AI is creating new opportunities for leaders willing to rethink how they measure their people alongside their profits. The Human Success Playbook from Zensai is a practical guide to leading through AI-driven change by connecting how people grow to business performance.
Written by Zensai CEO Rasmus Holst, Chief Human Success Officer Nina Carøe, Silicon Valley veteran Robin Daniels, and best-selling author Chris Westfall, the first three chapters follow two CEOs navigating investor pressure and rising expectations in real time. Through their conversations in Manhattan, they introduce Human Success: a way to track learning, engagement, and performance in one place so leaders can make decisions grounded in real data about their people.
Chapter 1: Lost
Evan wrinkled his brow. He cursed as he slammed his laptop shut.
On the other side of the marble coffee table, Rasmus Holst wondered what his friend had just seen in his email. He took a sip from his cappuccino and waited.
Holst, a tall man with angular features and a regal shock of dark hair that looked like a crown, was an unusual CEO. He was someone who could listen to anyone, anywhere, on any topic and no matter what they said, Rasmus did not flinch. He listened. Perhaps it was his Danish upbringing, having been raised in Copenhagen, where he learned that decisive action can be a burden, not a privilege. He was not afraid to move quickly, but he knew that sometimes fools rush in. From catastrophe to conquest, observation was the first step. Often, he would say he wasn’t the smartest person in the room. But in any situation, he could identify who was. And then, if it made business sense, he would figure out how to hire that person. Even when being decisive, he always acknowledged his team’s expertise at the outset. This approach preserved tryghed (Danish for a sense of security) and allowed him to gather multiple viewpoints before offering his own.
Rasmus’s instincts were impeccable. His Scandinavian resolve and business intuition made him lean in on trust, with a strong desire for a minimalistic org chart. His global perspective made him ambitious, but in a way that was collaborative not aggressive or self-serving. That shared desire for success, perhaps the hallmark of the best CEOs, connected the two friends. So Evan, the CEO of a California-based company with strong ties to Asia, trusted him with what he was about to say.
Amidst the clinking of cups and clicks on keyboards within the crisp and modern café, the two men looked into the future. And told secrets that no one else was ever going to hear. Just before the pandemic, the west side of Manhattan underwent a bit of a transformation. Anew hotel opened next to the Shed, a multi-purpose performance space, art house, and cultural center, unlike any other building on the planet. The Highline, a nearly two-mile long public park built on a historic elevated freight rail line, bordered Hudson Yards, the revitalized neighborhood that contained the Shed, the Equinox Hotel, and other landmarks (like the Vessel) near a high-end shopping complex called the Westfield World Trade Center. Near this impressive combination of buildings and people, in the shadow of Hudson Yards, Rasmus sat.
He sat with his cappuccino and his friend. And he when the two men unpacked the problems of the listened.
Just like those days in college together, world. He listened. “What am I not seeing?” Evan blurted out. He shoved his laptop into a backpack near his left foot.
These two CEOs were headed into battle together. They just didn’t know it yet.
Rasmus wore a black t-shirt, dark tan tech pants, a digital watch, and a concerned look on his face. Evan Sato, a thin Asian man of average height but above-average ideas, wore jeans and a cotton sport coat. He hadn’t shaved in three days.
Evan looked around the cafe. A media favorite with camera-ready looks and a propensity for cutting through the bullshit, Evan often appeared on the BBC, Bloomberg Europe, and multiple media outlets in the USA to talk about doing business in Asia. Rasmus noticed that his determined confidence in front of the cameras and on LinkedIn was flickering, like the light through the large picture window behind him.
Evan kicked his backpack under the table. He decided to say the quiet part out loud.
“How do I build a sustainable business in the age of AI?”
The AI problem was flashing on everyone’s screen, everywhere, but nobody had solved it yet. What was the “right” governance model within this brave new world? Every CEO was supposed to have an answer. No one really did. Looking at the black box of artificial intelligence, Evan needed more than theories or trends for his business.
“I need an operating model that makes sense,” Evan said. Rasmus was puzzled. He knew that Evan had an operating model. A sustainable business. A track record of success. What had happened to throw his friend off balance?
Despite his public advocacy for AI, Evan’s revenues had stagnated over the last twelve months. His sales were in decline. His profit margins were shrinking (due to a blowup in engineering and a missed product launch last spring). As CEO, Evan was doing something he had never done before: he was failing to meet expectations.
Transitioning to AI was more than just a technological initiative. It was a challenge to Evan’s identity. Who was he, this CEO with multiple exits, if not a successful, determined and resolute leader? How could he advocate for AI when the tech didn’t love him back?
For Evan, AI was an offscreen enemy. Beyond the increased efficiency, LLMs threatened his company, his career, his track record. Just like artificial intelligence was doing to everyone else on the planet, tech was forcing an uncomfortable change. And his Board of Directors was not happy with the plan.
A board member had confronted Evan an ambush, really in their recent Zoom call. What they had asked was impossible. Unthinkable. Evan rejected the Board’s proposed direction calling it an “overreach”. He explained the situation to the tall Danish gent on the other side of the table.
The Board wanted to know: if the company was utilizing and advocating for AI, why didn’t Evan’s numbers match the competition and the market? And the implied but unstated inquiry on everyone’s mind but no one’s lips: was Evan making the right decisions?
In the fateful call, Evan explained, he announced his plans for the company. The story fell on deaf ears. The Board quickly and unanimously rejected his direction and inserted their own. The positive sentiment he had experienced in private conversations was gone in the public forum of the conference call. That reversal meant that there were conversations Evan was not hearing. Sentiments he did not sense.
Secrets in the Slack channel.
Evan feared the unknown.
Evan’s vision was not endorsed by his top investors. That lack of endorsement was a problem. Not every idea was a winner, he knew, but a vote of no-confidence was a challenge. Instead of heeding their direction, and folding up like a lawn chair, Evan dug in. He pushed back.
He doubled down on his own initiatives.
He was gambling with the people inside his company. And his Board didn’t think it was a sure bet.
Rasmus listened with deep interest. “Any executive in tech, or marketing, or pharmaceuticals even somebody that owns a manufacturing business in Missouri you’ve got to be asking the same question: ‘what’s the right way to engineer this company around artificial intelligence?’” Rasmus stated.
“How do we create a competitive model against AI-native competitors?” Evan continued. That was exactly what his newest investor had said on the call just before he rejected all the CEO’s ideas.
“There’s no rulebook, no precedent, no map,” Evan said.
“Of course,” Rasmus reasoned, leaning forward, “you don’t need a map if you have a GPS. If you have a way to navigate that meets you where you are, in real time, you’re always up to date. Get lost with a map and you’re in a world of hurt, ‘cause you don’t know where you are. Get lost with a GPS and it reroutes. Automatically.”
Evan nodded.
Rasmus went on, “When it comes to governance and AI, people want a case study. Good luck. It doesn’t exist. We are in the middle of the experiment right now. We are all creating the AI map from inside the journey.”
The Dane picked up his cappuccino and looked at Evan. “People always want rules instead of tools.” Maybe that was part of Evan’s frustration. Could Rasmus offer a solution? Looking across the table at his friend, Rasmus wondered if Evan’s Board was searching for a new CEO. His instincts were spot on the search was already underway. Evan was in trouble, and both men knew it. Luckily, Evan was not alone.
The Personalized Playbook
If AI can manage tasks, what is the indispensable role of the human leader?
After each chapter, a summary of key themes, with questions to consider, can help to align and internalize what’s unfolding. More importantly, the Personalized Playbook summary is designed to activate your own expertise and insight so that this book becomes your personal journey, as well as a tool to share with your team(s). Because stories without application are just entertainment. What is the story that you are creating, for yourself and your organization, in the age of AI? Evan is up against a lot. Rasmus is there to help.
Who’s in your corner, supporting your leadership with a fresh perspective? The Personalized Playbook is a way to access your own insights and instincts, as you reflect on your own story.
Consider the following:
1. Examine Assumptions: What fixed assumptions does your organization hold onto, regarding AI? Are you working with a map, or a GPS, when it comes to decisions around human/AI interaction?
2. Identifying with Identity: As a leader, can you relate to the way Evan sees a slip in performance as a challenge to his identity? How is AI impacting your identity, as a leader and contributor to the organization: is it helping, or hindering, your progress?
3. Changing the Conversation: What are the unheard conversations within your organization maybe even within your Board of Directors around AI adoption, and the role of team members in that equation?
4. Facilitate Communication: What are three things you could do to encourage a safe space for secrets to be shared before they become a crisis? What would happen if you had a more candid and open dialogue with the people that matter most, around AI and its effects on the team?
Chapter 2: The Silver Bullet
“When it comes to the game of AI, the rules have changed. The tools are all we have.” Rasmus leaned into the small marble table as he spoke. “Ultimately, we are all finding our own answers in real-time. Like using a GPS.”
Evan raised his eyebrows. The idea of navigation was intriguing.
Navigation was what he needed.
Encouraged by his reaction, Rasmus continued, “That GPS is what we are working on at my company,” he said, tasting his cappuccino one last time before it got cold. “We are rerouting, right now and helping our clients to do the same.”
“Rasmus,” Evan said, putting his elbows on the table, “I’m sitting at my desk in LA, breathing hard after another board meeting, wondering what the hell just happened.”
Rasmus nodded. He knew the feeling exactly.
Evan continued describing the memory: “My CTO just pitched another AI investment. The CFO told everyone our margins were flat. The CSO is doing everything except a handstand to drive numbers. My CHRO just looks overwhelmed because no one cares about attrition. All I know is this uncomfortable truth: we are not ready.”
Rasmus offered a detailed scientific rebuttal which he engineered with great care:
“No shit,” he replied.
Evan laughed in spite of himself.
Evan lifted his hands as he spoke. “The headlines today talked of another AI-native company that reached $100 million in revenue in less than a year. Less than a year!”
Rasmus knew of the company. The vibe coding legend was yet another AI success story: a unicorn with a billion-dollar valuation. And in an adjacent business sector, no less. So now Evan was facing a competitor with more traction, less people, better margins, and greater investor enthusiasm.
Evan’s board wanted to know what he was going to do about it. So did he. Make no mistake, Evan had a strategic plan and a vision for the company. But no one including Evan believed it would work.
Evan said, “In the past, you could run a company where your average revenues per employee were $200-300,000. And that was good, right? If your company was making $100 million, you had a payroll of 300 or 400 people. Not anymore! Now the expectation is to create an AI-native company, where you have one tenth of that headcount. You’ve gotta have revenues of $2-3 million per employee now—because others are doing that model with AI! OK, great, but what if you built your business in a more traditional way? You’re running a company that is 10 or 20 or 50 years old. You are not AI native. You’re trying to engage and utilize AI as a tool. Everybody is grabbing apps or building apps or using AI wherever they can, that’s what we are trying to do. It’s a totally different org structure and governance and…” his voice trailed off. “What about the team? What about the people?” He stopped.
His words cut so deeply that they finally hit the bone. People, Evan thought to himself, that’s where AI stops. And where it all starts. People.
Evan looked at his old friend. He wanted to tell Rasmus of his plan.
But those details would have to wait. Because these next words spilled out of him like blood from a deep open wound.
“I can’t just cut people! I’ve worked hard to build this team. We aren’t AI-native, but we use AI, of course, and our products are great and AI-centric but that’s not enough for the board and for our investors so I have hundreds of people on the payroll just like you, Rasmus and I can’t wave a magic wand and just ‘poof’, transform my EBITDA!”
He was talking about earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization EBITDA. A crucial number for a CEO. For many investors, the only number that really mattered.
Evan’s number was not good. It was getting worse. Something had to be done.
So he did what he always did: he took bold and decisive action. His counter-intuitive plan had shocked his investors and board members.
He didn’t care. Or did he?
“EBITDA is the holy grail, you know this, and all these investor terms like Rule of 40 exist within a context and that context is the structure of the company and the people inside it,” he said, finding his thoughts by saying what the two men already knew. “I’m wondering about any kinds of layoffs and what that is going to do to morale because the minute my best people see a large-scale reduction, they are going to go elsewhere. But they are already seeing the shifts. We are in the middle of the change, not in front of it! People want case studies and reference points-ha! That is hilarious because there’s never been anything exactly like this. There is no clear perspective, no frame of reference, but people try to find it. ‘AI is sort of like a calculator’ is like saying ‘COVID is like a cold’. Similar, maybe but nowhere near the same. With wildly different repercussions!” Evan realized he was raising his voice and caught himself. He took a breath to gather his thoughts.
The next words were conspiratorial almost a whisper: “People are already talking about how companies are changing. The writing is on the wall,” Evan said.
“What kind of writing? What do you mean?” Rasmus asked. Evan listed several famous-name companies that had laid off tens of thousands of workers despite record profits.
“You do your corporate hygiene,” he said, referencing how small reductions in the workforce can make the balance sheet look more attractive and tidier. “You cut your bottom five percent; it gives you a better annual report everyone knows this. People are seeing that layers layers are being cut off. That’s not the bottom 5% at the end of the year. The Fortune 500 is rethinking the workforce. Tech companies are leading the way, but others are following. They have to! Manufacturing, healthcare… My board is looking at EBITDA and telling me to ‘fix it’… fix the number…” He shook his head as he repeated himself. “The number…”
Evan sighed.
He said, “I can’t tell if AI is the greatest tool in the history of business or if there’s a werewolf loose in our headquarters.”
That was a weird reference, Rasmus thought to himself.
He was trying to remember how to kill a werewolf. Was it a wooden stake?
Evan sat back in his chair and kicked his backpack under the table once again for good measure. “Where is the model that tells me how to survive this, without killing what’s still working? I’m not afraid to make cuts but I’d like to do it without destroying trust, or culture, or momentum.”
“You want a silver bullet for this werewolf?” Rasmus said with a smile. Evidently, he did remember.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a silver bullet,” he continued. “But AI is not your enemy it’s not a monster that’s on the loose.
“I do have a team that is helping me. And helping our customers and our investors with these exact same questions. And a few others that you haven’t mentioned yet. But I know you’re thinking about them because we all are,” Rasmus said.
He explained that his team was creating a kind of new positioning system a sustainable governance mechanism for the age of AI. He said it wasn’t just some newfangled strategy or retrofitted set of soft skills for HR. It was a way to change the conversation in the boardroom. And the breakroom. And everywhere in between.
Then he said what Evan really needed to hear: “It helps you to fix the number.”
Evan wondered to himself, which one?
Reading his friend’s mind, Rasmus said, “All of them.”
A bold claim, Evan thought. Would it work for him? At this point he needed to try something. Anything. He needed a fresh perspective. Could Rasmus offer some kind of guidance that would turn his plan around?
Someone close to Evan, on his Board, wanted him replaced. Evan’s bold moves had triggered a troubling clause inside his employment contract. The clock was ticking on Evan’s career. “Let’s walk back to the hotel and meet my team,” Rasmus said. “We’ll tell you everything we have discovered so far.”
The Personalized Playbook
1. The New Success Metric: Evan highlights the new expectation of $2–3 million in revenue per employee driven by AI-native competitors. What is your organization’s current Revenue Per Employee (RPE)? How does this number compare to AI-native leaders in your industry? What specific gap must you close to compete in your industry, and to align with this new standard?
2. A Werewolf, or an Asset? Evan struggles to distinguish AI as a “greatest tool” from a destructive “werewolf”. Where in your organization are you applying AI strategically as a tool? Where is the fear of AI (the “werewolf”) driving reactive, fear-based decisions like management by headline or destructive layoffs?
3. The Cost of Corporate Hygiene: Evan worries that large-scale reductions will cause his best people to leave, sacrificing momentum and trust for a short-term boost in EBITDA. Beyond the immediate cost savings, what is the calculated cost to your culture and talent pipeline if you were to mandate a significant workforce reduction purely to “fix the number”? What is the counter-intuitive bold action (like Evan’s first move) that prioritizes long-term trust over short-term financial optics?
4. Beyond the Silver Bullet: Rasmus claims his approach can help “fix the number,” meaning “all of them”. If you stopped searching for a single “silver bullet” solution, what three organizational numbers (e.g., EBITDA, RPE, Employee Engagement Score, Product Innovation Speed) would you prioritize fixing simultaneously to signal a balanced, humancentered approach to AI integration?
Chapter 3: Wizards And Warriors
Nina and Robin entered the chat.
On the short walk from the coffee shop to the hotel at the center of Hudson Yards, Rasmus made a quick phone call to his two chief lieutenants. He explained the situation and told them how to prepare for the upcoming conversation. Rejoining Evan after the call, they walked quickly to the hotel and boarded the elevator in the lobby.
The elevator doors opened, and the two men stepped into the restaurant on the 24th floor.
Evan was preoccupied. He made lists in his head, he always had and today was no different. His attention to detail made him replay last week’s Board meeting. What am Imissing, he wondered to himself as he watched mental game films, trying to find his blind spot. What is it that I’m not seeing? The investor triad there were three seats taken by his lead investment firm was making a ballsy move. Or creating a clear and present danger to the company. Was this a test?
The men exited the dining area to discover a large outside patio an enormous space where 200 people could enjoy an uncrowded cocktail party, surrounded by skyscrapers and views of the Hudson River.
A large mid-afternoon shadow sliced a diagonal through the space, blocking the sun for those who stayed close to the building while helping those near the bar to work on a tan.
Tucked into the shadow and seated in a low-slung wooden chair, a tall woman with sandy blonde hair was listening to an energetic guy wearing bright orange running shoes. The woman started to laugh as the man stood up to make a point. They were both smiling when they turned to see Evan and Rasmus.
“Evan! Wow!” Robin Daniels said, extending his right hand.
Nina Carøe stood up to exchange greetings as well. She said, “Why am I not surprised that you two know each other? I guess it’s true. Everybody knows Robin.
“Hi Evan, I’m Nina Carøe.” She pronounced the o-slash like a standard “o”, “care-oh”, to keep it simple. Like Rasmus, Nina worked at the company’s headquarters in Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, Evan and Robin played a quick game of connect the dots. After 25+ years in Silicon Valley, working at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, WeWork and Box, Robin Daniels was a Silicon Valley warrior, and he had met Evan on more than one occasion. Evan remembered that Robin had been a part of 2 ½ IPOs. Evan was an early investor in Matterport one of Robin’s successful exits and they chuckled over the “½” part. WeWork was a bit of a mixed bag for owners and investors alike, they agreed. Silicon Valley was like a small town everybody seemed to know somebody.
Like Nina and Rasmus, Robin was a native of Copenhagen but he had moved to the US in his early twenties. Once upon a time, he bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco, launching a career that would take him all over the world.
Although Evan knew of Robin’s corporate history and reputation, he didn’t know that Robin and Rasmus worked together. Rasmus explained that, in a few hours, Robin would deliver the kickoff keynote for the conference. Evan congratulated Robin, saying, “I guess that explains why your smiling face is on all the TV screens in the hotel.” Evan was planning on being at the presentation, and reconnecting with his own team at the kickoff. Then he confessed that he didn’t know much about the software company that his friend Rasmus was running.
Rasmus, Robin and Nina took turns filling in the gaps to get Evan up to speed.
The company’s software was the only cloud-based AI-powered learning, performance and engagement platform built into Microsoft® 365. Their customers covered multiple sectors manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, hospitality, and more. What started as a learning management system had become something much more than just a repository for training programs. Rasmus explained that the heart of the expansion was an acquisition of a Danish company called ValueBeat. The co-founder of that company was Nina Carøe.
“I told Nina that I loved what she was doing at ValueBeat,” Rasmus said, describing the purchase. “Because she was datadriven and her solution was data-driven around the people stuff. So, we made plans to buy the company.”
“And then in that meeting,” Nina said, with emphasis, “I was wondering, ‘why is he asking all of these questions about me’?” That remark made Robin laugh.
“He wanted to hire you, of course,” Evan said, smiling.
“He knew what I cared about: people,” Nina said. Rasmus chimed in: “That’s right!”
“Nina is our Chief Human Success Officer,” Robin added.
“Excuse me? She’s what?” Evan said.
Robin pointed at the chairs to Evan’s left. “Let’s sit down and we can explain.”
Nina picked up on Evan’s question. “Human Success is a framework, a platform and a philosophy. It’s something that we’ve designed the three of us to help leaders to lead from a more intelligent place. Human success informs every team, every collaboration, every decision. And it allows for a numbers-based insight into performance.”
“At the company level, or an individual level?” Evan asked.
“Both,” Nina said.
“I guess I’m the first Chief Human Success Officer,” she said with a smile. “Our company is helping leaders and employees to track progress in a new way, with AI at the center of the conversation. But we never forget that the outcome is always Human Success,” she explained.
“You know how inputs plus outputs equals outcomes, right? Pretty straightforward, I guess. I share this in all my keynotes,” Robin stated. “Lots of folks treat AI like it’s the outcome, but it’s not. It’s just another input. Which means that, if we structure things correctly, it’s something that is absolutely within our control.”
Evan took this in. He nodded.
“So, for us, we are a Human Success company,” Rasmus said. “Saying ‘human resources’ or ‘HR’ treats employees like numbers. Like factors of production, or PPE,” he said, abbreviating for property, plant and equipment. “The best part is, when you have the elements of Human Success in place, you can speak about your people and your performance with a level of analysis that rivals the financial details of your CFO,” he said.
Evan thought that sounded like a bold claim. But he stayed silent – and curious.
“Every Chief Human Resources Officer wants a seat at the table, and wants to be taken seriously,” Nina shared. “But without hard numbers around performance, career paths, collaboration and more, the conversation feels…soft. Squishy. That’s why I left HR and started ValueBeat. HR was broken. HR was tracking absence. Human Success tracks impact. Ultimately, HR wasn’t serving employees. It wasn’t serving the leadership. And it wasn’t possible to have a concrete and meaningful conversation with investors,” she said.
“Until now,” Robin added.
He continued, “A team is really just a collection of people trying to achieve great things together. And now, AI is part of that team. Together, every business wants the same thing. The outcome we are all working towards is Human Success.”
“Sounds like it’s a new method of governance or structure,” Evan offered.
“In simple terms,” Rasmus said with a nod.
“Like a GPS?” Evan queried.
Rasmus nodded, but a little more slowly this time – smiling as if to say, “Now you get it.”
“Human Success takes in the entire organization and provides a numbers-based analysis for performance. It’s both a dashboard view, and an individual roadmap, that rivals the level of detail that your CFO sees on the balance sheet.”
Evan was intrigued, and he wondered if this Human Success idea would fit for his company and what that might look like. As he considered the possibilities, Nina shifted the conversation. “Evan, can we talk about what’s going on with you?”
Robin added, “Rasmus said you are getting some pushback from your board. And there are some questions about AI?” he said. “What’s up?”
As Robin and Nina finished each other’s sentences, Rasmus leaned back and signaled a server.
At the coffee shop, Rasmus’s spider-sense was tingling as he spoke with his friend. Something unknown and potentially dangerous was happening around Evan. Rasmus wondered how the investment profile for Evan’s company had changed. What exactly was going on?
His instincts told him that Evan was facing an activist investor – somebody who had heard that AI plus cuts equals growth.
Business, Rasmus knew, was never that simple. Even with AI in the equation.
An activist investor can seem bombastic and challenging. But when you hear what they’re about, if you really listen to what’s going on, even the most incompatible person somehow has to admit something very difficult: “Well, they aren’t entirely wrong.” The key, with an activist investor, is to defend your position without getting defensive. Stick to your guns, without dropping your guard. Oh, and stay open to new ideas.
It wasn’t easy, Rasmus realized.
Outright rejection of an Executive’s plan is a blunt instrument and rarely used. The whole plan was bad, they had said.
Really? Rasmus wondered to himself: no part was worth keeping? Hard to believe. But that was what the Board had wanted. Suggested. And then, demanded.
Rasmus was a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He wondered if artificial intelligence was a version of Gollum’s ring, in both its allure and its mysterious power. Tech had found its “precious” a magical and misunderstood charm that could influence even the most intelligent investors to over-pay for assets and over-index on cutting headcount. Or perhaps enable these same folks to accurately predict the future and make billions in the process?
Had AI exercised some kind of Lord of the Rings dominion over Evan’s Board? And was someone using the ring for invisibility right now hiding his or her true intentions from the CEO?
Somebody with a blunt instrument wanted to cut into Evan. On the surface, it seemed the board didn’t understand AI, or how to manage its impact. But that lack of understanding didn’t inhibit their confidence or their demands. Rasmus sensed it. So did his friend. And soon, so would Robin and Nina.
The real game was about to begin.
The Personalized Playbook
Why a Fresh Perspective Matters. Here, human success reframes the conversation around people from “factors of production” (HR) to a measurable, numbers-based performance metric that leaders can confidently present to the Board.
1. AI: Input or Outcome? Robin states that AI is just another input within the organization, and Human Success is the desired outcome. How is your leadership team currently talking about AI? Are you treating AI as an input (a tool you control) or are you already treating AI as the desired outcome (a force that must be accommodated)? How does this distinction change your strategic discussions?
2. From HR to Human Success: Nina’s experience is that HR was broken because it lacked the hard numbers necessary to engage leadership and investors. Do you agree with that assessment? What three performance metrics related to your employees (e.g., collaboration, career path progression, retention of high-potential talent, etc.) would you need to measure and quantify to make your “people conversations” as concrete and influential as your CFO’s balance sheet report?
3. Rasmus wonders if the mystique of AI is creating a “Gollum’s ring” effect on leadership—causing smart investors to over-pay for assets or over-index on cutting headcount. Where might your organization be over-indexing on the magic of AI (e.g., aggressive staffing cuts, chasing flashy tech) without fully understanding its impact on core human values like trust and culture?
About The Authors
Rasmus Holst
Rasmus is the CEO of Zensai, where he has successfully transformed the organization from a specialized software provider into a global leader in the “Human Success” category. Under his leadership, Zensai (formerly LMS365) has scaled from $0 to over $30 million in ARR, earning prestigious accolades such as the Red Dot Award for brand identity and recognition as a Great Place to Work. Rasmus is a vocal advocate for the evolution of workplace culture, arguing that traditional Human Resources must be rewritten for the AI era. His thought leadership centers on the idea of AI as a team-mate—a tool that identifies learning gaps and removes obstacles to amplify, rather than replace, human potential. By integrating learning, engagement, and performance into a single real-time “Human Success Score,” Rasmus champions a data-driven approach that prioritizes the growth and wellbeing of the individual as the primary engine for business results.
Robin Daniels
Robin Daniels serves as a strategic leader at Zensai, bringing a world-class track record of scaling high-growth tech giants. With executive experience at Salesforce, LinkedIn, Box, and WeWork, Robin has been instrumental in 2.5 IPOs and has held three CMO roles throughout his distinguished career. He is known for his ability to blend Scandinavian resilience with a global mindset to build authentic, highly differentiated brands. His website: https:// www.robindaniels.co/
Robin’s philosophy focuses on “epic results” achieved through the empowerment of people. In the age of AI, he views technology as a bridge to deeper workplace connection and accountability. He emphasizes that AI should be used to align personal career development with organizational goals, ensuring that every employee has the tools and visibility needed to do the best work of their lives.
Nina Carøe
Nina Carøe is the world’s first Chief Human Success Officer, a role she pioneered to signal a fundamental shift in how organizations value their people. Nina joined Zensai following the acquisition of Valuebeat, a company she co-founded to help businesses measure cultural impact through real-time human data. Her previous leadership roles at hyper-growth companies like Dixa and Unity Technologies have made her a sought-after expert in scaling international teams.
Nina’s work is dedicated to putting people at the center of every process. She leverages AI and machine learning not as cold metrics, but as strategic tools for measurement and impact—enabling leaders to move beyond “lagging” HR metrics to proactive, human-centric insights. Her mission is to ensure that “Human Success” is not just a department, but a foundational strategy that turns employee fulfillment into a competitive advantage.
Chris Westfall
Chris Westfall is the author of The NEW Elevator Pitch (international best-seller), BulletProof Branding, Leadership Language and Easier (Wiley). As a ghostwriter, he has written 10 books including a Wall Street Journal best-seller for a senior executive at Salesforce. A contributor to Forbes for seven years, his writing has appeared in Entrepreneur, US NEWS and WORLD REPORT, SUCCESS, Fast Company and many other print outlets. He regularly appears in national and international media, and provides leadership communication consulting to a wide array of clients.
Find out more: westfallonline.com or on social media: instagram.com/westfallonline facebook.com/therealchriswestfall linkedin.com/in/westfallonline youtube.com/@westfallonline
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