Editor’s note: This column is the final installment in a three-part series. Read part one here and part two here.
By Mark Himmelsbach and Remy Pinson
We like to think markets naturally align incentives over time. Maybe they will. But transitions always involve friction, and AI has accelerated the friction point between economic and human interests.
AI didn’t create the tension between efficiency and decency, but it intensified and accelerated it. And even if AI doesn’t replace jobs wholesale, it will reshape them, compress them and fundamentally change the human-machine ratio inside companies.
Which means leaders must answer a new question: How do we build a culture that keeps humans valued and motivated while leveraging machines fully?
A hybrid human-machine organization requires rethinking almost everything: norms, rituals, contributions, trust dynamics, leadership models and more.
Culture has always been the stabilizer that holds companies together. Now it must evolve. Below are the cultural imperatives we believe will define organizations that navigate this transition well.
Five cultural imperatives for the human-machine era
1. Build a culture of hybrid identity. Not human-first or AI-first, but hybrid. Humans bring judgment, creativity, empathy, taste and leadership. AI brings speed, scale, memory and tireless iteration. A culture that values both reduces fear and increases clarity.
2. Establish trust norms between humans and machines. Teams need to know when to rely on AI, when to challenge it, and how to collaborate with it. Trust must be explicit and expressed — not assumed or hidden.
3. Redefine contribution and recognition. If AI plays a meaningful role in output, recognition must shift too. Don’t just reward production. Reward insight, direction, taste, judgment, strategy and creative authorship.
4. Preserve belonging as leverage increases. Smaller teams can still be human-centered — but only with transparency, clear purpose and rituals that reinforce connection. Humans’ need for belonging must be intentionally designed.
5. Build culture early. Cultural debt accumulates faster than technical debt. Leaders who design norms early — around language, expectations, rituals and trust — will avoid confusion and resentment.
I think about this constantly. Our company is one small version of what’s happening across industries. Efficiency is accelerating, roles are evolving and culture is stretching into something new.
But I’m optimistic. History suggests we eventually find equilibrium with transformational new technologies. Perhaps it will even be a version like the one Ray Kurzweil imagines as “the Singularity” — where humans and machines truly elevate one another.
Until then, we’re committed to building a culture where the efficient thing and the decent thing can coexist. Where machines do what they’re best at, humans do the same, and the space between them becomes a new source of creativity and possibility.
We believe it, we’re building for it, and we’ll stand by it until proven otherwise.
Mark Himmelsbach is the co-founder of the world’s newest creative AI marketing tool, RYA. He’s also the co-founder of Episode Four, an advertising agency that leverages data to make hits for Visa, Invesco QQQ, Charles Schwab, AT&T and many other marquee brands. Over the past two decades he has led cross-functional teams and developed multidiscipline communications and creative strategies for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Himmelsbach is a MBA graduate from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Remy Pinson is head of business development at WestComms. He strongly believes that high-quality communication will only continue to appreciate in value and supports clients working in AI, crypto and frontier technologies. Pinson still keeps a regular hand-written journal, loves wine and earned a degree in economics and philosophy at Claremont McKenna College in California.
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