Human Intelligence For An AI World. Discover why emotional intelligence matters more than ever in an AI-powered workplace. Hosted by Rob Lauber, former Chief Learning Officer at McDonald's, and powered by getapeptalk.com. In this episode, Rob is joined by Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, to explore how empathy, culture, and human connection shape the future of leadership.
Be Yourself at Work
Episode Synopsis
In this episode of Human Intelligence in an AI World, host Rob Lauber speaks with Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, about how leaders can stay human in an increasingly AI-driven world. With her trademark clarity and emotional depth, Claude explores what it means to lead with empathy, foster meaningful workplace culture, and stay ahead of the curve without losing sight of what really matters: people.
Claude shares practical insights from her experience scaling a global agency while navigating AI’s growing role in creativity, HR, and operations. Rather than resisting the technology, she urges leaders to embrace AI as an assistant, not a replacement, and use it to create more space for human connection and innovation. She also speaks to the evolving role of HR as a coaching function, the importance of growth mindsets, and how hiring practices must shift to focus on skill fit and emotional intelligence.
The episode closes with a look at Claude’s upcoming book, Be Yourself at Work, which challenges individuals at every stage of their career to show up with self-awareness, courage, and emotional efficiency. Whether you’re new to the workforce or leading a team through change, this episode is a timely reminder that the future of work belongs to those who bring both heart and intelligence to the table.
Key insights:
- Why emotional intelligence is your unfair advantage in the age of AI
- Co-intelligence: how humans and AI work better together
- What culture-first companies understand that others don’t
- Reimagining HR as a coaching function, not compliance
- How to hire for what actually matters now
- The mindset shift every leader needs to make
- Why culture is everyone’s job, not just leadership’s
- Belonging beats performance management
- Self-awareness is the speed advantage nobody talks about
- How to lead like a human in a machine-led world
Podcast Transcript, Episode 02
Rob Lauber
Artificial intelligence is advancing fast, but human expertise makes the difference. I'm Rob Lauber, a 30-year-plus veteran of the ever-changing world of workplace learning and performance. Join me and my guests on this PepTalk series, where we'll unpack how professionals, leaders, and innovators are shaping AI's roles in organisations and how they'll blend AI-powered tools with live human experiences.
Let's explore what happens when human expertise meets artificial intelligence. I'm really excited about our conversation in this PepTalk series today. I'm actually here with Claude Silver.
If you don't know who Claude is, she is the Chief Art Officer at VaynerMedia, where she's redefined what it means to lead with empathy in a fast-paced, digitally driven world. She has more than two decades of experience in advertising, brand strategy, and people development. She's played a pivotal role in scaling VaynerMedia from a startup into a global agency with more than 1,500 employees
She's probably one of the few executives in the world with the title "heart" in her title. She made it her mission to infuse emotional intelligence into the core of company culture. Her ground-breaking work in human-centred leadership has been featured in Forbes, FastCompany, and TEDx, and she's become a sought-after speaker on topics like workplace empathy, conscious leadership, and culture transformation.
Today, she joins us to explore the intersection of human intelligence and artificial intelligence, and how we can build a future of work that's both deeply human and technologically empowered. Welcome Claude. It's really great to have you here for the next 15 or 20 minutes.
Claude Silver
Wonderful to be here. Thank you so much. And thank you for that warm intro.
Rob Lauber
I try to get it right, and it's, you know, you have such a variety of experiences in your background. It's always a little tricky to nail down, but the, you know, the chief heart officer I think is really interesting angle for you. And, you know, I know as a brand person, I'm sure that's very intentional in terms of what you stand for and what your purpose is about.
Claude Silver
Yeah. And quite frankly, it came from Gary. It's something I hinted at, but my boss and CEO, Gary Vaynerchuk, is a great brand guy. And so he actually put the three words together. I had only told him about six months before that I only cared about the heartbeat of the agency, and then he put those words together. So I owe it all to him, really.
Rob Lauber
Just be careful what you ask for, right? That's right.
Claude Silver
It fits like a glove, so I have no problem.
Rob Lauber
That's right. It's good. And it's a great conversation piece too.
You've often spoke about the power of emotional optimism and empathy and leadership. How do you see those deeply human traits sort of coexisting or even enhancing what you see as AI begins to sort of play a bigger role in organisation.
Claude Silver
So, I think AI is here to stay, and we're only going to see it evolve. It needs human interaction to make it hum and to basically get what you need from AI.It's not a mind reader.
It doesn't have ESP. It needs a human being to put in a prompt or some kind of question that it can answer and give you an answer in a very short and efficient amount of time. And it drives it. Speaking of efficiency, it drives efficiency. But by no means do I think AI today is filled with emotional intelligence. I think that it comes up.
It makes us feel warm sometimes if you put the right prompt in. Chat GPT seems to be like my best friend right now, thank yous and everything. And probably because I thank it. So you find your own relationship and your own cadence with the AI. And I think it can only better what it is that you're providing to your company. It can only better a spreadsheet.
It can only better some insights based on how it's gathering its data.
Rob Lauber
There's been much discussion about it being assistive rather than replacing. How do you see that playing out in your work and in the conversations you're having in organisations?
Claude Silver
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. For me, AI is very much like a virtual assistant. That's what it really feels like in many ways to me.
I can give AI tasks that would take me three hours and it takes them less than five minutes, ifnot five seconds in many, many cases. So again, it needs the assistance of a human being to put our thoughts first. We are, I believe we are in control of the machine still.
And we will get from it what it is we ask it to do if we ask it in the right way. But by no means is it a replacement for us. I am sure the day will come where it is warm and fuzzy and we actually feel it in some way that makes us feel like we belong and we feel safe and whatnot.
We're not there today. Right now, that is coming from a human being and a human being that is self-aware and evolved, I believe.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, and you know, it's interesting because AI really thrives on like data, patterns, logic, right? It's basically a big probability machine in terms of answering your questions. And so, whereas humans operate in the world of sort of ambiguity and emotion and intuition.
So how do you see leaders bridging that gap to ensure like AI tools are truly serving human potential rather than diminishing it?
Claude Silver
Yeah, well, especially at VaynerMedia, where we are an advertising agency, a social media production shop, quite frankly. And so we know that AI with the right types of prompts cancreate advertising. We know that AI today can find a great list of audience cohorts for us to then build insights off of and create.
So that's, you know, in large part, that's what we're doing in the creative side. We're really using it to think broader and bigger in many ways by what it gathers and how it compiles data to give us ideas on potentially how to reach moms in the Midwest if we want to sell spaghetti sauce. Is there a different way based on the algorithms of social, based on the comments of social, those types of things?
And AI can get that to us much, much faster than a human being can. Sure. It still needs proofreading. It still needs, you know, we still need to go through the data. We can't take it as perfect because it's not. But it will it will speed us up in a in a production way when we are when our product is a creative product.
It'll speed us up in getting there in terms of the back office. I mean, back office functionality in terms of what it's doing in finance, in legal and in HR. It's absolutely remarkable in terms of the efficiencies that it gives us.
You know, I can do a peer review or someone's review without putting their names in. But it will organise that for me in a way that will take me. It would take me two hours and two hours that I'd rather use to be human, quite frankly.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, the fears around eroding sort of human jobs or creativity. But, you know, you've just given some great examples where it actually liberates you a bit. Is that is that sort of consistent with what you're seeing in terms of your it creates opportunities for humans to be more creative, more connected, you know, more human, frankly, in the work that they do have to do?
Claude Silver
Yeah, I absolutely think it is here to help us, not to harm us, not to hurt us. I think if you look at it with that growth mindset and with that mindset of abundance, it's here to add to us. It's additive.
It is not going to deplete us. In fact, we need people who become subject matter experts in AI to then help inform us. That's what I think.
So we need more humans educated with the system right now, not less. I need more people. In fact, at the beginning of the year, I asked the 25 top leaders at Vayner to spend 20 minutes a day just playing around because I don't want you to get left behind.
If you're in the legal department or if you're in the project management department, it doesn't matter to me. You need to be tinkering with it because it's here and it's here to help.
Rob Lauber
And that's the opportunity to sort of unlock creativity. Right, exactly. Right.
Yeah, exactly. People get asked questions about how to do things differently or even to solve a particular problem or come up with new ideas.
Claude Silver
So, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think Volvo actually put out the first creative advertisement via AI in January, which was remarkable. You wouldn't have been able to tell. I couldn't tell. Yeah. So it's here. But it's not going to replace us. It is going to liberate us, I believe.
Rob Lauber
Yeah. And you've done a lot of, I wouldn't say the hallmark, but a lot of your work has reallybeen around culture. So that's your North Star as well in organisations.
In this world where algorithms are becoming the foundational reason,you know, foundational method for decision making, how do you maintain that culture rooted in values and connection and trust against algorithm-based decision making? But to some degree, they can be contradictory to each other.
Claude Silver
They could. But if you have a bed of soil that you have nurtured for so long, that is people first. That's not going to flip overnight. We are people first. We call our culture internally the honey empire. It's not the empire of honey.
Honey is how we treat people. Honey is the emotional intelligence. Honey is being the bigger person in every situation or at least attempting to be leading with good intent.
Right. Being aware of impact. So if you have that as your common denominator across the lands, whether you have 10 people or 10,000 people, I believe that you, you know, Big Brother is not coming anytime soon.
That's what I believe. But that is something that with intention and consistently, I need to feed. I need to put it into the water stream every day in every conversation I have so that people know we actually are people first. This is what we have been for going on 16 years and we will be for the next 16 years, if not longer.
Rob Lauber
Yeah. I've seen intentionality in culture. I've experienced it personally in a couple of places where I've worked across my career and then in other places where it's more passive, I would say. Right.
Culture kind of happens to be a difference attitudinally between how those organisations think about AI, how they think about that intersection between AI and human intelligence. What would you say, like, you know, prognosticate maybe on the prediction you would see happening in those spaces? Because I think you bring up a really good point.
Claude Silver
Yeah. I mean, I feel like, you know, one probably builds more scarcity and builds more fear and like I'm going to lose my job yesterday. And oh, my gosh, that person got laid off. So I'm next. Not realising that that was because of financial reasons or performance. And alternatively, it's to liberate us. It's to help us think broader, bigger, because for whatever reason, we only use this much of ourbrain. So AI is here, just like all different kinds of tools, just like reading enhances us. I believe AI is here to enhance us, not to deplete us.
So that's really how I see the balance, the imbalance, I would say, of the scales right now. My hope is that more companies start to have that attitude of seeing AI and other tools as assisting, not replicating, not, as you said, not replacing. You know, and it's going to speed up.
And I can't imagine any vertical that it will not speed us up in. And that's not to say it will not replace. It will replace in some in some cases. But again, if you are a human being that is staying on top of the wave and are educating yourself on many different inputs in many different forms of AI, you will then be the teacher.
Rob Lauber
And then do you see, you know, organisations that are sort of very culture-centred, intentional about their culture? Do you see, and maybe I'm being repetitive, so just tell me so. And but do you see a difference, a competitive differentiation that might emerge between organisations that are much more intent on their culture and its integration with AI versus organisations that are maybe more passive about their culture?
But, you know, think a different approach, not necessarily an assistive approach, but more of a replacement sort of commoditisation of people approach towards how they think about those tools.
Claude Silver
Yes, I'm going to relate it to getting an MBA and getting a PhD, and both are fantastic and phenomenal uses of your time if that's what you wish to do. A PhD is a doctorate degree. It is different from an MBA.
I believe those organisations that see it as a replacement will be in the MBA functionality. Whereas if you are able to open your mind, heart, and culture to embracing new technologies, AI and whatever's next, VR, whatever it is, then I think you are in the doctorate arena. The caution there is that if you are in the MBA arena and you get a job over here in the PhD, you are going to have a deficit.
You're going to have a delta that you're going to need to make up real quick. That's what I would say. So that's the watch out that I have right now in the back of my head, and certainly as this entire world speeds up and we interview for more roles and we are advancing in our own tech, we are going to need people that know how to use AI, VR, all of the other tech that's coming. We're not going to be able to teach that. We will have gone past that. The train will have left that station.
So it's a call out, a shout out to everyone that really, if you are looking for a job today,regardless of what age you are, get on that train, get on that bandwagon and just start tinkering around. You can go anywhere on Instagram to any kind of Inc. article, and they're telling you, look at these prompts, try to do this, build your brand with these prompts.
Rob Lauber
Have you made your action figure yet?
Claude Silver
Someone made it for me. I'm doing a talk in a couple of weeks down in D.C. and they sent me an action figure and it was it was real nerdy.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, yeah. It's kind of goofy. I see people doing it out there. I haven't quite spent my time doing that yet, but I'd like your PhD MBA kind of example, which sort of ties into the culture piece and also around sort of emotional intelligence piece around recognising fit as well. Right, because I think to your point, fit's probably going to become evenmore important than as we're looking at people to bring into our organisation, their attitudetowards the products and products and services we offer, the culture that we have in ourbusiness and how well their mindset aligns with the way we want to do business. You see?
Claude Silver
Exactly. So we hire the way we used to, for culture fit. And, you know, if you have the skills, great. If not, we'll throw you in the deep end. But you like to surf and I like to surf. So you're going to be great.
Yeah. You know, when I started at Vayner, I immediately changed changed to skill set fit andculture edition. So I knew that at the end of the day, I don't want people looking like you andme.
We need to create the microcosm of the macrocosm. We're in advertising, so we must do that. The other thing I did was remove the need for a college education because I thought that was going to be a showstopper.
And I have still removed that. However, when we are hiring and we do hire for skillset fit now, that is a big part of what we're going to be looking at, along with growth mindset, communication, leadership skills, accountability, humility, you know, generosity, all of thethings that fit under the umbrella of emotional intelligence. And, you know, you can figure those things out with open-ended questions to figure out if it is answering as an eye or a way.
I mean, that's pretty simple. These are the things that I believe that we need to take intoa ccount now in this world of skill set fit and hiring for skill set, especially when budgets are being cut and you might not be able to hire the pipeline that you've just created, you know, all of the stuff that you you've done in your lifetime. So it's a wonderful confluence, I think, of the heart and the head right now.
But I say heart first, because that's where it is for me. It's the human. It is bringing humanity into the workplace, bringing it back into the workplace and really creating that place wherepeople feel not only safe, of course, but that they belong.
They belong to something and they matter in the organisation. And that mattering encompasses not only how you open the door for someone else, but also if you're sitting there and you're mentoring someone on new skill a or new platform.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, sure. Looking ahead, as AI becomes more sophisticated, many of the functions of HR, like performance management, you're already seeing in hiring, predictive analytics even. How do you see the role of HR evolving to ensure that human interaction still leads the way? Like, what do you see their role being in organisations?
Because part of like culture typically comes like, you know, Gary sets the tone, right, in the organisation. But HR often gets tagged with sort of being the implementers, the makers of it coming alive, fairly or unfairly. That's where they find themselves often as the keepers of the culture.
How do you see their roles needing to evolve? Or maybe a better way to look at it is, what are the things they need to lean into, right, around sort of preservation as sort of the workplace changes and gets disrupted a little bit?
Claude Silver
I do think the function of an HR business strategist is moving that towards a coach, much more so than what it is known for either being a no person, the police, or bureaucracy; it has to be high touch. I really, I firmly believe that there's no one that has entered the world of HR to sit behind a desk and to say no all day. I just don't think that's why you get into it.
We, you know, I renamed the department people and experience the minute I got in there, because that's what we do. It's I don't, HR is cryptic to me. And it felt very foreign, whereas people and experience.
And so the thing that we're trying to do, and I believe that this is where HR is heading is, is help you have the best career experience of your life here, help you thrive, not plummet. We don't to hand out pips all day. You know, that's that's we don't want to be in that business.
We want to be in the business of assisting, facilitating growth and evolution with people. I mean, that's fun. And that's exciting.
And, you know, you get the adrenaline rush when you're able to give someone a raise or a promotion. I mean, that's awesome. So I do think we need to get out of the babysitting and the policing that we're known for and into this coach, into this guide.
In order to do that, we need to free ourselves and bring back that growth mindset, which is somewhere locked in there. Right. Bring that back because ultimately, we want to grow.
Everyone has it right here. It's an invisible link. You have it, too.
It says, help me grow. Right, I want to grow. You grow.
And one of the things I say in orientation, the first day when I meet every single new joiner across the land, with the exception of Asia-Pac, because that's in a different time zone. I say immediately, workplace culture is everyone's responsibility. It is not Gary's.
It is not just mine. It is not this team's. It's everyone's.
Congratulations, because now you're here, and you get to play a part in building and cultivating this culture. I say it just like that, with enthusiasm, because who wouldn't want to? Who wouldn't want to put their thumbprint or their heartprint on a culture?
Rob Lauber
Yeah, it's exciting, because people from day one can see, gosh, I can make an impact on this organisation. And at the same time, there's a good message of accountability there, that it's not other people's jobs. It's yours, too, right?
Claude Silver
That's right. Yeah, like when you have a splinter, you don't need to come to me. You can go tothe first aid kit.
Rob Lauber
It's a good one. Last question. You've got a book coming out, I think it says the fall, called Be Yourself at Work.
Claude Silver
Be Yourself at Work.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, so talk to me a little bit about like, your sort of body of work is built around sort of culminated in that book. But talk to me about sort of what's different about that book in the context of the other things that you've worked on up to this point around emotional optimism, bravery, those kind of pieces as well.
Claude Silver
This is all about how you show up, how you show up for yourself, being the CEO of you, how you show up in a team, and understanding how to work in that team dynamic, and how you show up as a leader. And all those things are dominoes of one another. But if you're not showing up for yourself, or you're showing up in a very weak and feeble way, people take notice of that they might not want you on the team.
So this is really about the power of showing up. And so I really walk people through what is emotional optimism for you? What is emotional bravery?
And how does that lead to what I call emotional efficiency, which is speed? You know, you and I have both been in corporate for a long time. You've had an incredible career at some top, top companies.
And you and I speak a very, very similar speak. We are already efficient. You know, we don't need to start at the bottom of, you know, what did you do when you were six?
Or what did I do when I was six? I already trust you. I trust your tenure.
And so right there is a sense of safety and emotional efficiency. You and I can get from A to Z very quickly. You can do that with self-awareness.
And that's really where it starts: self-awareness of who you are, what's working, and what's not working. You know, I have so many tools and tips in this book, tear sheets of how to coach yourself.
How to, you know, case studies of what it's like when it goes south and how you can really, you know, reverse engineer that for yourself. What's it like when you finally step into that leadership position and all eyes are on you? And all eyes are on you when you walk into the room with your head in your phone.
Just like they're all on you when you walk in, and you're like, hey, everyone, you know, happy Monday. What's going on? So it's really about leading from the heart, but showing up for yourself first in a in just a really genuine way and being brave enough to do that.
Really. And if you think about what Gary says all day, what Gary is talking about is don't worry about what other people think about you. That's his message.
One of his big messages. I'm saying that in my own way. Yeah, I'm saying that like literally it doesn't it doesn't matter.
Remember, they need to work on them. What I want you to focus on is you being the best you can be so that you can then lead and lead powerfully, whether or not it's one person or a thousand people.
Rob Lauber
I found that if you show up, you know, show up in the best way that you can be, the rest of it takes care of itself. Right?
Claude Silver
Yeah.
Rob Lauber
You don't have to worry about what other people think, because one, you're confident in your own sort of presence. And two, that presence you bring tends to be what people are looking for in that conversation when they, you know, as someone they want to work with. Right.
Claude Silver
Exactly. And I think for the person in their second or third job, they don't know that yet.
Rob Lauber
Yeah, I agree. 100 percent. I have my kids in that stage at the moment. Early entrance to the workforce. They're like, what do you speak up in a meeting or not?
Claude Silver
Exactly. Like, yeah, you don't want to be the wallflower on a Zoom.
Rob Lauber
Exactly.
Claude Silver
People are checking that out. And we want to hear from you. Take up space is the message.
Rob Lauber
Claude, I want to thank you so much for spending time with us today. I really appreciate it, and we had a super conversation. I think you and I could probably talk for hours on this. But we're supposed to be, you know, in our time frame. So we're working on that. But again, thank you so much. And thanks, everybody, for listening to this PepTalk episode. Thank you so much.
Claude Silver
Claude Silver is the world’s first Chief Heart Officer, a keynote speaker, and a pioneer in emotionally intelligent leadership. At VaynerMedia, she leads with empathy across a global team of 800+, embedding heart into culture, connection, and communication. With over two decades of experience in top advertising agencies, Claude has built brands for Fortune 50 companies and advised leaders on creating workplaces where people belong and thrive.
Her insights have been shared at Google, The HR Congress, and Social Media Week London, where she speaks on leadership, culture, and the human side of business. Book Claude to speak at your next event.
Rob Lauber
Rob Lauber hosts the Human Intelligence In An AI World podcast. As the former CLO at McDonald's, Yum! Brands, and AT&T, Rob is a workforce development expert with 30+ years' experience. Named CLO of the Year (2013), he led major initiatives like Archways to Opportunity and advises companies worldwide through XLO Global LLC. Board leader and respected industry voice. Book Rob to speak at your next event.
