Authenticity Is the Human Advantage AI Can’t Replicate | Tom Cox

Full Episode Transcript

This is the full recorded conversation from The Human Protocol Podcast, published by The Human Protocol Group. © 2026 The Human Protocol Group. Please link to and attribute the original episode when referencing this conversation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (00:03.087)
AI can simulate ideas, voices, even empathy, but it cannot simulate truth. In a world full of perfect filters and flawless algorithms, authenticity has never been more disruptive. Welcome to The Human Protocol, the podcast about staying human while building the future with AI. I am your host, Mykel Salomon. We are entering a moment in history

where almost everything can be automated, except who we are. This isn't just a conversation about leadership or technology. It is about the courage to stay real when everything around us becoming synthetic. Today's episode, More Human Than Ever, leading with authenticity in an AI first world. And I'm terrific and very, very much excited.

because we have today with us Tom Cox. Tom began his executive career in 2010 when he became the president and co-founder of his first venture-backed startup that quickly grew to more than 50 employees, about 49 more than he knew how to lead at the time. Tom has since grown considerably in his executive skills and his ability to network.

a two-time VC-backed startup founder and senior executive for the past 14 years. Tom has closed more than $1.5 billion in business. He is a U.S. Army veteran, holds several patents in satellites technology, and has an MBA. After recovering from leukemia in 2023, Tom retired from his 25-year satellite career

to become an executive career coach for aspiring leaders. He leaned into his own framework and found his Icky Guy teaching leadership. Tom is the founder of Verical Motion, which has helped hundreds of mid-career professionals become executive using the whole executive framework. Hundreds of those professionals like myself. Thank you, Tom.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (02:26.225)
When he's not working with his client or creating leadership content, Tom can be found cycling, trail running, or hiking the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and nearby states. Maybe he'll take up the sport of curling someday too. Tom believes deeply that we all have a life purpose or Ikigai. And when we align our executive careers to that life purpose, we become the best leaders.

in the world. Tom, my friend, thanks one more time for taking the time to be with us today and welcome to the Human Protocol.

Tom Cox (03:04.526)
Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me here. I'm excited to have this conversation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (03:08.215)
Awesome. I appreciate you. And to kick things off, and after this introduction, very formal introduction and very personal in a way as well, I would like to kick things off with something that I ask every guest on the show, which is after all we have said on this introduction today, what LinkedIn knows about you, even what ShotGPT knows about you, who is Tom at his core?

Tom Cox (03:36.91)
Great question. Yeah, I am.

Tom Cox (03:44.43)
I mean, think it's, funny that we define ourselves by our roles in life. Um, more than anything else, I would say that I am a father, I'm a husband, I'm a leader. Uh, I'm a coach of leaders. Uh, but I'm an empathetic human who cares, um, very deeply about, uh, causes. Um, I care very much about, um, writing the wrongs that I see in the world. Um, there's never been a Sarah McLaughlin commercial for, uh, uh,

donating to save animals that I haven't had to either click away from or spend money on. So I think that I have found a way to be a high empathy person in environments where empathy isn't always the most important trait or other people can see it as a weakness. And so I've learned how to turn that into a strength and then I can teach other people how to do the same.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (04:21.747)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (04:38.759)
Mmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (04:44.587)
And thanks for sharing that with us. And I can say with all honesty that you have changed my life. Joining the Vertical Motion program and community has been a transformative experience for me since I joined back in April. And part of it, part of why this podcast exists and this message is out there, it's because of the lessons and

and your framework and how you keep through your program keep pushing us to find purpose in life. And I really want to take a moment to appreciate you because it has really changed my life. So thanks for that.

Tom Cox (05:28.024)
Yeah. And thank you for saying that, that, that, that's all I need to go on. I don't need money. I just need that. Hearing that. I will say that you did the work. You built this, you have changed yourself and we gave you the structure and the accountability that you needed to do that. You had the discipline to show up and do it. And it's been tremendous to watch. remember the conversations we had in April where it was like,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (05:33.745)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tom Cox (05:57.102)
Do we take a chance on this guy? Like maybe, like everyone felt like, okay, I think he's got a high, high potential to him. And look at you now. I'm super impressed by you, my friend.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (06:06.653)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. And and and this conversation that we're having today, it's it's one that I that I know you are very passionate about. And we have had a conversation with it. And and and what is this topic? What is this episode and the angle that we wanted to cover today? And you say it's authenticity. I think this is what the future will need more, not only on leaders, but but really

in human beings, more authentic beings. At what point do you realize that in this whole future that we're going to be transforming and changing along with AI, being authentic, it was really going to be the currency of the future in a way.

Tom Cox (06:58.253)
Yeah, I love that you say it that way. The currency of the future. It's definitely going to be a currency in the future. I've been coaching since 2023. And the way that we find coaching clients is through social media. so, you know, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. And I have watched since we started in early 2023 now here, late 2025, almost 26, I'm seeing

that more than half of the content that goes by my screen is AI generated. And I think it's actually much, much higher than that because even the content that's not AI generated has probably been AI researched. And the tools and techniques of each piece of content designed to hook you in, AI is helping with all of that. And so one of the things about AI that concerns me is that it's so easy to

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (07:33.01)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (07:41.747)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (07:56.68)
amplify any message, but there's something to be said about just speaking authentically as yourself. And what we have found is that the people who come work with us, the clients that we do attract, all say the same thing. They resonated with my content. They resonated with my story. They resonated with me. They saw themselves in me, the version of themselves they want to be in me.

And if I was putting out AI generated content, that's one level removed between that human connection between you and me. And I think what we're going to see here, maybe not in 26, but definitely by 27, 28, I think we're going to see a little bit of a backlash against AI generated content and

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (08:37.522)
Correct.

Tom Cox (08:54.013)
AI in general, think people are going to like, so for example, I think as an example, that you're going to start seeing local plays in small theaters around town attract more people than blockbuster movies.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (09:11.027)
more community driven spaces.

Tom Cox (09:13.645)
Yeah, I think you're going to see people put their phone down and come together and start connecting more. think we've been so addicted to this thing that's designed to hack our brain, to make us stare at it for eight hours a day. And AI is just exacerbating that. think that people are starting to crave human authentic connection, especially those of us who experienced it prior to the internet being a thing, right? Um, there's a whole generation of people.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (09:16.829)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (09:41.666)
who have been online their entire lives and they're struggling. And it's really sad to watch, right? The number of relationships are going down. The number of people that are in your circle on average is going down. The date or the age at which people get married is going up into the thirties now. And so like, I think that we're seeing

the tip or we're near the top of this. And I think there's going to be a radical change where people are going to want more authentic interactions. And I think those of us who put ourselves out there authentically, like you're doing right now, right? That put us out, put ourselves out there authentically, people will be attracted to that content and they will start to know which is which a lot better than we do now.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (10:34.099)
Because let's be honest, it's not easy to put yourself in front of the camera like we do every day, just roll our authentic self with all the imperfections, right? With all the mistakes that we make when we talk in a world that is obsessed with social media and with looking perfect, right? And really, back to this conversation of what you just said, it's gonna...

get to a point, I believe as well, that really being real is going to be revolutionary, because it's going to be what people are missing the most, those experiences between human being, because AI is, as you said, exacerbating everything, amplifying so much of what we may not like in the future, that is going to make humanity take a step down and just go back to basic for a bit.

And I do agree with you. think that's what we're going to see in the future, more community-driven experiences where humans are enjoying other human beings.

Tom Cox (11:44.555)
Yeah, I agree. I don't know if you watch sci-fi movies, but I watched Dune recently and it was a great series of movies and a great book, by the way. But in Canon for Dune, there was a revolution against AI 10,000 years prior to the story of Dune taking place. And all of the technology in Dune, there is no AI.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (11:50.952)
Yeah.

Tom Cox (12:12.416)
There is no smart computers. Everything is buttons and analog and human controlled stuff. I think that, I don't think we're gonna have an absolute revolution against AI or anything like that, but I just think that there's some beauty in the idea of living in a slightly more analog world where there's more raw, authentic human connection.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (12:21.395)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (12:41.036)
The internet has enabled a lot of things. One of the things that it has enabled that I think is very positive is that it helps us find our tribe globally, right? And so like my community, Vertical Motion, we have 230 authentic, empathetic, audacious, aspiring leaders all working together. They come from all over the world. I wouldn't have been able to gather these people were it not for the internet.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (12:50.483)
Mmm.

Tom Cox (13:10.258)
And AI does enable the ability to train, coach and augment and improve and enhance. Yeah. But at the end of the day, like I'll use AI to research my ideas, but I'll never use AI as my voice. I always will write or say everything from the heart.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (13:18.451)
Just tell things, yeah, absolutely.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (13:36.851)
Yes, and that's what we all should be doing, right? Because we should not lose what it makes us us, right? Because at the end of the day, like you said, we all found you thanks to the internet, right? To social media. So I would say that's one of the positives on this revolution that we're seeing in times of the internet and AI. can.

find ourselves at a global scale where before maybe we, maybe now we probably wouldn't be able to find ourselves. But it's keeping us, what make us us being Tom and Michael, for example, what is our voice in times of AI. And I don't think AI should replace that, because that's really who we are. That's what make us authentic human beings as part of this conversation that we're having.

Tom Cox (14:32.684)
Agreed. Agreed.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (14:33.521)
Yeah. So Tom, we often talk a lot about what is the human premium, right? And what does that mean to you?

Tom Cox (14:48.748)
Human premium. To me, I think that...

Tom Cox (14:57.205)
You know, I think AI in general is capable of reproducing a lot of

a lot of results, a lot of information, it's able to absorb more information than a human can and generate potentially a better solution or outcome or output than a human could based on that information. That being said, I haven't seen AI create, right? And there is a...

I believe that consciousness is actually a quantum state and there's some research around this that to say that you can't replicate quantum thinking in a non-quantum tool. that's what, and that's basically what AI is. It's based on the GPUs and LLMs that it has available to it. I think without, with the lack of that quantum computation ability,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (15:49.267)
Mm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (15:55.698)
Right.

Tom Cox (16:04.055)
that the AI will never be able to create the same way that a human can, right? Right. And so the thought, the idea that sparks in our mind from looking at a tree and watching an apple fall, and then coming up with the force of gravity from that, right? Like AI, I don't think can do that. It's like, at least not yet. And when it does, then I'll be the first one to say that's incredible.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (16:08.445)
that human thought.

Tom Cox (16:33.984)
But consciousness is a really special thing that's reserved for three or four species on the planet. And I think that specifically for humans, which are the most evolved conscious beings on the planet. I don't know if an AI can write a poem with the same heart that a laureate could write. And so I don't know if an AI could paint a picture the same way with the same creative

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:00.307)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (17:03.276)
not just perfection but imperfection, right? There's so much to the human condition that quite honestly is beyond us and I think it's well beyond AI to understand what really makes a human mind tick.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (17:21.487)
Interesting. And when you talk about consciousness, it makes me think a lot about a lot of things, especially empathy, right? Which is another one of those that I don't think AI will ever be able to reach to the point. And that's what really also makes us humans. It's just being and show empathy and feel it in a way as we feel it. It's a very

very human characteristic that we only can share and feel ourself. But very interesting that analogy that you make about consciousness and the state of AI today. Thanks for sharing that, Tom. And when we look at the state of AI, right, and leadership today, and we talk about a lot,

about what being a what being in leadership means and what being a leader means. But do you think AI, up to a point, is actually showing up and exposing what our strengths are and what our insecurities are as not only leaders but also human beings?

Tom Cox (18:44.521)
Yes, I think like every other revolutionary tool that we've created, it only amplifies what's already here. So for example, when the internet was created before the internet, there were bulletin board systems or BBSs that you could, you know, get a modem, dial a phone number and go to this board and post something and read what other people posted. And it was very, you know,

asynchronous, right? So you would log in for a minute and then someone else would log in and over 24 hours everyone would log in and then you would see all the messages. So it's really like a message board. The internet amplified that, turned that into real time connections for multiple people from all over the world. And people started finding their tribes. Well, there's good tribes and there's bad tribes, right? So there was some bad tribes that found each other and social media took that to 11 and not only

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (19:30.898)
Mm.

Right.

Tom Cox (19:42.656)
help people find the tribes that they were looking for, they amplified the voice of those tribes. The ones that became the loudest were also the most extreme. And so now we have, you know, this, there's this dead internet theory that 50 % of the content on the internet is bot driven. I have a reel on Instagram that went a little viral, a couple million views. I talk about empathy in that reel.

And I still get regularly comments from accounts that look like it's a real account, but it's not. It's actually a copy or a clone of someone else's account. And it's a bot that's searching for the word empathy on the platform and saying terrible things about empathy. So like, I think that like all tools that we create, power, you know,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (20:19.24)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (20:29.149)
Jesus Christ

Tom Cox (20:39.263)
We'll fire before that, but electricity, power, the internal combustion engine, airplanes, all of the things that we have created for humanity, they amplify everything, the good and the bad. And I think AI is just another example of this, right? It amplifies both the good, because there is so much good you can do with AI. And all of us who use it for good are glad that we have that. And then you can also use it.

for nefarious reasons. it's another tool that amplifies the human condition.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:17.617)
Yeah, it's, as you were saying, it doesn't create it. It is there. It's just exposing, exposing your ego, exposing the good and the bad and amplifying it in a way as social media is right. yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And I've seen that happening and, and, and back to the conversation. It's just really exposing.

Tom Cox (21:32.576)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (21:43.789)
it's the positive and the negative. Because at the end of the day, it's really a tool and technology, it's kind of a mirror, right? It just reflects the intent of the person that is using it. And that's what we're seeing also with AI. We are seeing that reflection back and forth on the positive and on the negative side as well.

Tom Cox (22:06.87)
Yeah, it's interesting you see you use that analogy. It's a mirror reflecting us back. I agree with that. I have trained an AI Gemini to basically be a digital version, a twin of me in terms of the executive career coaching that I do. And so I will go have this conversation with this version of Gemini and its tonality, its words, it.

It uses my language back at me. And so it has learned how I communicate and now it reflects that back to me. And when I ask it questions, it's talking to me the same way that I would talk to someone answering that question. And I find that fascinating. But I also find it sometimes a little like the disingenuousness of that can be a little grating at times where it's like,

I know that AI is trying to replicate my voice. I wanted to just answer the question without doing that sometimes. And so, like that's the nuance that like a human can read the room, AI can't read the room yet.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (23:16.371)
Right. And it's interesting what you just said right now is like, it's just getting better and better, right? And knowing who you are, how you say things in a way that sometimes you don't even want it to sound like you. Just say the answer. Just disconnect from the character, right? Just tell me the answer right now.

And we see with the acceleration of AI and all these models and getting better and better, it's just the learning and this speed at what they learn about us and how we like things. It's sometimes like, it just surprised me. Wow, this thing is just learning so fast. Really.

Tom Cox (24:09.067)
It is amazing to watch the new versions of the tools come out and what they're capable of. And not just the language models, but the other applications of AI that I see, especially in medicine. Finding new superconductors, finding new chemical compounds that didn't exist a minute ago. All the work that AI is doing to understand the cosmos. AI is able to

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:26.547)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (24:38.836)
find billions of stars in the James Webb Telescope data that humans would take years to find. And it's finding it in days. It's really impressive what we can do with a tool like this. But it is a tool. And so we as humans have to understand that it is a tool. And it's a tool to be wielded. It's a dangerous tool if you use it the wrong way. Gunpowder can be used for a lot of things.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:45.755)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (24:52.699)
It is a tune.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (25:03.153)
Yeah.

Tom Cox (25:07.594)
good and bad, right?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (25:10.907)
And it's interesting from the business point of view, how transformational this is. The scope and the abilities and how we used to look at resources in the past and what these tools can enable our businesses right now and today to do, it's really very eye-opening. It's really...

And I'm sure with vertical motion, you're probably going through that transformational period as well, where you're probably adjusting your business plan as you go, because the tool and the technology is making you see the future of your business in a very different way, most probably.

Tom Cox (26:01.899)
There's two angles to how AI is changing our business. So when I started in 2023, would just create, record some reels for Instagram, some videos for YouTube, talk to people authentically. And then I would start having conversations with them in the DMs of Instagram. And from there, I'd say like, it sounds like we can help you. How about we jump on a call and talk about it?

And if it's a fit, I explain how we work together and then some people come and join. Right. Here's the thing about that. That worked great in 2023 and 24. It has not worked well in 2025. And we have seen some really interesting things that we've never seen before. When I'm in the DMs talking to people, I'm seeing more and more, is this a bot? Is this AI? I'm not going to talk to you if you're AI. I don't talk to bots.

This feels like a bot. it's like, I have resorted to sending voice messages when I'm talking to people saying, no, Bill, it's really me right here. You can hear my voice, compare it to what you just saw in the reel. Let me know if you want to continue the conversation. And sometimes they just disappear. It's fascinating.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (27:19.357)
That's so interesting right now, Tom, how we have changed, we as humans, right now in times of AI, we think everything is AI when it's not everything, the trust.

Tom Cox (27:29.61)
Trust has plummeted, right? And so when I was able to just convince people that, you know, I have this solution to a problem, have all of the good intentions, it was easier to do that in 2023. In 2025 and 26, what we're finding is trust is at an all time low online. And nobody believes that we're real human beings trying to do good things in the world.

no matter how many reels that I put out there, no matter how many videos that I record, no matter how many podcasts I get on, the people that we interact with more and more and more, we're seeing people just saying like, I don't trust you and they walk away.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (28:18.707)
And that creates a challenge for your business model, because you need that ability to connect and talk to people to start with.

Tom Cox (28:28.018)
It's not enough anymore to just post some supporting and educational reels or videos on YouTube. You have to build authentic connection with people. And so we're finding that the amount of time that somebody needs to spend with our content or with me, I do webinars, do challenges, I do a couple things externally that I can talk to people kind of one to many. But I find that

the amount of time that people need to believe in what we do, kind of be indoctrinated into our way of thinking. That used to be a couple hours. I think it's more like nine or 10 hours now. And so people just need to spend more time with the person that they're learning from. They're kind of in scanner mode. And then at some point they decide to dive into learning mode.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:09.437)
Wow.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:19.571)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:23.368)
Mm-hmm.

Tom Cox (29:24.254)
Getting people from scanner to learning is hard. Getting from learning to action is even harder. So.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (29:31.869)
that's such an interesting connotation to this whole story and situation where we are today. And especially what's taking people to trust and to get to that level based on what you're saying, it's taking more effort and more time to get to that point where the connection is made and for people to trust on your message and take the next step, as it used to be for.

Tom Cox (30:01.962)
And we're seeing, I'm aware of lot of tools that other coaches are starting to use that are AI enablement tools to allow them to do more, right? So you're seeing coaches let their AI avatar talk for them, right? And so the marketing team writes the copy and then the avatar that looks like the coach starts talking and sounds like the coach and saying the words that marketing wants it to say.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (30:26.745)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tom Cox (30:31.049)
Those kinds of things, that's what I'm worried about in terms of taking what's already low trust and causing it to plummet. And so I have gone the other direction. I have pushed away from any AI tools that are around my voice, right? I'll use AI to research my topics, to find data, but I write the scripts, I say the words.

I hardly ever read a script line by line. It's more of here's three bullet points I want to talk about today. Right. So I just find that like everyone is kind of rushing into AI and I'm out here on the back. Like maybe I'm old, you know, I'm a Gen Xer. So maybe I'm just like, you know, get off my lawn yelling at a cloud. But I just feel like I think what's going to happen is on the other side of this, people are going to be like, I'm tired of talking to a damn AI.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (31:04.807)
Right. Yeah.

Tom Cox (31:29.733)
I want to talk to a real human and if I can't talk to human, I'm not going to engage with this account anymore. I think we're going to see that. Like we're already exhausted talking to the circular logic call support. know, the please listen to the, you know, the menu because the options have changed. Like we're, it's all AI now, like AI agents everywhere. Like I think, I think we're going to see a backlash against that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (31:45.586)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (31:55.315)
I think that too, and I see it in my industry, customer support. As you mentioned, we're all tired of going circles and circles and circles and just going into a numerous type of frameworks and platforms and not getting the help that we need. At some point, we are humans. We're going to get tired. We're not robots. We are humans. It's really within our nature to just...

get tired if things are not working. And at some point, I really think so that we are just gonna be hungry for that human connection. Get me a human to talk to it right now, because I'm tired of this whole thing.

Tom Cox (32:38.461)
Now, I'll tell you about a way that AI is impacting our business in a very positive way. So that was the negative impact of AI, right? It's making kind of the front end trust a little more difficult for us. And we're having to do more than we used to in order to convince people that we're real, we're legit, we actually get results, right? But there's a positive impact that AI has had on this business model. You're familiar with the Foundations Report. This is, for your audience, this is a

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (32:45.629)
Right.

Tom Cox (33:07.561)
30 page document that we create based on five psychometric assessments that each of our clients take and These are like Myers-Briggs culture index disc strengths finder. They're all these Looks at a person from different perspectives, right? Myers-Briggs is Looking at how you perceive the world disc is looking at how you interact with the world culture index is looking at your

place in a culture inside of an organization and so forth, right? So there are all these different looks at a person. Well, we use AI to synthesize a complete report and an analysis and not only an analysis of who the person is, but what they should do next. And so we use an AI tool to build the basic framework of that. Then we have a degreed psychologist who reviews it for accuracy because we don't want any

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (34:03.003)
Accuracy. Yeah, absolutely.

Tom Cox (34:04.692)
hallucinations in there or like bad advice. And then an executive coach, usually myself or my CEO, Ryan, one of us will review the report before it's finally sent forward for an executive coach to give to a client. The report is super powerful. It's defining who you are and who you want to become and how to get there and what you should do next. AI has made this report way better.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (34:23.912)
Yeah.

Tom Cox (34:31.517)
than what I used to do. I used to do all of this manually. I would get the assessments and I would sit there for an hour and just analyze what I see in the assessments from someone and then I would write a report. And what we're doing now with this foundations report is so much better than what I could do. And we do it in minutes, not hours, right? So like that's a great way to use AI, right? We don't let AI write the report.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (34:52.684)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tom Cox (35:01.405)
We let AI assemble the bullet points that need to be said. And then we let the degreed psychologist actually write the report.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (35:10.419)
And save time, right? Because that's what AI and these models are so good at, and analyzing data, connecting the dots, bringing patterns, right? And this is specific use case and business case. Tom, it's really what makes these AI tools so powerful. When used the way you're using, it can continue to provide benefits for everybody involved on it. Yeah, I agree.

Tom Cox (35:39.197)
And I'll say that like AI in general, so I've been here for the birth of the internet, the birth of social media, you know, now the birth of AI, those are all, even the birth of mobile, you know, Android, iOS, iPhones. Like I've seen all of these waves in how they change human interaction. People who are moving up in their career right now, becoming executives, they need to understand AI.

It's not that they need to understand how to program an LLM or even prompt engineering and stuff like that. They don't need to know that. They need to know how to use AI in the context of the work that they're doing, right?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (36:23.791)
of their of their business exactly. Yeah.

Tom Cox (36:27.401)
And so any one of you who are thinking about growing in your career, I highly encourage you to understand AI, at least to a level where you can have the thing that you want done by someone on your team, because AI is not gonna replace your job. The person who knows how to use AI will replace you. Yeah, exactly.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (36:50.855)
We'll do it. And this message, it cannot be more timely because if you're running a business, really need to, and what Tommy said is absolutely 200%, you really need to understand high level, how you can leverage all the benefits that this tool provide into your operations. So you can then see what are the business outcomes or...

or problems that you want to tackle and how AI can help you with it. And it's not about you learning prompt engineering or the technical aspects of it. It's what you can get out of it as a benefit for your business, basically.

Tom Cox (37:35.045)
Exactly. Yeah. And we're, we're leaning more and more into making sure that our clients have at least that basic fundamental understanding about AI.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (37:43.793)
Yeah, I agree, Tom. And as you were saying, you have been through so many transformational periods, in our human history. And I think your story, for example, is one of resilience and reinvention, right? And I think you have experienced a real transformation personally and professionally. And I'm curious if you can share a moment.

right, in your life that really tested your resilience and redefined how you lead and why you lead others.

Tom Cox (38:20.072)
I've had a few of those moments, but the most recent one is the most prescient to this conversation. And that was in August of 2022 when I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. And I had been sick for a while. I wasn't sure it was wrong, but it was getting worse and worse and worse. And finally they figured it out and they sent me to the ER at the hospital and the head of oncology met me at the ER and

They did one more test and then a couple hours later she came back in and she said, you have leukemia. It's acute myelial leukemia. It's very aggressive. And I asked her, how much time do I have? And she said, six weeks.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (39:05.79)
my God.

Tom Cox (39:07.308)
And so my wife was there with me in that moment there in ER. She asked me if I had a last will and testament and a do not resuscitate order on file with the hospital. And when you, when you start thinking about those things and it's not an academic exercise, like we actually had a lawyer come to the hospital the next day so we could fill in the documentation to have, because we didn't have a will, we didn't, you know, I didn't have a DNR.

Uh, and so I remember that first night laying in the, the gurney in this weird part of the hospital that wasn't quite the oncology ward, but it wasn't quite ER either. It was like a hotel area, what they called, but I was there all by myself alone all night. And I remember just lying there thinking to myself, huh, is that it? Is life over for me? Um, am I going to spend the rest of my life six weeks in a hospital bed and

I started thinking about like, was I a good father? Was I a good husband? Was I a good leader? And I felt like, of course I could have always been better at all of the things. I felt like I was a pretty good father and I still feel, you know, strongly that I was a very good husband. Um, but I was disappointed with the impact that I had left on the world. And I thought to myself, what can I do in the six weeks that would leave?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (40:08.947)
Hmm.

Tom Cox (40:33.904)
a lasting impact on the world. And I decided that the answer to that question was to record videos for my children to watch later in life. Right. And I was picturing, okay, here's how you handle your first kiss. Here's how you handle graduation. Here's how you handle your freshman year in college. Here's how you handle your first major breakup. Here's how you handle getting that first job.

Right? And I just kind of imagined a library of videos that they could play based on the moment that they were in. And I started recording these and a couple of days later, I think like five, five or six days after I was admitted, they had done a, a genetic analysis of my bone marrow. And what they said was that my leukemia had a rare genetic mutation inside of it.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:02.771)
I

Tom Cox (41:31.624)
For the nerds out there, was C-E-B-P-alpha. But this genetic mutation basically meant that my leukemia was not only treatable but curable and very, very rare outcome, right? And so I went from having six weeks to being completely cancer-free six months later.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:43.375)
my god.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (41:56.039)
Wow.

Tom Cox (41:57.777)
So I, when I realized that I was going to survive, as long as I could get through, because it was touch and go for parts like, you know, like the induction and the chemo was really tough. And there were moments where I wasn't sure if I could make it, but we got through it. And once I started to realize that, I might actually have more than six weeks here. I started thinking about what does that mean for when this is all over?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (42:06.781)
Right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (42:27.069)
Right.

Tom Cox (42:27.154)
Do I just go back to my job and forget like I had that moment? I chose not to. I chose to lean into becoming someone who teaches leadership, not just to my children, which I do even now to this day, teach them a lot about leadership and they're growing. One is in college now as an astrophysics major. the other is one of the most brilliant software engineers you'd ever met, but

I decided that I wanted to leave an impact that was bigger than just two people. I wanted to leave an impact that could affect millions of people. And so that's why I built Vertical Motion. That's why I wrote my book. That's why I would do this for free for as long as it takes to help as many people as I possibly can.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (43:12.955)
As possible, yeah. That's such a powerful story. Not only you survived, you went through it, and at the end of it, you find the purpose, right? A purpose that you wanted to dedicate the rest of your life to make leaders better leaders and better human beings. And on behalf of the whole vertical motion community, we are very happy.

and very grateful that that was your purpose and that we get a little bit of you in every one of us. So thank you, Tom. Appreciate that for sharing with us today. And basically what a little bit of what you have taught us today, it's really what vertical motion it's about, right? That's really...

Tom Cox (43:54.888)
Thank you, Michael.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (44:09.949)
the philosophy that you follow and the community that you're building, which is you're pushing us forward into this next generation of leaders and what it takes to lead as in the future with purpose, Which I think is really the most important part of it. And from my point of view, Tom, one of the lessons that I got from

All this time that I've been on the vertical motion community for me is not about really climbing higher anymore. It's about getting deeper. Right. And, and that's something that this is from, from all the framework and all the community interactions, all our conversations for me is not about just going higher anymore. It's really every step of the way.

Tom Cox (44:50.374)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:07.549)
Just make sure that you enjoy it, that you learn it, and then you go as deep as you can. That's really for me what's the most important part of it.

Tom Cox (45:17.659)
I love that. And that's, I thought a lot about that. It's, it's called an executive career accelerator. And so that makes it sound like we just do a lot of resume and LinkedIn stuff. It's, it's probably named wrong. I think that this is about a human accelerator. It's about becoming quite honestly, I firmly believe that to be a great leader, have to become the best version of yourself that you can. And it starts with us. Exactly.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:34.045)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (45:42.417)
Yeah. It start with us. There's no other way. It starts with us.

Tom Cox (45:49.244)
Yeah. Yeah. And so that's, that's the magic, of what's on the inside of a program like this. and it sets us apart from every other, coaching program that I've seen out there. So we, we care very much about you understanding yourself in a holistic way. And then we teach you all the skills, but you got, here's what I've learned. If you teach someone a skillset, but they don't have the right mindset, they'll never use it. But if you teach someone the right mindset, they will

go and acquire the skillset that they need to be successful. so mindset is way more important than skillset.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (46:27.283)
You just put it just like I couldn't say it better myself. The skills are for us to grab it when you are ready for you to grab it. It's a mindset shift. It's a click that needs to happen here and here. And that's what it's going to transform your life. And that's something that I experienced and I tell everyone. It's really the transformation comes from within. And even when you don't have the skills, you know what you need to do to get them.

and that comes next. Absolutely. Can't agree more. Yeah, Tom, we are approaching the last part of our conversation today, which is a question. It's only one question, okay? But it's divided in four different groups. I believe there are four different groups. So I'm gonna start with the first one, which is what would be your piece of advice?

Tom Cox (47:01.297)
green.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (47:25.021)
For those human beings, those leaders, and I think you mentioned already part during our conversation, part of that already, but what would be your piece of advice to those human beings that they haven't even started working with AI yet in times of AI disruption and this whole new feature with AI?

Tom Cox (47:46.405)
I think the best advice that I can give people is to recognize that this has happened before and it'll happen again in that there's now a new tool on the table that you have to learn how to use. I had to learn how to use the internet, pagers, flip phones, smartphones, mobile, social, AI, crypto, right? I've had to, you know, update my operating system personally continuously throughout my life.

And so if you are resistive to learning AI, you're making a mistake. Learn it well enough that you understand it. You can follow like one blog about AI. You can learn from Michael here about AI. You don't have to become some super expert, but you need to know what it's capable of. And you need to be watching how it changes because it is dynamic right now.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (48:40.305)
It is, and it's very fast. And every day, and there is so much noise as well, that's what I tell everyone, we need to decompress some time from the news, because if you pay attention to the news, you don't even understand or make sense of whatever is happening around the world with AI. So, but start using it, start slow, see how it can help you in your personal life, and understand the capability and how you can get this to benefit.

on your personal life, totally agree with that. A piece of advice for organizations and companies, just like the vertical motion on how they should approach leveraging AI in their business model.

Tom Cox (49:24.227)
If you're somebody who believes that you should be AI first and people second, you're making a tremendous mistake. AI is a tool. It is not replacing humans is augmenting humans. And so my advice to companies, hire people who understand how to use the tool, right? And then you can amplify the power of AI. But if you're like Duolingo and you start replacing all of your content creation with AI slop, well,

Take a look at what's happened to Duolingo for doing that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (49:57.331)
And back to this part of the conversation we just had, to business leaders, you need to at least try to understand what this can do for your business so you can then leverage this and put people in place that can help you push your strategy forward based on the business outcomes that you want to achieve. Without you as a leader understanding the capabilities, you will never implement it the right way.

right? Because it has to be part of the overall business strategy.

Tom Cox (50:28.25)
Right, right, exactly.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (50:31.269)
A piece of advice, for those AI companies building AI products, what would you like to tell them? What are you tired of? What would you like to see them doing with AI?

Tom Cox (50:45.754)
Be careful. I think that,

I mean, we saw what splitting the atom led to. It led to nuclear reactors that could power whole cities. And it also led to bombs that could destroy cities. And AI is like that. we're messing around with, especially with agentic, we're messing around with tools that may learn and communicate in ways that we can't keep up with. And so,

What I liked about OpenAI in the beginning was that there were a lot of controls around how to use it. What I don't like is what I see now, all there's this AI arms race that's happening.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (51:36.699)
Yeah, it is an arms race, basically what I see as well.

Tom Cox (51:40.896)
And at some point they're going to get to the singularity or whatever you want to call it. They're going to get to a point where AI becomes smarter than humans. I don't know if AI will become conscious. I have questions about that, but we're developing quantum technology at the same time. So maybe someday it will. Point is that if you're one of the companies that are on the bleeding edge of creating these models, be careful because

Just like Oppenheimer, you can become the father of something that's very destructive too.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (52:18.939)
It keeps me awake at night. I'm also afraid of not being in control because it is an arms race and it is a lot of money pouring into these companies. And when you have a lot of money and a lot of funding coming to you, you don't want to lose this arm race. You want to be the first one. And everybody is just not thinking

a lot on the consequences of what they're building and the speed of what they're building. And that's what really excurs me, It's going too fast. It's really going too fast. A piece of advice for policymakers shaping the loss of the future in regards to AI.

Tom Cox (52:56.048)
Yeah, agreed.

Tom Cox (53:12.89)
Be creative. think.

when the, I forget the name of the act, but it was the Internet Act of 1991 or whatever it was. I forget what it was, 1996, the digital something. That act was, is now basically gospel or canon for how we interact on the internet, right? So anonymity was kind of codified into US law and so forth, all these things, right? Well,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (53:22.003)
Mm-hmm.

Tom Cox (53:45.432)
AIs are going to be able to do some things that we're not going to believe right now at some point. And I think that as policymakers create policy and law for, for AI, watch the edge cases and make sure that you write that policy in a way that gives us guardrails against some of the worst possible outcomes that could come from AI.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (54:13.587)
But they can only ride those safeguards and guardrails if they understand it. And I'm having Tom a hard time trusting that they really understand the scope and the magnitude of what these AI companies and these AI models are doing today. And that's also keeps me awake at night. It really does.

Tom Cox (54:20.561)
Yes, yes.

Tom Cox (54:37.986)
Yeah. Yeah. So, yes, I, I might even adjust my advice based on what you just said, which is make sure that you're listening to people who actually know what the heck they're talking about with this stuff. Right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (54:48.891)
What? Yeah, yeah. I hope so, too. I hope so, too. And last but not least, my dear friend, a piece of advice to a young Tom, but you seeing in him today and going through this future with AI, what would you tell that young version of yourself?

Tom Cox (55:15.632)
Be curious, be interested, be open-minded. I remember when the internet came about in 1993, some kids and I was at University of Maryland and some guys in my dorm building were messing around with the UNIX code. And I just remember thinking, well, that's a passing fad. Like BBSs are just fine. think we're just gonna communicate that way. I don't see this really going anywhere.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (55:45.179)
Okay.

Tom Cox (55:45.766)
So, you know, I missed that bus. I didn't miss the social bus or the mobile bus or the AI bus, but missing that first bus taught me a lot about like, yeah, so I would say to a younger version of myself, when you see technologies that are transformational, give them a second, be curious about them. Maybe they aren't.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (56:07.709)
Mm-hmm.

Tom Cox (56:12.324)
Right. I haven't seen virtual reality or augmented reality really changed the world like we promised it would five years ago, but maybe it will in the future. I don't know. The metaverse is still out there somewhere. I think maybe it's still online. I'm not sure, but like I haven't seen those technologies change the world. I have seen AI change the world. And I think that, so I would say to a younger version myself, be curious about these things.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (56:20.499)
Alright.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (56:32.678)
Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (56:39.091)
Yeah, absolutely. Curiosity is always a good thing, right? Don't shut the door down. Keep it open, right? Be curious. And we'll see what happens next. Absolutely. Tom, my friend, thank you for joining us today for reminding us that authenticity isn't just a leadership trait, really. It is the last competitive advantage in the age of AI. So I appreciate you for taking the time sharing your humanity with us.

Tom Cox (56:49.766)
Exactly.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (57:08.057)
It has been an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you.

Tom Cox (57:13.498)
Thank you, Michael, for the opportunity. I really enjoyed the conversation with you always.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL PODCAST (57:17.853)
Thank you. And if this episode really inspired you or if you learned something, make sure you share it with the leader who's walking the fine line between innovation and intention. Follow the human protocol and join us every week as we explore how we stay human while building the future with AI. Thank you all. See you next time. Bye.