In the surging currents of generative AI, our work-culture team talks with Olajumoke Fatoki. She says the future of work is human. We have much questions.

The world’s most powerful companies are pouring oceans of dollars into large language models and their data centers—and the rest of us tread water and hope for toeholds.

I feel giddy, and I’m not alone. A recent BCG report notes that worker’s moods about AI swing wildly: “The share of employees who feel positive about GenAI rises from 15% to 55% with strong leadership support.” Whoa. If the boss feels hopeful about AI, workers are more likely “to use it regularly, enjoy their jobs, and feel good about their careers.” (But 75% of workers aren’t getting this sort of senior leadership.)

I feel dread and anger and a lot of other unmanageable feelings, and I’m not alone in any of that either. When ChatGPT-5 dropped last week, users had a friggin’ melt down. Open AI had dialed back the model’s sycophancy—its tendency to suck up to users—with the result that some people missed GPT-4, yearning for its sweet-talking ways, like a football player missing a cheerleader girlfriend.

Sure, some soberminded users disliked GPT-5 for legitimate reasons: they had to revise their office workflows—again. That’s obnoxious.

But others seem to be asking, Why the heck isn’t ChatGPT5 calling me Man of the Year any more? (Read more here, especially about Kevin Roose’s idea for a Black Mirror episode about super intelligent suck-ups.)

I’m not sure if AI is a manageably rising tide or a friggin’ tsunami. And I’m wondering, what do managers and their teams need in this AI moment?

Here’s a start. We need courage. We need discernment. We need some humor. And we need a lot of stories about staying human when the current is strong and your toes just barely touch the sand.

We need an intergenerational Mode/Switch conversation.

This episode discusses art in the intergenerational workplace. Our team found the topic extra interesting, because three of the four of us had just moved into blank new offices.

Our big finding was that the art you hang on your walls can cost your workers cognitive wellbeing, especially if it's visually gaslighting.

We learned that term from our guest Dr. Vasu Tolia, a former pediatric gastroenterologist now turned visual artist. Her paintings build resilience, strength, and vibrant organizational community.

Ken Heffner, our Boomer, Emily Bosscher, our Xennial, LaShone Manuel, our Millennial, and Madeline Witvliet, our Gen Z discuss the surprising business outcomes of workplace art.

You can see Dr. Tolia's art at her website: www.vasutolia.art. She also has an active presence on LinkedIn.

If not, you need more psych safety. Tom Geraghty joins our roundtable to show you how to create workplace conditions where interpersonal risk, bold laughter, and a good cry are all fully possible.

Tom Geraghty spent the first four years of his life in silence. That experience of speaking disability led him to his now international work helping companies cultivate psychological safety, which is, as PsychSafety.com explains, “the belief, in a group, that we are safe to take interpersonal risks.”

Our intergenerational crew—Sheila the Gen Z, LaShone the Millennial, Emily the Xennial, and I the Xer—had plenty of questions about what makes interpersonal risk possible in the workplace. But we also have questions from you! Thanks to our listeners who shared psych-safety questions such as…

1. What do I do when my coworkers stop helping me on a project I love?

2. How do I talk about workflow with a colleague who does things really slowly?

3. What do I do when I can’t stop crying in a meeting?

4. Is psychological safety as important as physical safety?

5. What should you do when men assume women will take notes, bring snacks, and do other logistical tasks?

My big takeaway from our conversation with Tom is that psychological safety is not a merely negative value. It’s not just about avoiding harm or hurt. It’s about creating workplaces capable of sorrow and joy.

The crisis of employee disengagement today responds to workplace conditions in which people feel mute and work feels dead. Tom’s discussion of psychological safety helps us begin to restore the soundscape of a good working community. He’s a big idea guy, but he’s also like an at-your-elbow guide—as you’ll see from all the resources on his astonishingly well-resourced website.

You will love Tom’s ticklish sense of humor (and our roundtable is, as you know, prone to bust into laughter). But you will appreciate even more that Tom’s a good listener. He hears the questions behind the questions, which makes him a good work culture sherpa.

These are intense days we’re living through. Last night, my dreams were full, full of children in peril. And everybody’s days are full of news stories that are hard even to skim. We humans keep generating problems that, most days, it looks like we simply won’t ever solve. But here’s a thing you and I can do. We can turn our workplaces into what my colleague Debra Rienstra calls refugia, or hidden shelters for good life and work.

So, press play on this conversation and let Tom’s insights and our intergenerational exchange help you create a shelter for fully human tears, fully human joy.

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