What if AI could become our greatest ally in the search for meaning, purpose, and connection?
That question was at the heart of my recent conversation with Tamara Lechner, author, happiness expert, and Chair of the Harvard Working Group on AI and Flourishing.
Tamara and I share a lifelong passion for helping people live and lead in ways that unlock their full potential. But what struck me most was how aligned we were on one big idea:
“Flourishing isn’t about lofty theory, it’s the everyday wisdom our grandmothers taught us: live with joy, love deeply, and find purpose in what you do.”
And now, standing at the intersection of humanity and technology, that wisdom has never been more urgent.
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The Knowing–Doing Gap: We Don’t Need More Data, We Need More Practice
For more than twenty years, research in positive psychology, neuroscience, and organizational behavior has shown us what drives well-being and performance, yet most workplaces still struggle to apply it. As I shared with Tamara:
“If we even implemented 5% of what we already know about individual, team, and system-level flourishing, we’d be miles ahead.”
What does that 5% look like in practice? We know, for instance, that psychological safety drives team performance. We know that regular recognition fuels motivation. We know that autonomy increases engagement. Yet walk into most organizations and you’ll find managers who’ve never been trained to create psychological safety, recognition systems that feel transactional rather than genuine, and micromanagement masquerading as accountability.
The challenge isn’t knowledge, it’s translation. We’re drowning in insights but parched for application.
People are busy doing but rarely make space to be—to pause, reflect, and connect with what gives their work meaning. Leaders design strategies but forget to shape the conditions where humans actually thrive.
In this new age of AI, that bridge from knowing to doing can become even stronger, if we choose to use technology intentionally.
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Flourishing as a Collective Advantage
Tamara said:
“How do we create the conditions and the behaviors that lead to flourishing as an individual and as a collective? If we do this together, we all rise together.”
Flourishing isn’t a solo act, it’s a shared system of energy, trust, and purpose. When teams practice gratitude together, when leaders model curiosity and empathy, when organizations design with well-being in mind, everyone rises.
Here’s where AI enters as an unlikely ally. For the first time, we have a tool that can help individualize the path to flourishing.
As Tamara noted, “The science of happiness isn’t a recipe, it’s a list of ingredients, different for every human, every context, every geography.”
AI’s superpower lies in pattern recognition. It can analyze vast contextual data. What energizes one employee and overwhelms another, when teams feel connected or drained and help leaders identify what small shift could make the biggest impact without huge effort.
That’s not replacing humanity, that’s amplifying it.
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AI: Friend or Foe?
When I asked Tamara if AI was a friend or a foe in the context of flourishing, she smiled and said, “Both.”
“Like any tool, it depends on how we use it and the moral compass beneath it. When AI uses us, it’s a foe. When we use AI with intention, it can lift us, helping us connect better, learn faster, and perform at our best.”
That’s the essence of ethical AI. It’s not about fear or control, it is about design and direction.
We are, after all, at the top of the food chain because we’ve been extraordinary at inventing technology. The question isn’t whether AI will shape our future, but it’s whether we’ll guide it with the right values.
For people leaders, that means asking:
- Does our use of AI align with our purpose?
- Are we using it to enable human potential or to squeeze more productivity?
- Does it make people feel seen and supported, or reduced to data points?
Used wisely, AI can be a mirror that helps us see our blind spots and a magnifier that amplifies our strengths.
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The Three Pillars of Ethical AI
Tamara shared insights from the Harvard group’s work on Ethical AI for Human Flourishing, which distills a complex field into three practical pillars leaders can act on today:
1️⃣ Productivity with Purpose – AI should enhance human performance, freeing people from low-value tasks so they can spend time in creativity, strategy, and connection.
2️⃣ Protection from Harm – Safeguard privacy, fairness, and transparency. Ensure AI models reduce bias rather than reinforce it.
3️⃣ Promotion of Social Capital – Build AI that enhances relationships, fosters collaboration, and reminds us when human connection, not automation, is what’s needed most.
“The most important thing being left off the table,” Tamara said, “is our social capital. AI should tell us when we need to put humans back in the loop.”
These principles remind us that technology doesn’t have to strip the soul from work, it can restore it.
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Rediscovering the Middle Path
We often get stuck between two extremes: fearing AI or worshipping it. But as I shared during our conversation:
“You can have a middle path. If you go back to why the company started in the first place, you can actually use AI to amplify that purpose.”
Technology can scale impact in ways never before possible. Imagine being able to reach ten times more people with the same team because your people are empowered by AI tools that free their time and enhance their creativity.
It’s not humans versus machines, it’s humans with machines, guided by purpose.
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The Human Edge in the Age of AI
In a world obsessed with efficiency, our true advantage is distinctly human:
- Our ability to empathize
- Our capacity for moral reasoning
- Our gift for meaning
AI can analyze, but it can’t care. It can optimize, but it can’t love.
The leaders who will thrive in this new era aren’t those who automate the most, but those who humanize the fastest; using technology to create more time, space, and energy for what truly matters.
So, how do we begin?
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Three Actions for People Leaders to Begin Today
1️⃣ Lead with Intention, Not Reaction.
Pause before adopting any new AI tool. Ask: Does this align with our values? Will it enhance human growth and business outcomes?
2️⃣ Create Spaces for Collective Learning.
Bring teams together to explore ethical AI scenarios. Co-design principles that reflect your organization’s purpose.
3️⃣ Model the Behaviors You Want AI to Amplify.
If you want AI that supports empathy, model empathy. If you want systems that encourage curiosity and growth, live those values visibly.
Because as Tamara said, “Flourishing isn’t about lofty theory, it’s wanting to live with joy, love, and purpose.”
The Future of Flourishing
The future of leadership isn’t about choosing between humanity and technology. It’s about integrating them.
AI can help us practice what decades of science have already taught us about well-being, purpose, and connection. It can bridge the knowing–doing gap, personalize the path to growth, and free us to do the work only humans can do: inspire, create, and care.
When we design with intention, when we align technology with empathy and purpose, and when we lead together, we all rise.
Because flourishing isn’t just a personal goal; it’s a collective possibility.
And AI, used wisely, might just be the amplifier that helps us get there.
The real opportunity of AI isn’t to make us superhuman, it’s to help us remember what it means to be human.
Learn more about Tamara on Linkedin.
Listen to the podcast with Ashish and Tamara below.
Access and subscribe to all of the episodes of the Happiness Squad Podcast here.
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