Communicating Like a Human: The Advantage of Authenticity

As AI becomes increasingly prevalent in our personal and professional lives, it's essential to develop skills that differentiate us from machines. Skills like empathy, influence, and being able to read a room, things AI can't yet replicate with accuracy, are becoming more valuable by the day.

The expansion of our digital lives has led to a significant decline in face-to-face communication, with a roughly 28% drop in spoken words between 2005 and 2019. Leaning on AI for communication only exacerbates this issue, leaving us with fewer opportunities to practice authentic expression.

Communicating authentically, revealing our humanness, is what sets us apart from AI-generated perfection. By embracing imperfections like 'filler words' and unscripted moments, we demonstrate that we're investing our own labor and personal touch into the exchange.

The speakers who resonate most today are those who loosen up and show their unique perspective. To achieve this, one can use the TRUST framework: Truthful foundation (grounding messages in lived experiences), Real-time processing (verbalizing internal thought processes), Utilize tailored, local evidence (sharing quirky stories or testimonials), Show your unique speaking style (embracing verbal tics and imperfections), and Tip off the audience to your perspective (providing commentary through a unique point of view).