It’s time to rethink what it means to be human at work.

The days of managing people like they are machines are over, says Samira Abdul-Karim, CEO and Principal Consultant of Hyphens and Spaces. Times of uncertainty and upheaval call for adopting a human-centered culture. 

“We’ve created systems that prioritize efficiency over humanity, outputs over outcomes,” Samira said. 

While technology excels at efficiency, it fails to nurture meaningful interactions. To combat this, Samira advocates for a human agenda. This approach builds team cultures focused on three principles:

1. Human dignity as the foundation of every decision
2. Trauma-informed wisdom that creates safety for creativity
3. Human-centered experimental approaches

“Rather than hunting for the perfect solution, we can start to cultivate the skills in our teams to meet whatever comes with perseverance and creativity.”

A human agenda transforms the way leaders engage with their teams. It creates the conditions for creativity, collaboration and connection. “Rather than hunting for the perfect solution, we can start to cultivate the skills in our teams to meet whatever comes with perseverance and creativity,” Samira said.

“What if, instead of managing your teams to execute tasks, you started cultivating humans to tend spaces?” Samira asked. “What if you look for ways to develop people who could hold complexity with grace and could build bridges where others see gaps?”

Samira believes a culture based in humanity is the key to future success. “The future doesn’t belong to organizations with the most effective systems or the best technology,” she said. “It belongs to organizations and places where human dignity is honored, where resilience is cultivated and where the spaces between us become places for possibility instead of division.” 

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Samira Abdul-Karim presented this talk as part of Tessitura’s Innovator Series at the Tessitura Learning & Community Conference in Anaheim, California, in August 2025.