lonely. So basically [00:30:00] people just want to be included.

They wanna be said hello to, they want to be acknowledged. And guess what? Their work is gonna be amazing for you. Their friendship and the relationship is gonna be amazing for you. You're dating your marriage, your partnership is gonna be awesome because at the end of the day we're all just people that are trying not to get that part of our brain to hurt and we just wanna be accepted.

And you can only anticipate it when you care and when you listen. Oh, it was yesterday. I love that you saw somebody yesterday. I love this comment in the chat. Use AI in ways that reinforce our best human traits. Yes. Not just for efficiency and you've tapped into, we're gonna get to that slide in just a second.

Oh my gosh. with everybody online dating and all this stuff that's going on, algorithms, you would think that we would all be matched up and happily perfectly in love and all of that good stuff. We'd have our best friends. 'cause Bumble I think helps you find friends and jobs and loved.

But intimacy, it can't be automated and real love, real friendship that [00:31:00] come you, our connection, it has to be developed through trust building and through these skills that we're hearing, that we're seeing about that honesty, that empathy that, that place where we actually see somebody, I actually used ai.

I love this. You can only anticipate if you listen again. That's right. And AI is a means. It's not the meaning. Oh my gosh. I love that. These are so good. I think we're wired for wonder and not just wifi. A way I used ailast December. My birthday is in October, but I had girlfriends that pushed and pushed.

They wanted to celebrate me. And I, finally was back in my city after traveling the world to spend time with them. And so these wonderful friends of mine, we had a little dinner and it was a very small little group I hadn't seen many of them in a few months, and all of a sudden, about five minutes before I was gonna run out the door, I was like, I don't know if you've ever done the five Love Languages test.

I think it's fun. I think it's good. I think it's nice to know about your partner, your children your colleagues. I've made my team do it before. But my love languages are [00:32:00] words of affirmation, shocker and gift giving. And so I wanted to do something for these friends and I literally was on my way to go have dinner with them.

And so I had pulled up my buddy chat, GPT, and I put in characteristics of what I loved about my good fit friend Tamara. And I put it in the chat like, I love Tamara because she is loyal. She's taught me how to be a mom. She's. God, a servant's heart. I'm so thankful for her. And what chat GPT did for me is took my sentiment, my thoughts, and turned it into a beautiful note for my friend that was exactly me, but helped me whip it out a lot faster.

I did that for my entire friend group. some of you might think that's really inauthentic. Some of you may think, oh my gosh, I'm stealing that idea if you haven't already. And I handed out these little letters to all my friends. 'Cause I printed them which is good because my handwriting is like a serial killers.

Anyway, so it was a win-win and they all appreciated them so much. One of my girlfriends said she hadn't gotten a letter or a note like that since she was in college. [00:33:00] Another friend of mine who is a big philanthropist in the community and has always recognized for the first time in a long time, said that she appreciated being seen and she appreciated those words because she hadn't heard that.

Yes, please. Still that idea. But building relationships and keeping relationships in the age of ai is a win-win. Because I wanted to do something. I was low for time, and guess what? It was my words. It was my sentiment. I'm telling, I told a lot of people this, like back in the day, like this is way in the day.

This is like high school days. I was into poetry, like super into it. I would write it. It was terrible. And then I like, of course walked away from it 'cause I had no talent in it and I had to do other things with my life except get read poetry all day by gentlemen.

But I've recently walked back into the world of poetry and chat. GPT has helped me do that. And I have two really great poems that I have saved on my phone that I'm like super proud of they have my sentiment. They're about certain people. 

They've allowed me to express myself in [00:34:00] a beautiful way and they are my poems. I'm really proud of them. If you would like for me to read it to you, you can follow up with me on LinkedIn and I'll give you a real poetry reading, but I can't do it now because I think Robin would shut off the Zoom.

But I love that AI again is a tool to help tap into that creativity that we may have lost. Because I tell you what, if it wasn't for ai, I would not be back into poetry. it's been a real big help for me. But you guys are here because you wanna walk away with some actual practical tips, and that's what I wanna make sure you leave here with.

I know we're picking up some good ones in the chat. I'm so excited to go back and know Robin. I'm not doing the poem. But I want to just make sure that I share some really cool takeaways that maybe some will resonate with you is to use AI as a, somebody said it as assisted listening.

Use tools that can help maybe bring back the history of a conversation that can help maybe you find shared interest. Maybe it helps you scan and go back to a post that they saw. [00:35:00] And you can go far beyond just liking the post, but asking a thoughtful follow up question because who doesn't love to talk about themselves or to share their passions or their interests.

What you can do is you can take that data and you can then turn it into dialogue. I also like this idea of making space for meaningful tech-free moments. I like tech-free connection rituals. Some of you have already talked about this, and I think it's amazing. But really establishing intentional. No screen moments for relationship building, whether that is tech free coffee chats, whether you're on Zoom or you're in real life, let's say we're not gonna do phones, we're not gonna do popups.

It's you and me, or it's you and us. We're gonna be on camera looking at each other and really connecting whether that is walking meetings, whether that's digital free dinners or luncheons guarding a distraction free time that fosters in-depth relationships. I also like just this amplifying with awesome authenticity and not automation.

And once again, somebody I think mentioned it in the chat and, [00:36:00] yes, AI can scale our content, but don't. Think that it can ever outsource sincerity. Yes, use AI to schedule and draft or suggest, but always personalize your outreach and your responses to reflect your authentic voice. Can I tell you outside of chat box, the other thing that like drives me absolutely nuts in my LinkedIn inbox outside of getting hit on, is like when people reach out to me and they try to sell me AI upskilling and trading and it's just a blank message.

They haven't done any of their research and I'm just like. you don't care. You don't even know, like you've requested me, you're taking up space in my inbox. And you didn't even have the wisdom to double check to see, oh my goodness, this woman, like literally is a partner on an AI company.

build digital boundaries to be fully present. Again, like once again, going back to that place of like where, what are the guardrails? Also, build them for yourselves. Build them. Like maybe you're not gonna look at your phone when you first roll out of bed.

I'm super guilty of that, but [00:37:00] maybe you can do it and more power to you. Or maybe after 6:00 PM there's not gonna be any more meetings or you're not gonna have Monday email block where you're just, you're not gonna do anything. You're gonna tap into the strategy creative part of you. But by managing your digital timeline, you end up showing up more fully when it counts.

And I think we've seen this in the chat and you've heard. For me a little bit, but small gestures, these micro moments of connection are huge. So yes, we are in this digital world, but let me tell you a personal note that is either handwritten, not by me, but someone with good handwriting or maybe a video message.

If it's digital and you're far away it really can deepen your bond, deepen your relationship. Maybe it's Robin sending you a fun gift, like maybe that's all it's, and AI can remind you of these dates and these updates. But again, it is that human touch that is what's going to solidify relationships.

Again, There's this piece of the homework, which not to drill it down too much, but please don't, reach out to people [00:38:00] without doing your homework. Please use AI to leverage and help do your due diligence, but make sure that when you show up to a place that you've done that due diligence.

Because sometimes, yes, AI lies. AI can lie to you, just like TikTok can lie to you. And so when you come not prepared and ready, people know that, and that's super damaging to that trust building. I love this one. Curate intimate conversations, not just big events. Host small, high value. Virtual circles, create virtual circle gatherings for deeper conversations.

And again, that's why I'm so excited with what Voss is doing here. I love that the chat is like blowing up with each other, I hope you guys are learning from each other and connecting. Because ai, it can help with inviting, it can help with the logistics.

But you as a human, you create that connection. Use the AI to highlight and spotlight those that you work with and those that you love, celebrate your network's, wins, shine a light on others goodwill. This, again, is going to strengthen [00:39:00] relationships. I think it says slow down and lead with empathy.

Another way that I said this is practice digital empathy, and that means slowing down digital interaction. This is something that has been, you see how fast I talk, but we're still, we're keeping on time, so there's something to be said for it. But I'm super fast, I'm super responsive. I have worked on my hot temper a lot.

When you are practicing digital empathy, that means you're considering your tone. You're considering your timing. Maybe you're not gonna blast immediately and email back and say, I did it right. Or be super defensive. Think about the emotional nuance before hitting send, because again, AI can suggest sentiment, but empathy is the human element that we bring.

And I like this one. I like all of them. I keep saying I like 'em. Duh. That's why I'm sharing them with you. Create opportunities for tech and non-tech professionals to learn from each other. I think that's very important. I think everyone on this call, like you have an interest in ai or you're showing up or you have an interest in one of the two relationship building.

Or maybe you're both, you're a [00:40:00] genius, good for you but really if you are able to reach across the aisle specifically in your work life or even in your friend group with, some of us have very diverse friendships with older and younger generations. If you are able to help bridge those gaps, what it does is it just builds richer, more diverse again, relationships.

And it really it gives, makes people feel safe and feel seen. And then this is really fun, and this is what we do a lot at mia, which is co-create content with your community. We co-learner together. I remember one time there was a tool that came out, an AI tool that came out in the US and we're talking all about it and Luisa was like, that has not come out in France.

Because guess what? It's good for Americans to hear that we're not the center of the world 'cause. Sometimes we, get told otherwise that we're all a big, beautiful world learning different tools and having different tools to learn. But I remember it was like mind blowing. Oh yeah. The EU has really strict regulations where, maybe in the Middle East they don't.

But so like co-learning together, co-creating together, collaborating on articles, on podcasts, on [00:41:00] projects. I've got Joanne, a genius from University of Central Florida, the second largest university in the United States. They're a partner with We are co-creating a lot together, and I've watched Joanne and Luis's relationship form and this amazing friendship that has come out of it.

And this co-creation builds shared ownership and it strengthens connections. I think that Joan and you would both say you guys are super connected and in lockstep when you guys didn't know you existed six months. Use AI to enhance cultural intelligence. And someone brought it up earlier, tapping into my protocol.

You leverage AI for that. cross-cultural insights before global meetings. So respecting cultural nuances, like was said earlier it's so important, especially in this day and age where we're just whipping things out as fast as we possibly can, that it deepens trust and it really shows that respect.

I like these, initiate human check-ins beyond metrics. And you all have said this a lot. AI can track your KPIs, it can [00:42:00] prioritize check-ins, but really it's going to be you, the person that's able to make your other. I have a friend that he might be on this call, he never gets on camera.

And when I do WhatsApp with him, I'm like, I need to see that you're alive. I need to look into your eyes to see what's going on? I don't wanna talk into the ether because the meaningful stuff, the trust building, those bonds are done through that human to human interaction.

Designate AI to create cool networking experiences with you. Let AI create fun icebreakers or suggest connections, making networking more inclusive. Like maybe even have ai check your bias with a project or something you're doing. But always remember that human warmth is gonna lead the way 

Really create human moments in digital journeys. Again, identifying these touch points where that personal touch can come in, whether it is that surprise video or handwritten note or that funny gift or gif or that song, like maybe that's what it's gonna take to keep your relationships in check and deepen.

at Mia and so many of the partners we work with, we [00:43:00] believe that AI is not just a skillset, it's a mindset. And just a few takeaways, use ai intentionally. AI should be your tool. It should not be your everything, your end all be all. Keep your digital boundaries and then show up with compassionate curiosity.

And that means that you care about what's happening in those others around you lives. Whether they're work, whether they're friends, whether they're new community members that are global, maybe. Go a little bit deeper than what the AI would tell you to do. I think the quote might be here, it might be coming, but I feel like every heart you meet is really holy ground, and you have an opportunity every day to change somebody's to make them feel seen, just like you felt seen when that kindness was done to you, either yesterday or years ago.

People always ask, because we're an AI academy, how do we stay future ready in this world of ai? So we always love to give these tips. Focus on continuous learning. So yay you're doing that. You showed [00:44:00] up. Learn by doing. Know that AI is a mindset. Develop your human skills. These are the power skills.

Empathy is needed now more than ever. like compassion is needed now more than ever. Leverage these networks like Davos to build out your ecosystems. Take small but bold steps. just like howDavos is democratizing, access to what's taking place at World Economic Forum.

We're democratizing access to ai. Make AI accessible for everyone in your life so that it doesn't feel like an elite or scary thing. Explore, learn, implement, and have fun together. That is how you can be AI ready. AI readiness is not a destination. It is a continuous journey that you are on. And you're always gonna be on it because it's changing every day.

So take your baby steps. Don't feel like you can do it all in a day because it's not possible I've tried. But yes, every heart you meet is holy ground. And I hope that today, as we are here tonight or this afternoon, wherever you're in from [00:45:00] that you will choose one relationship.

Just think of one person, be it professional or be it personal to deepen the rest of this week. I hope that you pull up a name in your head. Maybe it is a loved one, maybe it is a child, maybe it's a coworker that you just haven't had time to get to know. Maybe it is a friend that you haven't spoken to for a year.

Pick one person that you want to deepen your relationship with. And this is a fun quote too that I will take credit for that chat. JT wrote, may your presence be more powerful than any platform, and may your love outlast any algorithm. If you would like to book a call with me to learn more, if you wanna learn about our newsletter, we're sharing all these tips and tricks.

We would love to have you screenshot this. This will be out in about, but I wanted, I know we've only got two minutes left, so I wanted to end so we could all see each other's faces and stay connected. So thank you all so much. If there's any questions that need to be answered, I can follow up later.

Thank you for joining this time And I hope you all walk away feeling seen and loved today at least. Thank [00:46:00] you.

Thank you so much, Melissa