Superhuman or a super human?

I’ve been pondering this for a while. Yesterday, I watched an intriguing TED Talk by Ray Kurzweil titled "The Last 6 Decades of AI and What’s Next!" You can watch it HERE.

Ray's talk, sprinkled with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour, painted a Utopian picture of our future with AI. This got me thinking about my journey and my work with leaders and entrepreneurs. My focus has always been on achieving high performance by nurturing inner strength and leveraging digital tools and data for smarter practices.

The positioning of my work has evolved over the years. When I started in 2013, I ventured into the realm of leadership development, specialising in what we then called "digital leadership." However, this term always felt incomplete to me. It suggested that leaders only needed to be knowledgeable about digital aspects, whereas I saw a need for leaders to challenge belief systems and champion evolving behaviours.

I quickly reframed our approach to "leadership in a digital age," a term that many others adopted over the next few years. This shift allowed my work to be more effective, especially with leaders seeking success while balancing technology, humanity, and the planet.

Around this time, we updated our organisational belief statement to what it still is today: “The gift of the age we live in is the ability to reconnect with our humanity by leveraging digital and data for good.”

Fast forward to today, and the body of knowledge I draw upon is much broader. I now speak of "modern leadership" (though the term "modern" isn’t perfect, it works). My expertise is sought by leaders and entrepreneurs in three key areas:

1. Leadership Energetics – focusing on internal and relational dynamics.
2. Dynamic Digital Competency – applying digital skills in practice.
3. Modern Mindset Theory – an area I’ve become known for internationally.

Returning to Ray’s TED Talk, the potential that responsible AI presents to enhance our human qualities and performance is immense. This is why this blog is titled "Superhuman or Super Human?"

Many people strive for superhuman performance, often neglecting what it takes to be a super human. In today’s world, effective leadership requires both. For anyone aiming to succeed in business or life, the potential to leverage AI to break boundaries is enormous. We can all achieve superhuman feats as AI continues to integrate into our lives.

But is this enough? I think not. To evolve as a human race, to serve our planet, and to guide each other towards greater fulfillment, joy, equality, celebration of diversity, longevity, health, and connection, we also need to be super humans.

If I asked you to think of someone you consider a super human, what attributes would you associate with them? To me, a super human is someone who is kind, caring, stands in their truth and power, and focuses on a life full of joy and connection. My mother was a case in point, and she wasn't a high performing business leader!

So, where do I go from here? For me, the path is clear: we need to help leaders and entrepreneurs move beyond mere high performance. Not just into the realm of superhuman achievements through digital and data leverage, but also to help them become super humans—individuals we can rely on, trust, and feel safe around.

This blog might seem more like a muse, but it signals a theme I will weave into all my leadership work.

• Being superhuman will give you performance.
• Being a super human will give you humanity.

This, I believe, is the secret to great, successful leadership in our world

Mel Ross is an executive mentor and coach working with senior leaders and entrepreneurs to shift beyond high performance into the realms of superhuman whilst maintaining humanity to be and life a joyful as well as fulfilling life.

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