How 14 business leaders are maintaining the human touch in an AI world

Though many companies are still in the early days of AI adoption, one thing is clear: Many of our interactions—between employees and even organizations—are already being carried out entirely by agentic technology. As this trend increases, the need for leaders to keep humanity at the core of their businesses is critical.

That’s why this year’s annual meeting of the Fast Company Impact Council was centered on the theme of “Maintaining a Human Touch in a Digital World.” In May, 123 of the Impact Council’s 422 members gathered in New Canaan, Connecticut, at the 80-acre headquarters of humanitarian nonprofit Grace Farms. In panels and roundtables held across the organization’s buildings—designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architecture firm SANAA—attendees explored how businesses can center innovation around real-world needs and values, even as they navigate the AI revolution. Here are some insights from the event.

How to Lead With a Mission

“The DEI backlash is short-term thinking. This is a time to stick to your values—it will yield better results than if you hadn’t.”
—Sharon Prince, Founder and CEO, Grace Farms Foundation

“Your message supports your mission. When you’re doing it right, both of those things are working together. But when those elements get muddied, brands run into problems.”
—Celia Jones, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Finn Partners

How To Lead Like A Human

“Many leaders ask employees how they are but don’t leave space for a real response. It’s about providing space and being prepared for the answer so you can be supportive.”
—Elyse Cohen, Chief Impact Officer, Rare Beauty

“People like the freedom of remote work, but we also hear from younger employees that they’re struggling with the lack of human contact and learnings they’d get in person—because Zoom doesn’t cut it.”
—David Ko, CEO, Calm

What Role Does Your Company Play in a City?

“One of the core principles of our practice is to create shelters for those in need, but also to elevate the presence of those shelters so that residents feel good about their environment. It’s a little easier for us as architects because it is a built environment, but we are able to project our creativity and social awareness literally onto our city.”
—Nerin Kadribegovic, Founder and Principal, Kadre Architects

“More public art increases our quality of life. Why wouldn’t every city want some type of focus and intentionality behind what art can do and bring to the city?”
—Alan Bacon Jr., Cofounder and Chief Strategist, Ganggang

Putting the Customer Back in Customer Experience

“Unlike product design, which focuses on unmet user needs, with immersive experiences, you can’t really ask someone what they want from an experience they’ve never had. That’s why an ideation process—with teams that are cross-disciplinary—relies on the alchemy of bringing different people together.”
—Andrew Zimmerman, CEO, Journey

“A lot of companies are too worried about getting everyone on board with a decision. if you have clear values and a point of view, people will come along.”
—Barbara Bouza, Executive Director—Live, Work, Play, CannonDesign

Improv For Authentic Connection

“What are organizations doing with the time freed up by AI? Are we adding more tasks to people’s workload, or are we giving them space to connect with other humans?”
—Tyler Dean Kempf, Creative Director, Second City Works

Ensuring Tech for Good is Good for Humanity

“We are starting to experience a cognitive industrial revolution. But technology is never neutral. Alone, it won’t make the world better—we have to do that.”
—Hala Hanna, Executive Director, MIT Solve

“Most nonprofits have a deficit when it comes to tech expertise and capital, and most companies have those things. If you can put those two together, there’s tremendous opportunity, even as tech companies keep their heads down on mission-driven work.”
—Tom Subak, Founder, Re/Imagination Lab

Beauty And Logic: Music and the Advent of AI

“At the base level, human capacity is what we are able to do, imagine, experience, and share that really comes from us. In this moment, it’s worthwhile to advocate for the development and expansion of human capacity—regardless of what the market conditions are.”
—Marcus Garrick Miller, Music Director, Grace Farms

Leading The Next Generation With Empathy and Purpose

“There are so many stereotypes about Gen Z that it can be easy to misinterpret their intentions. So focusing on communication is key to avoiding intergenerational conflict—which you don’t need in the workplace.”
—Christina Elson, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University

“Graduates face a harsh job market, and many see entrepreneurship as a path to wealth and impact. To turn founder abundance into lasting success, we must scale up support systems and resources for these founders.”
—Andrea Carafa, Director of the Blackstone Launchpad Powered by Techstars, QB3 Entrepreneur in Residence, and Lecturer, University of California, Santa Cruz

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