The Human Premium
The Power of Play in an Automated World
For decades, we've built careers on knowing more, moving faster and getting things right. But when machines can increasingly do all three, what does it mean to be human when the things we've been rewarded for are no longer enough?
Under pressure, our instinct is to grip tighter, chase certainty and cling to what we know. Yet our greatest advantage in an automated world isn't speed or intelligence. It's our capacity to experience, adapt, connect and grow wiser. And these capabilities can't be downloaded. They have to be lived.
In this provocative, playful and energising keynote, Dara challenges our obsession with getting things right. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology and global workplace research, she reveals how play interrupts habitual thinking, loosens our grip on certainty and develops the human capabilities we need most.
Because the answer isn't to outsmart the machines. It's to remember how to be human.
Key takeaways
- Rethink Human Value: Why lived experience, adaptability and wisdom are increasingly valuable in an automated world.
- From Proving to Participating: How perfectionism, pressure and the need to be right limit curiosity, creativity and learning.
- Permission, Space & Spark: Three practical conditions leaders can create to unlock imagination, connection and new thinking.
