The Superhuman Salons: Perspectives on Leadership in the AI Age

At the beginning of the year, as we considered introducing the Superhuman brand to the world, we knew we needed to anchor on deeply human experiences.

We envisioned a new type of field event that was about AI on the surface, but underneath, it was really about people trying to figure out how to show up as their best selves and do their best work every day. This wasn’t about products or sales pitches. Specifically, we wanted to create a space for women leaders across education and enterprise to come together and share, with authenticity and vulnerability, their experiences of leading today.

This idea was inspired by Dr. Sarah Moore, Provost Teaching Fellow – AI at the University of Texas at Dallas, who said our Customer Advisory Board felt like the salons of the 19th century. Historically, the “salon” was an intimate space where people discussed culture, politics, and trends. We’ve given that tradition a modern spin, and across three gatherings now, we are still struck by the conversation and connection.

Here is what the journey has looked like so far and where we are taking it next.

Phoenix: Confidence to lead is built, not born

Our first salon brought women leaders in higher education together in Phoenix, with brunch followed by an Arizona Diamondbacks game. We were joined by Taylor Jones, Senior Director of Business Analytics for the Diamondbacks, who shared her own story as a woman in a male-dominated field. Much of the conversation centered on navigating AI and technology, and the opportunities and challenges that come with adoption.

One theme kept coming to the surface: The confidence to lead and take up space in a room, especially in a time of uncertainty, isn’t something you’re handed at the start of a career. Most of the women there described feeling confident only after pushing through impostor syndrome and staying resilient through some hard seasons. They talked about continuous learning and embracing failure as real skills, about the responsibility to build environments that challenge and advance the people in them, and about how technological change can make us rethink what we value and how we want to show up.

New York: You have nothing to prove, only to share

In New York, we gathered for an evening that began over dinner and ended at Hamilton on Broadway. We were joined by two remarkable guests: Lencia Kebede, who debuted that very night as Angelica Hamilton, and Morgan Anita Wood, who played Eliza for seven years. Their candor set the tone for the evening, and I still think about one thing Wood said: “You have nothing to prove to anyone, only to share.”

That reframed the whole conversation. So much of leadership can feel like a constant performance of proof, and the evening was a reminder that authenticity and voice are not things you set aside to lead. In a moment when AI makes it easy to say more and communicate faster, what makes communication land is intention and knowing which words are worth saying slowly. We saw how much representation and shared experience can turn an ordinary dinner into a conversation people remember.

Seattle: How to adapt without losing yourself

Our most recent salon took place aboard a private whale-watching charter on Puget Sound. We were joined by Dr. Amy Van Cise, a marine biologist at the University of Washington, who shared her winding, two-decade path into her field and connected it to what was happening on the water beneath us. Recovering humpback and shifting orca populations are part of an entire ecosystem adjusting to change.

It made for a fitting backdrop to the day’s theme, which was staying adaptable without losing what makes you who you are. How you lead will keep changing; what you stand for doesn’t have to. The leaders in the room could tell the difference between what should move with the moment and what stays anchored, and that distinction is what lets you grow in every direction from a place that never moves. It didn’t hurt that the group also got to watch gray whales, seals, and orcas do exactly that.

What we’re taking from every conversation

Three different cities and three different rooms, and yet the same currents kept surfacing:

• Adaptability. Across every conversation, leaders described careers that bent and reformed more than once, and the people thriving are the ones who have made peace with that.
• Community. Women leaders told us the same thing in each city: They are craving genuine peer connection, not in the transactional networking sense, but navigating change alongside a real community.
• Authenticity. Phoenix’s hard-won confidence, New York’s “nothing to prove,” and Seattle’s “adapt without losing yourself” all landed in the same place. You can grow and shift without abandoning who you are.

AI can sharpen your thinking and extend your reach, but it can’t walk into a room and make people believe something, nor can it hold the line on what you stand for. That part is still yours, and it matters more now than ever. As long as this remains true, we’ll keep bringing these leaders together and setting the table for more conversation.