255. Efficiency vs. Humanity

At The Table with Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni

Pat, Business, Success, Work, Entrepreneurship, Companyculture, Patricklencioni, Teamwork, Leadership, Organizationalhealth, Culture, Management

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when innovation outpaces our moral compass?

In episode 255 of At The Table, Patrick and Cody wrestle with the tension between technological innovation and human dignity in the workplace. As artificial intelligence reshapes industries, they ask whether efficiency has become more important than humanity. This episode invites leaders and consumers alike to seek a moral “true north”—one that values people over profit and connection over convenience.

Topics explored in this episode:

(02:57) Innovation Without a True North

* Concern that the rise of AI could fundamentally displace human work.

* Innovation must be guided by ethics and human-centered purpose, not just economic efficiency.

(07:15) The Role of Leaders

* The need for leaders to assess whether their choices serve humanity.

(10:10) The Role of Consumers

* Consumers voting with their wallets and resisting convenience that devalues human connection.

(14:27) The Convenience Crisis

* How people increasingly prioritize ease over meaning.

(18:45) Dignity, Work, and the Future

* The deeper value of work beyond income—as a source of dignity, growth, and relationship.

This episode of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable.

At The Table is a podcast that lives at the connection between work life, leadership, organizational health, and culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4hJKKSL), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6NWAZzkzl4ljxX7S2xkHvu), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/At-The-Table-YouTube).

Follow Pat Lencioni on https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth, http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickLencioniOfficial, and https://x.com/patricklencioni.

Be sure to check out our other podcast, The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni, on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4iNz6Yn), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3raC053GF5mtkq6Y1klpRU), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/Working-Genius-YouTube).

Let us know your feedback via [email protected].

This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pursuing profit for profit's sake alone is a problem. Is the purpose of business to maximize profit,
0:06.7	or is it to make profit employ people and serve customers and contribute to society?
0:12.2	I believe innovation is only good when it serves the common good. Just because we can do something
0:16.6	doesn't mean we should do something. Can we pause just for a minute to talk about the implications of this? Proceed as collective humanity in a way that might be beneficial for all. Is the purpose of
0:26.8	work just financial gain? And what does that look like moving forward? Is it going to free people
0:31.6	up to do meaningful things together, be reunified around work, or is it going to fragment it even further?
0:38.5	Welcome to At the Table, the podcast that lives at the intersection between teamwork, leadership,
0:43.9	organizational health, and culture. I'm Pat Lanchone, your host, joined by my regular trustee
0:49.3	host, Cody Thompson. How are you today, Cody? I'm doing great, Pat. That's good because we have,
0:56.2	I think, is one of the most important episodes we've ever done. I think it's going to be a little
1:00.4	bit controversial or nuanced, but really important for what's going on in society right now,
1:06.1	Cody. What is that? We're calling it efficiency versus humanity. That's right. Efficiency versus humanity.
1:11.9	We purposefully, Cody, did not put the words AI or artificial intelligence in the title
1:17.4	because most of us are really tired of hearing about AI and we're confused by it.
1:24.2	You know, I mean, when we talk about AI, people are like, is that chat GPT or is that almost
1:28.8	sentient robot making decisions about how to run the world? And we don't even know when people
1:34.4	use this term AI what we're talking about. So it becomes almost impossible to draw any conclusions.
1:39.5	And we today, because we're a podcast about culture and the workplace and organizations,
1:44.8	want to talk about the problem with artificial intelligence as a threat to the workplace
1:51.3	and the dignity of jobs.
1:53.4	Yeah.
1:53.5	And I think every episode we open up with, we talk about how work and culture coincide with dignity and organizational health.
	...

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