The Human Protocol

What happens when you achieve everything you thought would make you happy, and still feel empty?

In this thought-provoking conversation, Jack Wagoner shares his journey from high-achieving entrepreneur to student of gratitude, fulfillment, and human flourishing. Together, Mykel and Jack explore the hidden gap between achievement and happiness, why ambitious people often struggle with feeling "enough," and how gratitude can become a powerful advantage rather than a limitation. They also dive into the growing role of AI, discussing how automation, productivity, and endless possibilities may reshape our sense of purpose, identity, and what it means to live a meaningful life in the future.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why achievement alone rarely creates lasting fulfillment

• How to balance ambition and gratitude without becoming complacent
• The psychological trap of always chasing the next goal
• How AI is accelerating achievement—and potentially widening the fulfillment gap
• Why human connection may become our most valuable asset in an AI-driven future
• Practical ways to cultivate gratitude that aren't dependent on external success
  
  

Connect with Jack Wagoner
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-wagoner-speaker/
Website: https://www.jackwagoner.co/

Connect with Mykel Salomon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/
Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

When trust in science declines, society doesn't become freer. It becomes more fragile. In this episode of The Human Protocol, host Mykel Salomon sits down with Nicholas B. Dirks, President & CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and former Chancellor of UC Berkeley, to examine why public confidence in science and expertise has eroded, and what it will take to rebuild it. From the long American history of skepticism toward science to the communication breakdowns of the COVID era, the rise of AI-fueled misinformation, and the real-world fallout of frozen research funding, Dirks makes the case that science is not a fixed set of truths but a deeply human process of discovery, one that earns trust through humility, transparency, and connection rather than dogma.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why distrust in science isn't a new phenomenon, and how it has resurfaced in roughly 20 to 30 year cycles throughout American history, from the Scopes trial to today.
• What the "follow the science" messaging of early COVID got wrong, and why communicating the process of discovery builds more trust than declaring fixed facts.
• How AI is accelerating both scientific breakthroughs and the spread of misinformation, and why that makes the question "who do you trust?" harder than ever.
• The real stakes behind the roughly 5,300 NIH and NSF grants frozen or canceled in 2025, and the risk of discouraging an entire generation of young scientists.
• Why so much of modern life, from the iPhone to vaccines to synthetic insulin, traces back to federally funded basic research, and what's lost when that pipeline is cut.
• How the idea of "retail science" can rebuild public trust the same way "retail politics" wins elections, by meeting people where they are and telling a human story.
• Why science doesn't recognize borders, and how international collaboration and open science make discovery stronger for everyone.

Connect with Nicholas B. Dirks
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-dirks-84a1ab149/
Website: https://www.nyas.org/

Connect with Mykel Salomon

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/

Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

In this episode of The Human Protocol, host Mykel Solomon sits down with entrepreneur and reinvention expert Nikki Barua for an honest conversation about what it really takes to stay human while building the future with AI. Nikki shares the through line of her own life, from immigrant outsider to corporate leader to founder, and makes the case that the hardest part of reinvention is not learning new skills but unlearning the identity that made you successful in the first place.

Together, they unpack why AI is the great equalizer, why your career should be treated like a portfolio rather than a ladder, and how to shift your sense of worth from effort to impact. The result is a grounded, optimistic roadmap for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the pace of change and wants to reinvent themselves before the world forces them to.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the real skill of reinvention is unlearning, not learning, and how clinging to your past identity quietly keeps you stuck
• How to make authenticity your superpower instead of copying others to fit into rooms that were never yours
• Why AI is the great equalizer that removes the access barriers of knowledge, resources, and relationships
• How to shift where you attach your value, moving from hard work and effort to real impact
• Why your career is a portfolio of competencies to mix and match, not a linear ladder to climb
• How to spot and tune out outdated career advice from people who peaked in the pre-AI era
• Why "curiosity over credentials" is the new measure of who stays relevant
• How to reframe AI overwhelm with a sense of play and adventure rather than fear
• What stays irreplaceably human: creativity, imagination, empathy, and resilience
• Why this moment marks the end of the industrial revolution and a return to being human beings instead of human doings

Connect with Nikki Barua
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua/
Website: https://www.nikkibarua.com/

Connect with Mykel Salomon

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/

Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

In this episode of The Human Protocol, host Mykel Salomon sits down with James Robson, former data protection officer for the UK Labour Party, Founder & CEO of Datus Longevitus, to challenge the idea that data protection is a barrier to progress. Drawing on a decade of GDPR work, James argues that governance is what actually enables innovation, comparing data safeguards to the brakes on a car that let you drive faster, not slower. The conversation moves from the differences between US and European approaches to privacy, to practical ways individuals can protect themselves online, to inspiring real-world examples of data used for public good, including a King's College London study on cash grants for people experiencing homelessness.

James and Mykel also confront the darker side of the AI era, from echo chambers and self-radicalization to addictive algorithms and the erosion of critical thinking, before landing on a hopeful vision of trusted data intermediaries and an ethical, transparent future where trust becomes the real infrastructure.

In this episode you'll learn

• Why compliance and data protection can be the condition for innovation rather than its enemy, using the brakes-on-a-car analogy
• How storytelling skills translate into understanding data systems and getting people excited about ethical data use
• The key philosophical difference between US data law (consumer focused) and European GDPR (human rights focused)
• Practical steps individuals can take to protect their data, including ad blockers, password managers, and rejecting cookies and trackers
• What rights GDPR gives you to request your data, and how that compares to the US patchwork like the CCPA in California
• How connecting datasets responsibly can improve outcomes in social care, education, problem gambling, and homelessness prevention
• The technical safeguards that make data sharing safe, including end-to-end encryption, immutable ledgers, and the UK's Five Safes framework
• Why echo chambers can quietly radicalize people and how dependence on AI threatens independent and critical thinking
• The link between addictive algorithms, screen time, and mental health, including recent rulings against Meta and Google
• What a trustworthy data future could look like, from trusted data intermediaries to ethical trust scores and nutrition-label-style transparency
• Concrete advice for individuals, AI leaders, and governments navigating data responsibility and AI regulation

Connect with James Robson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-james-robson/

Connect with Mykel Salomon

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/

Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, Mykel Salomon sits down with Sabine Hutchison — author, speaker, and founder of the Ripple Network — to explore what it really means to stay human in a world being rapidly reshaped by AI.

Sabine draws from her diverse career, her work empowering women to find their voice, and her own hard-won lessons on identity, reinvention, and self-advocacy. Together, they challenge the myth of the straight career ladder, celebrate the messy middle of growth, and make a compelling case for why knowing yourself and being able to tell your story may be the most powerful skill anyone can develop in the age of artificial intelligence.

In this episode, you'll learn:
Reinvention without drama: practical steps and persistence

• The importance of storytelling and authentic communication
• Navigating the in-between spaces and embracing discomfort
• The role of mentorship and sponsorship for women in leadership
• The impact of AI on careers and the importance of human skills
• Feedback as a gift: how to give and receive effectively
• The power of pauses and slow speech in public speaking
• Balancing efficiency with quality and well-being in work

Connect with Sabine Hutchison
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinehutchison/
Seuss+ - https://www.seuss.plus/
The Ripple Network Platform - https://theripplenetwork.com
Sabina Hutchinson's Book - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sabina+Hutchinson+book

Connect with Mykel Salomon

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/

Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/

What does it take to lead others when you have not yet learned to lead yourself? In this episode of The Human Protocol, host Mykel Salomon sits down with Dusty Holcomb, a leadership coach with 28 years of executive experience, to explore the discipline behind great leadership. Dusty unpacks why self-leadership is the foundation of every high-performing team, how discipline is not punishment but alignment, and why the rise of AI is not a threat to human leaders but a mirror that exposes and sharpens them.

From homeschooling roots and managing a 350-person operation at age 23, to building a personal AI chief of staff for daily reflection, Dusty delivers raw, actionable wisdom on how leaders at every level can build internal clarity, develop intentional daily habits, and master delegation to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why self-leadership is the foundation of all great leadership and how your internal discipline directly shapes the trust, respect, and performance of your team
• The mindset shift every new leader needs to make when transitioning from individual contributor to leading and developing other people
• How imposter syndrome shows up even at the CEO and senior executive level and what the most self-aware leaders do to manage it
• Why the skills that earned you a promotion are not always the skills that will keep you successful in your new leadership role
• The simple daily calendar audit practice that helps leaders identify one task to delegate and convert it into a real growth opportunity for their team
• How artificial intelligence can sharpen your leadership rather than replace it, and what it looks like to use an AI chief of staff for daily reflection, gain assessments, and better decision-making
• The five questions every leader must help their team answer to move people from doing the minimum to bringing their full effort and purpose to their work
• How to write your own personal rules of engagement in under an hour to clarify your values, set expectations for yourself, and invite genuine accountability from the people around you

Dusty is offering The Human Protocol listeners exclusive access to the Rules of Engagement Playbook, along with a complimentary DISC personality assessment — a $500 executive-level tool he uses with clients. It’s a practical resource designed to help you apply the self-leadership principles discussed in this episode. Access it free at myrulesofengagement.com.

Connect with Dusty Holcomb
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustyholcomb/
Website: Arqus Group - https://arcqusgroup.com/

Connect with Mykel Salomon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/
Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/ 

In this episode of The Human Protocol, host Mykel Salomon sits down with Karen Lam, Director of Customer Support at Top Hat and co-chair of the Women in Tech employee resource group, to explore one of the most urgent conversations happening right now: how artificial intelligence is not just changing what we do at work, but reshaping who we believe we are. Karen draws on the Promethean myth to explain why AI feels uniquely threatening to our sense of self, and why generations raised on the idea that hard work equals worth are struggling most with the shift.

Together, Mykel and Karen unpack the gender and age disparities in AI adoption, the invisible labor that limits who gets to experiment with new tools, the "penalty" women face when using AI in the workplace, and how leaders can build a culture of psychological safety and experimentation where AI becomes an opportunity rather than a threat.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why AI triggers a deeper identity crisis than previous technological shifts like the internet or even the introduction of time zones
• How the Promethean myth connects to the way people feel AI has "taken something" that was uniquely human
• The real reason negative headlines dominate the AI conversation and how that shapes fear and resistance at work
• What research reveals about gender disparities in AI adoption, particularly among female engineers
• How the "penalty" for using AI at work affects women and older employees differently than their counterparts
• Why invisible labor at home limits who has time to experiment with and master AI tools
• How managers who use AI themselves rate AI-assisted work more fairly than those who do not
• What true AI adoption inside a company actually looks like, beyond opening a chat interface
• Why experimentation and vulnerability from senior leaders are the two biggest culture drivers for AI success
• How AI can actually reduce workplace inequality by removing barriers to polished communication and access to opportunities
• Why diverse voices using and shaping AI are critical to reducing the bias baked into training data
• Practical advice for individuals, companies, AI builders, and policymakers on staying human while building the future

Connect with Karen Lam
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenklam/
Top Hat: https://tophat.com/


Connect with Mykel Salomon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/
Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/ 

In this episode of The Human Protocol Podcast, host Mykel Salomon sits down with Alex Sanfilippo — entrepreneur, podcast advocate, and founder of PodMatch — to explore a bold idea: in the AI era, podcasting is no longer just a content strategy. It's your brand archive. Your voice, your stories, your frameworks — all of it is becoming intellectual property. So what does that mean for how we show up, build, and create?

This episode goes beyond microphones and download numbers. It's about ownership, purpose, community, and the courage to stay human while building the future.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• How PodMatch was born — from a conference stage question, hundreds of conversations, and a whiteboard session to a thriving SaaS platform connecting podcast guests and hosts
• The 4-step entrepreneurial framework Alex distilled from interviewing hundreds of successful founders: find your passion → get into the community → identify the problem → deliver the fastest viable solution
• Why your "why" matters more than your follower count — and how skipping your internal and external purpose leads to brand drift
• The truth about podcasting as authority-building — it's not just SEO and visibility. Being a podcast guest shapes who you are and expands your mindset
• Podcasting in the AI era — will we be talking to AI avatars of real people? Alex shares where he draws the line on his own IP
• The social media shift from follower-based to content-based reach — and why this changes everything for creators
• Community over virality — why building a real tribe of aligned listeners beats chasing viral moments
• AI, automation, and reclaiming your time — how smart automation frees you to be more human, not less
• What policymakers should focus on now — Alex's "controlled burn" analogy for getting ahead of AI regulation
• PodMatch's future — going deeper on community and the possibility of live in-person events
  
  

Connect with Alex Sanfilippo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsanfilippo/
Website: https://podmatch.com/

Connect with Mykel Salomon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykelsalomon/
Website: https://thehumanprotocolgroup.com/ 

In this episode, we break down one of the most overlooked challenges in AI today: the implementation gap.

AI looks perfect in demos. Clean outputs. Instant value. Seamless automation. But that’s only 5–10% of the work.

The real challenge begins when organizations try to move from pilot to production.

In this conversation with Issac Hicks, CEO @Autonomi, technology implementer and AI operator, we unpack why most AI projects fail not because of the technology… but because of poor planning, unclear problems, and flawed execution.

We dive into:

• Why companies rush into AI without defining the real problem
• How assumptions early in the process lead to failed outcomes
• The difference between saving time vs generating real ROI
• Why scaling a broken process with AI makes things worse
• The importance of testing, change management, and ownership
• Build vs buy decisions and why most companies get it wrong

One of the biggest takeaways:

👉 AI doesn’t fix your business.
👉 It exposes it.

If your foundation is weak, your processes unclear, or your teams misaligned…

AI will scale those problems faster than anything else.

This episode is a practical guide for leaders, founders, and operators who want to move beyond the hype and actually implement AI in a way that delivers real business value.

Because the advantage won’t go to those who adopt AI first…

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro – The AI implementation gap
01:12 Meet Isaac Hicks (AI implementer & operator)
02:12 Why AI demos are misleading (only 5–10% of the work)
03:27 When companies bring in implementers (start vs rescue mode)
04:41 The #1 mistake: unclear problem definition
06:14 Solving the wrong problem with AI
06:50 Example: scaling bad outbound with AI
08:28 Why planning is everything
10:43 AI ROI explained: cost savings vs value creation
12:13 The real ROI: reallocating time to revenue
13:26 Why AI requires ongoing maintenance
16:02 Testing before go-live (UAT, anomalies, adversarial tests)
17:07 Avoiding AI failures at scale
18:51 Data challenges: production vs test data
20:39 Why change management is critical
23:14 Who owns the outcome in AI-driven processes?
26:02 Managing hallucinations in AI systems
30:35 Build vs Buy: why 95% of companies should not build
33:46 Why in-house AI projects fail
35:22 Choosing the right AI model (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic)
40:12 Designing flexible, model-agnostic systems
43:57 Cloud vs on-prem AI infrastructure
47:08 Contracts, liability, and data responsibility
50:43 Advice for individuals learning AI
52:37 Advice for companies implementing AI
55:36 Advice for policymakers and governments
58:30 The future of AI systems and control
01:00:28 Outro – Staying human while building the future

In this episode, we challenge one of the most misunderstood ideas in business today: transformation.

Most people think transformation means starting over. Burning everything down. Reinventing from scratch. But as Sarah Caminiti, Head of Business Transformation, explains, that’s not transformation, that’s destruction.

Real transformation is quieter. It’s slower. It’s built on momentum, small wins, and strong foundations. It’s about rearranging what already exists, not replacing it.

We go deep into what actually drives change inside organizations, from leadership behavior to team dynamics to the role of AI. Because the truth is, AI will not fix broken systems. It will expose them. If your foundation is weak, your processes unclear, or your culture misaligned, technology will amplify every gap.

This conversation is a practical and human look at transformation across three dimensions: personal, structural, and technological. We explore why most transformation efforts fail, how leaders can create real momentum, and what it takes to build systems that actually work.

We also unpack the biggest misconception in today’s AI-driven world: that transformation is fast, easy, and automated. It’s not. It requires clarity, ownership, and intentional design.

The biggest takeaway is simple: transformation does not happen in announcements. It happens in the work no one sees.

If you are leading change, building teams, or navigating AI in your organization, this episode will challenge how you think about progress, leadership, and what it really means to evolve.

00:00 Intro – The truth about transformation
01:05 Welcome to The Human Protocol
01:45 Meet Sarah Caminiti – Head of Business Transformation
04:00 Career journey and CX foundations
07:50 What people get wrong about transformation
08:10 Metamorphosis vs real transformation (Transformers analogy)
10:30 Why transformation happens through momentum, not big moves
11:40 The problem with performative transformation (LinkedIn vs reality)
13:15 “I am because we are” – The power of collaboration
16:20 The three pillars: personal, structural, tech transformation
17:15 What leaders must shift first (taking up space)
19:30 Transparency, communication, and trust in leadership
23:30 Why assumptions destroy transformation efforts
26:20 The importance of clear requirements and communication
27:40 Why most teams skip the foundation
28:50 AI is not plug-and-play – the real work behind it
30:00 Building and maintaining a strong operational foundation
32:00 Why AI needs ownership, maintenance, and strategy
33:30 The future of roles and preserving human expertise
35:00 What leaders should ask before adopting AI
37:00 Where AI makes sense (and where it doesn’t)
39:30 Designing experiences, not just automations
41:10 How to create momentum in burned-out teams
43:00 Small wins, focus time, and building confidence
45:00 Why leaders must embrace failure as data
47:20 Incentives and noise sabotaging CX
49:30 Final advice – Trust your skills and build with intention