Speaking last month from Parliament House at a press conference announcing ASIO had just raised Australia’s terror threat level from ‘possible’ to ‘probable,’ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pleaded with Australian’s to “lower the temperature of debate.” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a similar plea just days later as ideology-fueled violent protests spiraled out of control following the murder of three girls at a dance school in Southport.

While strong emotions around issues that matter are an essential part of what it means to be human, it’s hard not to feel that we have lost the ability to disagree without being disagreeable, or worse.

With AI making waves across industries and hybrid work demand still strong, HR leaders find themselves in a unique moment of needing to reassess some of the systems they have in place. Rather than fight the tide that has well and truly turned, leaders need to rethink how in-person work, corporate culture, and human-AI collaboration function

Here are 3 things HR leaders would do well to consider in the new world of work:

 Travel and tourism are nearing a full recovery since its crash in 2020. After months spent locked away in our houses and our own countries, travellers are keen to hit the road again with all the numbers steadily heading upwards.[1] However, our travel habits have changed.

There are several trends characterizing current travel that suggest the future of travel is unlikely to resemble the past.

I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve been a futurist for over a decade now, but I’ve been mindstuck about robots. While I’ve been certain that AI and the world of robots is coming sooner than we thought, it never seemed to be something that would genuinely appear in my home or life in a tangible or impactful way.

Beyond that, while I tend to err on the side of optimism when it comes to the impact of technology on our lives, even I fell into the trap of viewing some of the developments of the robotic front through the lens of sci-fi dystopia and fear. We tend to think of robots through the lens of threat rather than opportunity, and equate the rise of robots with the fall of humans.

Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed that “It’s a rare person who wants to hear what they don’t want to hear.” While humans have always been resistant to uncomfortable and unfamiliar ideas, our ideology-driven and polarized age means that changing people’s minds today can feel harder than ever. Certainty is so often esteemed over curiosity and obstinance too easily takes the place of open-mindedness. 

Stubbornness may be alive and well in political discourse, but it is no less prevalent in our teams and organisations. Debates or disagreements can quickly descend into ego-driven battles causing individuals to double-down on their existing ideas as a form of self-preservation. But given the fact that we spend an estimated 40 percent of our work lives trying to persuade the thinking of others, we must be careful to avoid using 19th and 20th century techniques for trying to change 21st century minds. 

The vital first step in overcoming obstinance is to understand why people don’t change their minds – even when they want to and know they should.

We need to learn how to disagree. In today's culture, we are disagreeing constantly - but we are doing a terrible job of it. When it's done well, disagreement is necessary in guiding us further in pursuit of truth, but on the other hand it also has potential for being highly destructive.

Edward De Bono put it best when he observed that there is a big difference between disagreeing with someone and being merely disagreeable.

While many of us assume that being persuasive is about learning to present our arguments impactfully, the way we respond to individuals and ideas we disagree with is just as important. Speaking to the theme, venture capitalist and author Paul Graham devised a spectrum for describing different forms of disagreement—from the toxic to the constructive.

AI is making waves in every industry, and healthcare is not exempt. While the health industry is undoubtedly one in which the presence of humans is essential, the ever-increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence are opening up possibilities for processes to be streamlined in a way that benefits both healthcare professionals and patients.

Here are 3 ways in which AI is impacting the future of healthcare:

Is our knowledge exceeding our wisdom? While the two terms are often associated, they are far from synonymous. In an age saturated with information, the ability to handle this knowledge is essential – and yet, we are at risk of a dangerous wisdom deficit.

In recent weeks, I’ve been reflecting on the degree to which my own profession and profile makes it hard to prioritize wisdom. Whether it’s speedily scanning volumes of research in preparation for a presentation, assembling bite-sized content pieces to share on social media, or crafting soundbite responses for media interviews, I too easily find myself merely trading in knowledge and information. While quality trumps quantity when it comes to thinking and ideas, I increasingly find myself consumed in the quantity game all too often.