Gratitude: The Most Human Connection
The Humanity We’re Trying to Rebuild
A few days ago, while talking with a coworker — someone with exceptional technical and human skills — I realised something deeply valuable that, over time and under the pressure of everyday life, has slowly been disappearing more and more… and it shouldn’t be.
The ability to be grateful.
There are many kinds of compensation. One of the most important — perhaps even more important than money — is emotional compensation. And no, I’m not talking about extra vacation days, more remote work, or the famous corporate perks.
I’m talking about something much more essential: the humanity behind every action.
Acknowledging the work someone has done. The extra mile. The attitude. The willingness. The availability. And once again, a thousand times over: the attitude.
Because let’s be honest, work can be done the hard way… but how much better is it when it can be done the right way.
I believe this is the first time in the history of the IT industry that I’ve truly seen its foundations begin to shake — I’ve been in this industry for the last 23 years — and this tremor is catching us terribly unprepared, especially regarding the one thing that still makes us different from any LLM: human values and virtues.
How different everyday life feels when you know the people around you welcome you with trust, honesty, a good attitude, and a genuine willingness to work as a team.
Let’s not lose that, dear industry.
We are exhausting ourselves through ingratitude.
I can see the collapse of many large structures coming. Maybe they will continue to exist. Maybe they will keep attracting people through salaries, the illusion of climbing the corporate ladder, and the inflation of egos on an international scale.
But the value of smaller spaces is becoming more evident every day. Teams with focus. People moving in the same direction. Places where everyone rolls up their sleeves to get things done, but where, thanks to good attitude, camaraderie, and genuine spirit, the extra hours and the extra mile slowly become secondary.
Because yes, personal achievements motivate us.
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But the things that truly fill the heart are not always the same things that fill the wallet.
And maybe that’s why we are seeing another very curious trend: the need to create technological experiences that feel less and less “interfaced” by machines.
More natural language. More closeness. More empathetic assistants. More agents designed to feel human.
Deep down, it seems we are trying to technologically recreate what we are emotionally missing as humans.
Because what lives in our unconscious — what we truly long for in an interaction — is still profoundly human:
Someone kind.
Someone with a good attitude.
Someone assertive.
Someone willing to make things happen.
But above all, someone who makes us feel like we are part of a team. That we belong.
And then a strange paradox appears.
We have evolved into building agents with the skills “we wish humans had”… while many real workplaces become less and less human.
Strange, isn’t it?
My friend decided to change jobs.
He moved to a small company. A place where people truly work as a team. Where they know your full name and your last name, where you come from, what you want in life, what food you love, what your children’s names are… and even your dog’s.
And interestingly enough, it’s also a place building agents with “human-like” skills.
How will all of this end?
I honestly don’t know.
But maybe the answer was never about making machines more human.
Maybe it was always about becoming more human with each other again.
