Human First: The Two Skills AI Can’t Replace
I’m sitting at the airport, watching the quiet chaos of travellers weaving through terminals, devices in hand, earphones in, heads down. As always, I’m drawn to observing how people interact, or don’t. And it strikes me again how quickly technology is advancing, with AI stepping into more spaces of our lives every day. Yet even with this acceleration, two very human skills remain critical and essential.
- Communicating with genuine connection
- Getting along with people you don’t agree with
I come back to these two points, time and time again. Not only in my work, but in everyday life, as a parent, a partner, a friend, and as someone simply trying to navigate relationships and conversations with care. Even as I watch the dance of human interaction unfold in this terminal, the way people speak, listen, or avoid eye contact says everything. These skills are timeless, essential, and increasingly urgent.
It’s Not Just What You Say
Effective communication is so much more than words. It’s tone, presence, timing, curiosity, clarity and the energy we bring into the conversation. I’ve worked with countless teams where the breakdown wasn’t about intention, but about how things were being said, or not said at all.
I remember working with a leadership team who were technically brilliant yet struggled to move forward together. It wasn’t until we peeled back the layers and started exploring how they communicate, not just what, that things started to shift.
Progress started when they began to truly listen to one another, to question their assumptions, to recognise each other’s styles and different approaches. From there, trust grew, decisions sped up, and those unspoken tensions started to shift.
But the lesson came home even harder one morning, rushing out the door, laptop bag in one hand, keys; coffee in the other, mentally preparing for a session. My teenage son asked me something, which I don’t even remember, and I gave a quick, distracted response. He paused and said, “Mum, you always talk about listening, but you didn’t really hear me just then.”
That hit me like a ton of bricks and has stayed with me ever since.
It was a reminder that communication isn’t something you switch on at work and off at home. It’s not a professional skill; it’s a human one. And the people closest to us deserve the same care, attention, and presence we give in boardrooms and Zoom rooms. Since that moment, I've made a conscious effort to be more present in conversations, both at work and with those nearest and dearest to me. Not just responding. Not just reacting. But truly showing up.
Disagreement Doesn’t Have to Mean Disconnection
Now more than ever, this demands our focus, our urgency, and our effort. We will always encounter people who think differently. Whether it’s a colleague with a completely different working style, a family member with opposing values, or your child pushing back on every boundary. The question is: how do we respond?
We don’t need to agree to be kind.
We don’t need to win to be heard.
We don’t need to control to guide.
In sessions with senior leaders, I often facilitate discussions where tensions run high, where everyone is holding tightly to being “right.” But nothing changes until someone chooses curiosity over certainty. Until someone decides to listen, not to respond, but to genuinely understand.
This opens the door for us to adapt, shift our perspectives, have better conversations, more thoughtful decisions and more effective leadership.
These moments also show up in my personal life. One night around the dinner table, my daughter challenged something I’d said about social media. Normally, I might have pushed back but instead I paused and asked, “Tell me how you see it.” What followed was one of the most enlightening conversations we’d had, not just about phones and influencers, but about trust, independence, and how she’s trying to make sense of the world.
When we allow for these kinds of conversations, at work, at home, in any relationship, we create the kind of environment where people feel seen, feel heard and safe to share. We are not aiming for perfection, but rather to value honesty and understanding. Over time, this sets the tone for how we engage with others and how we hope to be engaged with in return.
Why It Matters More Than Ever
Even as AI becomes more advanced, it’s the qualities only humans bring that continue to matter most. Learn to communicate in ways that connect, beyond informing. Learn to sit with differences and stay present when things feel uncomfortable.
These are not just workplace tools; they shape every relationship we have. They influence how we lead, how we parent, how we love, and how we grow. As I watch people rush to catch flights, headphones in and heads down, I’m reminded that what truly moves us isn’t faster tech or smarter machines, it’s the human moments. The times we’re seen, heard, and met with genuine care.
Whilst machines may help us go faster, it’s our ability to connect that keeps us grounded, no matter how fast the world takes off.
Let’s not lose that!
- Gloria Rees
