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Organizations have spent years connecting people through platforms, devices, chat, video, and increasingly intelligent systems. Yet being connected is not the same as building connection, and technology will not decide for us when people need presence, conversation, judgment, or trust.

In Episode 4 of The Edge of Now, Jason Averbook and Jess Von Bank explore what it means to design humanity into technology-enabled work. Beginning with back-to-school phone policies and moving through AI workflows, remote work, meeting rituals, software design, social platforms, and AI companionship, they examine where human interaction is being weakened, where technology can strengthen it, and who is responsible for drawing the line.

The conversation raises an urgent leadership question. As AI becomes more capable and platforms become more persuasive, will organizations intentionally design the moments when humans should engage with one another, or will connection remain an accidental byproduct of systems built for efficiency and attention? The opportunity is not to reject technology. It is to combine human and machine systems in ways that make work, learning, and life more capable, fulfilling, and human.

Highlights

• Why being connected through technology is not the same as building human connection
• What back-to-school device policies reveal about our struggle to combine attention and technological capability
• Why banning tools outright can deny people capabilities they will need in the future
• How leaders can design specific moments for presence, judgment, conversation, and collaboration
• Why platforms cannot be expected to protect every human interest when their commercial incentives point elsewhere
• What systems thinking and design thinking contribute to AI-enabled work
• Why forward-deployed engineers need to understand human outcomes, not merely technical requirements
• How measures such as quality of hire can become meaningless when the business problem has moved
• Why the next generation of system implementation must integrate human and machine systems
• How technology can become an excuse for behaviors people would not choose face to face
• What meeting rituals, team scrums, and communication choices teach us about intentional connection
• When bots should talk to bots and when humans must remain involved
• Why some members of Gen Z are turning to AI for emotional support and personal issues
• What leaders, educators, parents, and platform users need to understand about persuasive design, privacy, and trust
• Why humans remain responsible for designing technology that makes work and life more fulfilling

About Jason & Jess

Jason Averbook

Jason Averbook has spent more than 30 years shaping HR technology and workforce transformation. His career includes leadership roles at PeopleSoft and Ceridian, co-founding and leading Knowledge Infusion from 2005 to 2012, serving as CEO of The Marcus Buckingham Company, and co-founding and leading Leapgen from 2018 to 2023. After serving as Mercer’s Global HR Transformation Leader, he co-founded Now to Next to help leaders prepare people and organizations for an AI-shaped world.

Jess Von Bank

Jess Von Bank brings more than 20 years of experience across recruiting, talent strategy, employer branding, HR technology, and workforce transformation. She began as a recruiting practitioner before moving into leadership roles focused on bringing workforce solutions to market, including global HR transformation and technology advisory work at Mercer. She is now co-founder of Now to Next, where she combines industry expertise, community building, storytelling, and a human-centered perspective on change.

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Jason Averbook
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/
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