Leadership Greater Washington Annual Summit Keynote: Stay Human
Helen and Dave delivered the opening keynote, "Stay Human," at Leadership Greater Washington's Annual Summit in Washington, DC—an event that convened the region's leaders around a topic with the potential to radically transform the workforce: artificial intelligence. The engagement began the evening before with an intimate Pre-Summit dinner conversation, then continued into the plenary session that set the frame for the entire day.
LGW's own reflection on the Summit captures the takeaway: "the real story wasn't about AI. It was about people." The keynote's framing of human authorship—remaining the author of your own mind rather than drifting into whatever future AI companies design for us—shaped the conversations that followed. In the words of LGW's team, the challenge is to refuse to be subject to AI and instead make it object: something we hold and direct with our own minds and hearts, rather than something that holds us. Attendees carried the language into breakout sessions, hallway conversations, and the closing plenary.
The Summit's throughline echoed the Institute's core argument: the future of AI must be people-first—building a future not where technology takes over, but where it empowers people rather than replacing them. For an organization of leaders navigating questions of ethics, equity, workforce development, and adaptive leadership, "Stay Human" offered both a provocation and a practice.
