Episode 9: AI: The Paradox - People-First Leadership.

Leaders race to deploy AI at cheetah speed, but can regulation and ethics ever catch up? In this live Zurich Studio Recording Hosts: Faisal Hoque and Lauren Hawker Zafer dissect regenerative leadership, AI’s human cost, and the future of work, from Thinkers50 insights and Switzerland’s “golden cage” to widening divides in wealth, power, and opportunity.

They tackle the hard questions: Will AI amplify human creativity and values, or erode agency? Does gender shift in tech demand more female leaders for balance? And if you had $1B to close the AI gap tomorrow: infrastructure, talent, or regulation? Their surprising two-sentence answer might redefine “responsible AI.”

Watch to the end and pick your side in this pivotal shift.

The hard question: are leaders amplifying their values with AI—or surrendering them?
Quick Jump00:00 – Live Episode Intro: From Zurich, the “Golden Cage” of Switzerland
01:30 – Inside the Thinkers50 Event – The Oscars of Management Thinking
03:00 – Regenerative Leadership: Learning from Nature
04:00 – Sustainability vs. Profit: Where Change Really Happens
05:30 – AI’s Real-World Impact and Why We Always Come Back to It
06:20 – Practitioners in the AI Age: Complexity and Opportunity
07:00 – Ethics, Governance, and Organizational Psychology
08:00 – The Human Cost of AI Adoption: Anxiety, Layoffs, and the Next Generation
10:00 – Leading in the Age of AI: Balancing Wisdom, Purpose, and Innovation
11:30 – Gender and Opportunity: The Scott Galloway Debate
12:30 – Women in Tech: Representation, Ego, and Emotional Intelligence
13:30 – Opportunity for All: How AI Could Create or Close Gaps
17:00 – Creativity and the Right Brain Revolution
18:00 – Amplify or Surrender: The Future of Human Intelligence
19:00 – Superintelligence and the Question of Control
20:00 – People First or Profit First? Lessons from OpenAI and Regulation
21:00 – The Cheetah and the Horse: Why Innovation Outruns Regulation
23:00 – The Leader’s Dilemma: Implementing AI at Speed
24:00 – Economic Pressure and the Risk of a Global Divide
25:00 – The Future of Work and Small Business Survival
26:00 – Quick Fire Wrap-Up: 1 Billion to Close the AI Gap

Convergence: The Signature Series

The lines between technology, business, and humanity are blurring. In a world of constant disruption, success is no longer about mastering one domain — it’s about navigating the pivotal intersections where they converge.Join Lauren Hawker Zafer and Faisal Hoque for Convergence, the series that deconstructs the complex forces shaping our future. Based on hands-on experience, research, and publications, each episode provides actionable frameworks and candid insights on humanity, business, ethics, transformation, AI, modern leadership, governance, sustainable growth, and philosophy.