Diversify to thrive in the era of AI

Guess how many different types of apps you have on your phone. Do you know the answer?

On average, we have 80 apps on our phones, and each day, we interact with at least 9-10 different types of apps. This means that for most of us, we have more regular interactions with different types of apps than we have regular interactions with different types of people! 

As humans, we are a social species, meaning one of our deepest-wired behaviours is building a social group or network - but how diverse is your network and why in truth is this diversity important?
 
The thing is, at a time when a lot of us are worrying about the impact of AI, a way to feel confident, strong and thrive with AI is to remind ourselves of what differentiates us as humans from apps and computers. Humans use the brain's computing power, memory, and ability to think, whereas AI-powered machines rely on data and specific instructions fed into the system. A way to thrive in a time of AI is to focus on building the skills that AI cannot master: strategy, creativity, empathy-based social skills, and dexterity. Strengthening our social interactions with different types of people increases our capacity for creativity and increases our social skills. Strengthening our social interactions is therefore a significant opportunity to keep us ahead of the machines relying on logic and data fed systems 

OK, so for us to have this advantage, let's start with thinking about our social relationships. How many different types of people are in your network? Do you already interact with 9-10 different kinds of people daily (as many as the apps on your phone)?

Building a social network or group helps us feel safe, grounded and connected. Shawn Achor, Author of The Happiness Advantage, says it well, 'Evolutionary psychology explains that the innate need to form social bonds is wired into our biology. When we make a positive social connection, the pleasure-inducing hormone oxytocin is released into our bloodstream, immediately reducing anxiety and improving concentration and focus. Each social connection also bolsters our cardiovascular and immune systems, so the more connections we make over time, the better we function.'

The thing is, even when we have strong social groups, when we look at our LinkedIn connections, most of us tend to build our social groups around things we have in common and our shared experience: where we live, our work, interests, and our background. These groups influence our perspectives, ideas, and beliefs. The upside is a group like this gives us a sense of support, community and connection. There is a big downside, though. Without a diverse group or network, our perspective on the world can be narrow and mean we don't truly 'see' other people; we can become detached and lose our capacity for empathy and curiosity

At its core, developing a diverse social group or network is about expanding our perspective of the world around us

The saying 'if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got' applies to your social group or network too. If the people around you see the world the same way you do, the likelihood of groupthink increases. Groupthink is a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics. Groupthink places human beings in the same category as AI - following the data trail and the system logic. This is good for doing the same things, yet misses different perspectives and the new opportunities we all need to thrive and adapt

A diverse network can stop groupthink as it can help us develop a wide range of different perspectives on the world. We can think of it a bit like a portfolio - building a strong portfolio is paramount for any savvy financial investor. Applying a similar approach to our social relational investments brings similar wellbeing gains, according to research at Harvard

Much like when investing money, diversification is key when investing in social interactions. What's more, the researchers found that happiness was associated with the number and type of different people they interacted with – friends, family, colleagues, strangers. "The benefits of social portfolio diversity may relate to increases in emotional diversity… experiencing a more varied set of emotions, which promotes greater wellbeing", the study confirms

Ensure you connect with a variety of people, in a variety of settings, in a variety of ways. It's not how many people or how much time you connect, it's more to do with – how different the people are. Remember for us to thrive the social interaction or connection can be just a few sentences

A more diverse network brings with it new opportunities, for collaboration, to investigate your next career move, or to learn something new. As humans we understand the world via the people around us. If we open our minds to other people's identities, experiences and cultures we can grow and change. We deepen our empathy, we gain a broader view of the world, and we can approach things differently. The rewards are deep and lifelong

So think about how you can build as many interactions with diverse people in your day as you do with the diverse apps you turn to each day. Then you will use your innate human talents to thrive in a world of AI

Some of us find approaching new people challenging so one way to feel more confident developing new social interactions is by building strong people skills. Because developing people skills are such an important part of thriving we have created an Upskill (our name for a course/masterclass) called People muscles – you can discover more about it Here

Our People muscles Upskill combines bite-sized videos, private podcasts, 121 Mentor sessions, bespoke Journals and purposeful self-reflection exercises for you to apply - at home, at work, in your whole life. Building People muscles focusses on communications and relationships - building your people strength, so you can excel and inspire - in every interaction, at every level - from the new starter to the CEO
You will build your ability to communicate mindfully not mindlessly, courageously not cowardly, present with purpose and poise, and perform, even excel in great teams so you build your interpersonal strength
You can explore People muscles Upskill Here