We made work faster, smarter, and more connected. AI writes our code, organizes our data, and drafts our ideas. We can deploy a product in days and scale it to millions overnight. As a design leader, the ability to imagine and then experience an idea in hours vs. weeks or months is truly amazing.
And yet — layoffs rise, burnout spikes, and meaning feels harder to find. The promise of progress sometimes feels incomplete. Somewhere between “move fast” and “make it work,” we started optimizing everything except why we work in the first place.
We’ve built systems designed to maximize efficiency, but not necessarily effectiveness. In our quest for speed, we’ve made the tools brilliant — and the humans exhausted. AI didn’t break the system; it simply revealed how fragile it already was. The opportunity now is to let AI handle what’s mechanical, so people can return to what’s meaningful — creativity, connection, and judgment.
Remote work showed us that we can build from anywhere — and for many, it was life-changing. But freedom came with friction. As offices emptied, so did many of the shared rhythms that made work feel communal. We learned that balance doesn’t automatically create belonging. Now, as companies recalibrate, some are mistaking presence for purpose. What teams are really asking for isn’t free lunch or hybrid schedules — it’s clarity, trust, and respect.
We didn’t go wrong by embracing speed or technology. We went wrong by confusing progress with acceleration.
When companies go “all in on AI,” they often pull out of their brand. They stop articulating who they are and what they stand for, because speed feels like the new identity. But brand isn’t decoration — it’s direction. It’s how organizations make meaning out of motion.
The modern work equation often asks for full commitment but gives limited stability in return. We can’t keep pretending resilience is infinite. What we need now is reciprocity — a rebalancing of what work gives back.
We didn’t go wrong by embracing speed or technology. We went wrong by confusing progress with acceleration. Speed is neutral — it just amplifies what’s underneath. If our systems lack empathy or clarity, faster tools won’t fix that; they’ll magnify it.
Maybe “the future of work” isn’t about better tools. Maybe it’s about better agreements — between people, purpose, and progress. Work should give as much as it takes. Technology should amplify humanity, not exhaust it. Brand should anchor culture, not decorate it. Leadership should measure clarity of purpose, not just output.
We stand at an extraordinary moment: AI has given us leverage, scale, and speed. Now we have to give it direction. The next revolution won’t be artificial. It will be human.
Ian Alexander
VP of Design — writing on leadership, AI product strategy, and building teams that ship.