How is AI impacting the future of the commercial real estate industry? Dr. Kelly Monahan will answer this question and explore how AI, when used solely for efficiency, can unintentionally fuel burnout. She emphasizes that instead of focusing solely on outcomes, organizations should rethink how they measure performance and talent acquisition—shifting toward a human-centered approach. She explains how leaders can protect their workforce by leveraging AI as a tool for growth, learning, and innovation rather than mere productivity. She’ll unpack why many companies face a productivity paradox despite heavy AI investments and offer actionable strategies to overcome this disconnect, underscoring that true success in the AI era lies in human-centered leadership, not just adopting new technologies.

As the former Managing Director of the Future of Work Research Institute at Upwork, Monahan was responsible for leading the organization’s data analytics and insights and advising top executives on how to incorporate those findings to augment the employee experience and create mutually beneficial workplace-worker dynamics. Prior to Upwork, she served as Director of Future of Work at Meta and as Principal Director of Global Talent Research at Accenture, where she provided expertise and counsel to executives and decision-makers on workforce of the future issues. Before that, she was the lead Future of Work researcher at Deloitte. Monahan has been recognized and published in both applied and economic journals.

In addition to being an author of How Behavioral Economics Influences Management Decision Making and her newest book, Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership, she has written more than a dozen publications, is a TEDx speaker, and is frequently quoted in the media. In her own words, her research is driven by her desire to make our workplaces more meaningful.