AI Can Create, But It Can’t Connect: A Human Reminder for an Agentic World
AI and Agentic are two concepts that are quickly changing the world, and you will get replaced in no time if you don't differentiate yourself.
No, I didn't make that up. It seems that more people have noticed it too (I really don't know how, it's not like they're buzzwords in 2026). It's been frightening and exciting at the same time, seeing how every single day a new concept, technology, methodology, or tool related to AI emerges. Things that can help you excel tremendously, or bury your professional (and maybe workaholic) self overnight.
A lot of people are putting all their efforts into figuring out the AI intricacies, the fastest way to finish the work, how to ask the model to make most of the work efficiently, while spending the least amount of tokens and quota credits. I think doing this is a really smart move and a great use of your time if you're thinking of not being left behind at your job or at your career path in general, if you want to get the next promotion or salary raise you've been looking for, or if you're simply wanting to come up with the next move that will elevate your company.
However, no matter how capable AI becomes, we humans are the only ones with the qualities to make teams work together, to create connections, and to make work enjoyable, productive, and fun. One of our biggest responsibilities, as the clever bags of meat we are, still comes down to taking care of others and being clear about our message and intentions.
You might think:
"But I'm a software developer who only has to
write codeuse AI to write code and finish the feature I was assigned to, I don't need those qualities"."I work in design/management/product/leadership, I deal with clients and people all day already gathering requirements and facilitating conversation. I've already honed my skills pretty well".
I truly feel this can apply to anyone; it doesn't matter if you just started in a junior position or if you're the most successful CEO scaling a hundred-million-dollar business.
The role you have at your job changes over time, as well as your work responsibilities and the tools and technologies you use. However, the importance and impact of being a nice, approachable, assertive, and warm human hasn't changed in thousands of years, and it's something we can always get better at and that will always pay off tremendously.
Of all the impactful attitudes and changes we can apply to how we approach other humans and relationships in general so we don't only excel professionally but also personally, I've picked the following three since I consider them easy to put into practice and belong to the group of quick-returns:
Be kind: Become unforgettable by making people feel amazing when they're around you.
Be humble: Stating your openness and that people can trust you and tell you what they think without being afraid of being silenced.
Learn how to communicate: Getting your message across clearly while genuinely connecting with others.
AI can fake these qualities. We can make them part of who we are, and by doing so, we can put everyone, including ourselves, in a position to try to make the most of everything.
1. Be kind
Kindness is the highest form of intelligence. - Albert Einstein
Let me tell you a story. I was once in a Zoom call along with 100+ people. When the presentation was about to start, someone's mic suddenly became unmuted and we heard the trembling and shaky voice of a woman. She said something along the lines of: "a close relative is not doing very well, she's been at the hospital for a week already. I still need to talk to the doctor to know what's going to happen to her. I'll call you later when I know more".
At some point, someone interrupted her to say that she was not muted, so she quickly stopped talking and muted herself. It was about 3 seconds, but it was probably enough for everyone in the room to realize how difficult her situation was.
Would she normally disclose that in a work meeting? Probably not.
Would she share such an intimate and painful family situation with work colleagues? Maybe only with one or two, the closest ones.
Most of the company wouldn't know what she's dealing with, expecting her to perform as usual, but that doesn't really align with her reality, with her capacity to focus on anything but her family, with how she's feeling.
There are quite a few cases like these where we don't know what people are going through, and we expect them to be available to us as usual. The colleagues we work with every day, or the friend we haven't talked to over the last month.
You've been there. So have I. And in those moments, what we truly appreciate is when people approach us with empathy, skip the confrontation, or simply take a second to genuinely wish us a good and untroubled day.
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou
Treat people the way you would like to be treated. That's something only you, as the human you are, can do.
AI can simulate kindness because it has learned how to from millions and millions of documents, studies, and references. You can be kind because you can connect with people and empathize with what they're going through.
Be kind. We have no idea what battles people are fighting.
2. Be humble
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. — Socrates
No matter your role, there are things you know, there are things you don't know yet, and there are others that you will never know.
Let me tell you another story. I was once part of the leadership team of a project where the technical planning phase took weeks. It was really hard to get agreement between the client and the internal tech team.
We were not even able to agree easily on what the commit message conventions would be for the entire development team. It took us days.
We had our conventions: community standards, clean, and organized. The client team usually worked more flexibly. No standard, every dev would commit however they wanted, as long as the feature was delivered and the code was organized and followed clean conventions.
They were older than us. In general, we thought they didn't know what they were doing and that our way of work was the only valid one. We didn't realize soon how wrong we were. We should have understood how they worked and thought of a plan to meet in the middle. They had their reasons. It worked for them.
Was the client stubborn? A little bit. Were we? 100%. We thought we were smarter. A decision that could've been set in 5 minutes required lots of talking, lots of effort, and days of discussion.
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. - Epictetus
We are all in constant learning. All the time. All day, every day, regardless of the discipline we practice.
There will always be someone at our job, either above us, at the same level, or below us, that knows something we don't.
It's important to always be open to receiving any kind of feedback or piece of advice, knowledge, or information. Anyone can change the way we think or the way we approach things, at any time.
Try to not only limit this to people that work in the same area, but also consider people from other disciplines, practices, or departments. I'm part of IT, and I've received countless pieces of invaluable advice from people from the Product, Design, Business, and Project Management teams.
We should even consider advice from people with no professional background, or from people we casually talk to at the supermarket or at the gym! Everyone has a piece of wisdom to share.
Smart people have already given a name to the cognitive bias of believing we know more than we actually do: The Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The more you know, the more aware you will be of the things you don't know and the more open you are to learn from anyone, organically becoming a true expert in your field. As a consequence, you can start becoming a good judge of when people are going down this route.
You're probably familiar with AI saying "You're absolutely right!", "That's a brilliant idea!", and whatnot. Unless you tell it to not do so, AI will praise you, AI will say you're right even when you're not, and AI might make you narrow-minded and blind to other perspectives, or will directly consider one route as the only possible option.
By being humble, you're not just making yourself trustworthy, whose judgement people can count on. You also develop a powerful rationale and discernment, staying open to every opinion and proposal, while still being able to identify the best solution. You're not accepting every idea blindly, you're meticulously identifying the good and the not-so-good, becoming a key factor in both your own success and the success of people around you.
3. Learn how to communicate
In a world where AI becomes more and more capable of performing tasks that can be automated and handling repetitive work that can be optimized, there's something it cannot do as perfectly as we do (and I firmly believe that will be the case for several years more): how to evoke emotions genuinely and how to communicate and connect with others effectively and profoundly.
Communication—the human connection—is the key to personal and career success. - Paul J. Meyer
Even though we communicate over our entire lives, it's surprising how bad we can be at it.
We're always doing it. At work to get a salary raise, with our family, friends, romantic partner, at school when we are young, to close an important deal, even the simple greeting we say to the concierge before leaving the apartment (shame on you if you don't do it).
We need to do it to achieve practically anything, making me believe it's something we should always be continuing getting better at.
Get rid of filler words
We might even be the smartest guy or girl in the room, or have something to say that would actually make the difference in the conversation, but if we don't know how to express our ideas clearly, directly, and in simple terms, we will never be perceived as such. Getting rid of filler words when we speak and to stop stretching out words are quick improvements we can make.
The following examples are full with "uumms, uuuh, I mean, you know, yeah, I think". Do they sound familiar?
"Sooo... I think we should... ummm... apply this strategy to how we'll deliver this product because...uuh..."
"So, yeah... I mean, I think I'm kind of concerned about this. It feels like we're sort of moving forward without really validating some of these assumptions, you know? And I think we may potentially run into issues later on".
"Look, I think, at the end of the day, we're in a really strong position. I believe we've made a lot of progress, and, frankly, if you think about it, the opportunities ahead of us are, in many ways, greater than they've ever been".
A lot of the times we use filler words is because we're scared of silence or because we think people will interrupt us, and this usually happens subconsciously.
Counterintuitively, the message will be clearer and will stick more in people's minds if we don't add noise to it or if we use silences strategically so people have time to digest what we're saying.
Do what nobody does: Listen
Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. - Plato
Aligned with taking advantage of silences, the less we speak and the more we listen, the more grounded and convincing our message will be.
There's a reason why we have two ears and one mouth, so we speak less than we hear. Pay close attention to what people say, actually process what they're intending to express and communicate.
It's easier to think of the response while the other person is talking. We normally don't actively listen, instead we plan how to answer with the smartest and most comprehensive response before actually understanding what people actually need.
Let's listen to what has to be said, and then think of what the best answer or solution to their problem is.
Let your body speak
You have a handsome face, but you can use more than just that!
When we speak flatly, it's easier for people to get distracted, not interested, or disconnected from whatever message we're trying to transmit. I don't blame them, how can we get interested in what someone is saying if they themselves are not demonstrating to be interested or engaged in what they're sharing?
Here you can watch a short video I recorded with a comparison between two extremes: non-verbal communication whatsoever, and use of non-verbal gestures.
Whether I'm a good or a bad actor is not relevant, what I want to highlight is how impactful it can be to use more than just words when expressing an idea.
Use your hands, body, and change the tone and volume of your voice in alignment with what you're saying. There are studies confirming that things like head movements (e.g. nodding), upright posture, high-frequency gestures, and smiling increase audience engagement, boost trust, clarity, and persuasiveness. Use that knowledge in your favor.
Simple is better than smart
We are all experts (or aspiring to be) in some field. We know rules, technical language, and intricacies. Whether we truly understand what we're talking about or not is sometimes depicted by our ability to describe and explain ideas.
Below we have 2 examples to explain common concepts in an enterprise/engineering setup. For each of them, I present first a "more elegant and sophisticated" definition, and in second place a simpler one.
Defining Teamwork
Cross-functional collaboration facilitates the synergistic integration of multiple competencies, thereby optimizing collective problem-solving efficacy.
Different people bring different skills, so working together helps solve problems faster.
Writing Good Code
The architectural objective is to maximize long-term maintainability by minimizing unnecessary coupling, while preserving sufficient cohesion across modular pieces.
Good code keeps related things together and unrelated things separate, so it's easier to change later.
Both can be understood, even the first being too much of an embellishment. The point is, what do you think will be understood more quickly and effectively?
You might sound smart, eloquent, technical, sophisticated, but if people are not understanding what you say without having to think of what was said at least twice, is it really useful? Is it needed?
The communication realm is yours, not AI's
AI can act as the most prominent expert in poetry, prose, and beautiful writing you could ever ask for, or as a master of technical, sophisticated executive language, and it's all thanks to the infinite amount of books, documents, and resources humanity has produced over the centuries.
What it lacks is genuineness and authenticity. It doesn't build rapport. It cannot be remembered for how it makes you feel. That strength is yours and only yours.
Final Thoughts
What I do know for sure is that we have to learn how to leverage AI to improve what we produce, as we also hone the qualities and skills that make us humans. I think the three qualities I've presented in this post will be timeless. They're always demanded, whether you want to make a change in your personal life or be better at your job.
I truly believe applying these qualities will differentiate us from what AI can already do. Technical expertise and knowledge are key in making a significant difference in what we produce, and so are awareness, eloquence, and emotional intelligence. What we bring to the table has a direct impact on our experiences, dynamics, and results. That will always be non-negotiable.
Yes, AI is changing the world. Do you know who else can make a big impact on their own world, as well as the world of people around them, by being a better human? You.
