Estefania Angel noticed that while her company helped other enterprises set up AI, it did not use those systems internally. She began using AI apps in Slack, Outlook, and Google to track assignments, which garnered attention from her superiors.
The leader who hasn't examined their own fears, assumptions, and blind spots will inevitably project those shadows onto their teams. Inner work enables outer connection. This ancient wisdom has never been more urgent. Here's an irony worth sitting with: the more AI dominates our workplaces, the more desperately we crave authentic human connection.
What started as a casual indulgence became a shared ritual. And without intending to, Grease Wednesdays began to change our department culture. We all began to get to know each other as individuals, with pets and families and hobbies. The ritual also smoothed tensions between departments, built friendships between unfamiliar teammates, and helped us realize we hadn't felt all that connected before.
The idea of people gathering in one place to do work for one employer is a comparatively recent idea, introduced when the Industrial Revolution brought workers in from farms and small-scale artisan workshops to work in factories in the interests of scale and efficiency.
Micah Remley, chief executive officer at Robin, a contract-review company that utilizes AI, frames the moment clearly. AI-based workplace platforms can absorb the logistical coordination that office attendance requires, he says, freeing the office to deliver what home setups rarely match: faster alignment and richer collaboration. Leaders who treat AI as an experience upgrade, paired with intentional in-person time, create a workplace people choose.
