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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we enable high level women to mentor each other for personal and professional happiness through sisterhood. As the nonprofit organizations founder, chair, and CEO, I am honored to interview and share insights from some of the thought leaders who are part of EWA.This month I introduce to you Emily Moorhead, president of the Henry Ford Jackson Hospital. Q: Tell me how you are embracing change in the healthcare industry. Moorhead: We live in an age of remarkable medical innovation. Technology has advanced healthcare in ways we could have only imagined a decade ago. Artificial intelligence can help identify diseases in their earliest stages. Robotic-assisted surgery offers unprecedented precision. Patients can consult with a physician from the comfort of their living rooms. Yet, human connection is still the most powerful medicine we offer. At Henry Ford Jackson Hospital, we recognize that healing doesnt begin with a test result or a treatment planit begins with a conversation and a sense that someone truly cares. When people feel seen, heard, and valued, outcomes improve. Trust deepens. Teams thrive. And the experience of giving and receiving care becomes more meaningful. This belief isnt just rooted in philosophy, its revealed in practice. In every role across our hospital, we ask: How do we make space for connection? How do we create environments where peoplepatients, families, caregivers, and team membersfeel supported and respected? Human connection is not a soft skill, but a strategic imperative. We are working to hardwire it into every corner of our organization. Q: Why do you believe human connection still matters in a high-tech healthcare environment? Moorhead: Healthcare is fundamentally human. While we celebrate the role of data and devices in diagnosing and treating illness, what patients remember most is how we made them feel. Did we listen? Did we look them in the eye? Did we take time to explain whats next? Connection builds trust, and trust drives everythingfrom medication adherence to satisfaction scores to team morale. When we prioritize relationships, we dont just provide better care, we create a better experience. Q: Are there tangible outcomes linked to stronger provider-patient relationships? Moorhead: Absolutely. Numerous studies have shown that patients who feel connected to their care team are more likely to follow treatment plans, report higher satisfaction, and have better overall outcomes. Thats not a coincidence. Its the result of feeling respected, informed, and involved in decisions about their own health. Its not just about patients. Providers and team members who feel connected to their colleagues and their purpose experience lower rates of burnout and higher engagement. Its easy to focus solely on clinical excellence, but we cant overlook emotional well-being. When our people feel supported, theyre more present, compassionate, and effective in their roles. Healthcare is complex, high-stakes work. Connection can be the stabilizing force that keeps us aligned, grounded, and resilient. Q: How do you balance the demand for efficiency with the need for connection? Moorhead: Thats the tension so many leaders face. Healthcare is under pressure to do more with less, and every minute matters. But what weve found is that connection and efficiency arent in conflict; they reinforce each other. When patients feel understood, they ask fewer repeated questions. When teams communicate clearly and respectfully, workflows improve. Investing a few extra moments in meaningful interaction can prevent backtracking or miscommunication later. Its about being intentional in how we show up. Presence doesnt require an extra hour in your dayit requires a mindset. Even brief encounters can be deeply meaningful when approached with empathy and authenticity. Q: What role does leadership play in modeling this culture of connection? Moorhead: As a president, I make it a point to be visiblewalk the halls, join huddles, and engage in real conversations, because culture is contagious. If I want my team to prioritize people, I must demonstrate that myself. Every leader sets the tone, intentionally or not. When leaders make time to listen, offer encouragement, and show appreciation, it sends a powerful message about what we value. We equip our leaders with tools to celebrate effort and support physical and psychological safety. Creating a culture of connection starts at the top, but it grows when everyone sees its realwhen it becomes part of daily habits, not just organizational statements. Q: How can organizations outside of healthcare apply these lessons? Moorhead: Whether youre leading a hospital or a tech startup, people want to feel seen. They want to know their work matters. They want to trust the people around them. Organizations that foster those connections outperform those that dont. Every company should be asking: Are we designing our systems only around efficiency or around people? Human connection isnt a healthcare issueits a leadership issue. It affects everything from retention to innovation to long-term sustainability. Q: What gives you hope about the future of healthcare? Moorhead: Despite the challengesworkforce shortages, financial pressures, the emotional tollI see daily reminders of what makes healthcare extraordinary. Were surrounded by people who choose to show up every day not just to do a job, but to make a difference. Those moments may not make headlines, but theyre the heartbeat of healthcare. No matter how much technology evolves, the most powerful breakthroughs will always begin with human connection. Connection isnt an add onits the foundation. Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO ofThe Exceptional Women Alliance.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. While talent intelligence platforms (TIPs) serve an important purpose in identifying skills, they are inherently limited and never designed to address the fundamental question: How is work itself structured and how is it changing? AI has dramatically magnified and accelerated those pre-existing limitations. Its not just creating new skill gapsits redefining work at its core. Yet most organizations are still trying to track skills like its 2020. In the next few decades, AI is projected to transform up to 70% of all job tasks across industriesnot just by replacing work, but by fundamentally reshaping how work gets done, who does it, and what value it creates. Past technological shifts unfolded over decades; todays agentic AI is reshaping entire industries in a matter of months. Work intelligence is the next evolution: a strategic, systems-level approach that moves beyond skills to decode how work itself is being restructuredtask by task, role by role, organization by organization. Why TIPs were never the full solution Many companies have invested in TIPssystems that identify emerging skills by analyzing job postings and creating “living taxonomies” to inform talent practices. While valuable as a first-generation approach, TIPs suffer from a fundamental limitation: They’re inherently reactive. By analyzing existing job postings and making projections, TIPs create a perpetual time lag. By the time organizations identify, develop, and deploy these skills, the landscape has already shifted. With AI changing jobs faster than companies can update talent strategies, organizations need to look beyond current skills to understand how work itself is being reimagined. Skills are changing because work is changing The rapid evolution of skills isnt the root challengeits a symptom of a deeper issue. AI has simply brought this issue to the forefront: Work itself is changing. Skills development remains importantbut it must be anchored in a deeper understanding of how work is transforming. Organizations investing in skills programs haven’t wasted their efforts, but they need to evolve their approach to connect it with work redesign. Otherwise, even robust skills initiatives wont deliver lasting value in an AI-transformed landscape. Failing to grasp how work is transforming leads to: Blind workforce decisions Hiring for roles that wont exist Reskilling for skills that wont matter next year Ignoring AIs fundamental impact on work design Work intelligence is a smarter way to navigate AI disruption Work intelligence begins with a comprehensive understanding of the work itselfthe outcomes, tasks, processes, and roles that drive business value. Advanced work intelligence systems can analyze work across industries and create a universal language of work that integrates with existing organizational structures. This deep understanding enables business leaders to: Eliminate redundancies across roles: Consolidating overlapping responsibilities into fewer roles can reduce coordination costs while creating more meaningful work. Identify AI automation opportunities: Work intelligence can pinpoint exactly which tasks are prime for automation, which tools can accomplish this, and how to reallocate remaining human tasks. Optimize end-to-end process flows: By analyzing entire workflows, leaders can redesign processes to leverage AI and human capabilities. In customer service, automating initial contact while routing complex inquiries to specialists might reduce process steps by 30%. Focus talent development strategically: Work intelligence anticipates the roles and skills emerging from these transformations before implementation. This enables proactive talent development that runs parallel to work redesign efforts. Organizations can build learning paths aligned with their future work design, ensuring investment in capabilities that drive business value while preparing employees for meaningful roles in advance of changes. The future of work design This approach creates a fundamentally different talent ecosystem where roles, skills, and capabilities evolve naturally from optimized work processes. While competitors struggle with isolated AI initiatives or broad automation targets, leaders with work intelligence can make precise, strategic decisions about where to invest in technology and human capabilities. Redesign work for the AI era What organizations face isn’t merely a skills problemit’s a fundamental workforce capability challenge accelerated by AI transformation. The most successful organizationsthose reengineering work with the future in mindwill be able to answer these critical questions: Which work should be done by humans versus AI? How should we reorganize roles and processes around these new capabilities? What truly human capabilities should we develop in our workforce? How can we create systems that continuously evolve as technology advances? Transform your organization with work intelligence Don’t wait for AI to disrupt your workforce. The competitive advantage gap is already widening between organizations that proactively redesign work and those that merely react to change. Heres how to start your work intelligence journey: Assessment: Begin with a rapid, data-driven assessment of your current work design using work intelligence tools that quickly identify high-value transformation opportunities. Pilot project: Select a high-impact process to redesign using work intelligence principles. Strategic roadmap: Develop a phased approach to implementing work intelligence across your organization, aligned with your broader business strategy. Capability building: Equip your leaders with the tools and mindsets to lead transformation through a work intelligence lens. The market leaders of tomorrow aren’t just adapting to AI disruptionthey’re actively harnessing it to reshape work, drive value, and create meaningful roles that maximize human potential. Siobhan Savage is cofounder and CEO of Reejig. Amy Wilson is product strategy advisor at Reejig.
Category:
E-Commerce
Chapter, a Medicare advisory startup cofounded by Vivek Ramaswamy, announced on Wednesday it has closed on $75 million in Series D funding, at a valuation of $1.5 billion, backed by venture firm Stripes, and a number of private equity investors. Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, was an early adviser to President Donald Trump’s second term and is a former Republican presidential candidate. Chapter told Fast Company that while Ramaswamy helped found the company in 2020, “he stepped down from the board when he ran for office and is no longer involved in the company.” What does Chapter do? The platform helps the nation’s seniors navigate the Medicare system and choose a health plan, prescription drug coverage, find doctors and hospitalsall of which can be challenging for elderly Americans. Navigating Medicare is needlessly complex. Too many people end up with plans that cost more and cover less than they should, Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, Chapter’s cofounder and CEO, said in statement. At a time when the regulatory environment and Medicare ecosystem is rapidly changing, we remain committed to bringing transparency and trust to a system that desperately needs it. Blumenfeld-Gantz told Fast Company that its “mission is to provide unbiased, consumer-first Medicare guidance to all Americans” as Medicare insurance carriers continue to change their benefits structure, and as regulations have continued to be updated over the past five years. The startup has at least historical links to the Trump administration, including to current Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who helped fuel Vance’s rise in politics. Narya Capital, which Vance founded before leaving to run for office, led Chapter’s Series A funding; Thiel has invested in the company, and at one time, held a seat on the board, according to TechCrunch. Blumenfeld-Gantz said Vance has no involvement in Chapter. It’s worth noting Ramaswamy was previously involved with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which critics say could affect Medicare’s ability to perform business as usual. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses Medicare, is facing a massive overhaul, including staff layoffs, as DOGE slashes budgets and staff across federal agencies. At HHS alone, some 10,000 employees have been laid off, and combined with early retirements, the administration has slashed some 20,000 jobs, per CNN. Meanwhile, HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will reportedly cut at least 300 jobs from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which, among other programs, oversees Medicare and Medicaid for some 160 million Americans, as the administration tries to downplay the reduction and its effect on the Medicare, according to CNBC.
Category:
E-Commerce
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