The machines are improving themselves, but are we? Recursive self-improvement is the process by which AI systems improve themselves on their own — and then, improve their own ability to improve. But as we marvel at the possibility of recursive self-improvement in machines, we seem to have lost sight of the recursive self-improvement that’s built into our humanity — our fundamental drive to grow, improve, and evolve. In the human operating system, this process has been running quietly in the background for as long as there have been human beings. That’s why introspection and self-knowledge are at the core of every spiritual and philosophical tradition. But in the midst of our frenetic lives, it’s far too easy to live an unexamined life. In fact, much of our technology is designed to break this loop of self-examination and improvement. The machines we’ve built in our own image may soon practice the oldest human art more effectively than we are. What AI becomes will depend, more than we realize, on who we’re becoming as human beings. I write about this and more in my latest On My Mind newsletter. bit.ly/4gWwOba

I’ve never liked the idea of work-life balance, because there is no balance. Better is life-work integration. And a small step that can have a big impact on that integration is separation from your phone at night. As I told @FortuneMagazine's @Oriannarosa, charging my phone outside my bedroom is how I end my working day. And it also has the benefit of making it easier to start your day with something other than doomscrolling. How do you end your working day? Let me know in the comments. You can read more here: bit.ly/4v7pxss

Such an important point from @harari_yuval — we don’t know all the specific ways in which AI will change our society, but what we do know for certain is that investing in our resilience will enable us to navigate those changes. AI is learning recursive self-improvement — a process that’s always been an essential human quality — and now is the time to double down on our own capacity for learning, self-improvement and resilience.

The latest sober warnings about AI involve recursive self-improvement, or RSI. It’s the process by which AI systems improve themselves on their own—and then, improve their own ability to improve. But as we marvel at the possibility of recursive self-improvement in machines, we seem to have lost sight of the recursive self-improvement that’s built into our humanity—our fundamental drive to grow, improve, and evolve. It’s our capacity to turn our growing self-awareness back onto ourselves and ask not just “how do I survive and win?” but “who am I becoming, and is it who I am meant to be?" In the human operating system, this process has been running quietly in the background for as long as there have been human beings. The risk of RSI in AI is that humans could lose control over AI systems. In humans, the risk isn’t too much RSI but too little. When we neglect our drive for self-knowledge and self-improvement, we stagnate, or, worse, regress. The risk isn’t losing control, it’s losing ourselves. The machines we’ve built in our own image, drawing on the very capacity that makes us human, may soon practice the oldest human art more effectively than we are. What AI becomes will depend, more than we realize, on who we’re becoming as human beings. You can read more in my latest piece in @TIME: bit.ly/3QK3ESa

Women might have a longer lifespan than men, yet they spend 25% more of their lives in poor health. But that’s changing. For @HLTHEVENT, @MikhailAlexa reports on the reckoning happening in women’s health. Women’s health is no longer a niche. “Thought leaders, physicians, and advocates are expanding how we define women's health,” writes Mikhail, “framing it as the research, investments and innovations poised to address all the conditions that differently or disproportionately affect women across the lifespan.” Researchers are looking in particular at midlife as the window to take action. For instance, women disproportionately experience dementia, which can begin in midlife, but they aren’t shown how daily behaviors can impact health outcomes later on. The good news is that more and more healthcare and medical professionals, including pharma leaders, are realizing that medicine plus healthy habits yields outcomes neither can produce alone. This is also an inflection point for investment in women’s health, including @melindagates recently pledging $250 million to support women’s health and Olivia Walton, the founder of @HMHBAmerica, launching a campaign to reduce maternal mortality in America by half within five years. For more, click here: bit.ly/4eFUdLh

There’s plenty of bad news about healthcare, but we hear less about what’s going right. A great example of the latter is this interview by Fierce Pharma’s Ben Adams with @EliLillyandCo CMO @LinaPolimeni. As Adams says, pharma companies have been around for a long time — Lilly is celebrating its 150th year this year — but they’ve often operated in the background. Now, because of pioneers like Polimeni, they’re leading the transformation of healthcare by becoming more patient-centric. “Everyone in the company really sees a person on the other side of the prescription,” says Polimeni. “And when I say everyone, I mean everyone from the CEO and the executive committee down to, you know, manufacturing operators who are closing the boxes that go to people. It’s really about the person. And so, there’s a humanity that you’re going to notice in the way that we execute not just the creative, but the way the brand comes to life.” It’s about acting on the truth that health is also about what happens between doctor visits. That’s why the theme of Lilly’s sesquicentennial is “150 years of everything else.” As Polimeni puts it, “Big moments, happy moments, sad moments, everything that happens in everybody’s life. And the idea is that that’s what’s possible when health is present.” And congratulations Lina on being named to the 2026 @Forbes World's Most Influential CMOs List! You can read the whole interview here: bit.ly/4xPeaZ0

Withholding feedback isn’t kindness — it’s a missed opportunity.

Wishing a very happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there and in my own life, past and present. First to Michael, who's always been such a great dad to our two daughters. Next to Paul, the newest father in our family as the amazing dad to my two grandchildren. And finally to my own father — I had a complicated relationship with him, as many do with their parents, but he gave me my love of words and writing and I miss him today and every day.

And becoming who we truly are is a lifelong journey.