Renee:
A year ago, if someone had asked me how often I used artificial intelligence, I probably would have laughed.
Today, the answer is...
Every single day.
We use AI to brainstorm ideas, organize our thoughts, improve first drafts, summarize meetings, and save time on the repetitive tasks that used to consume hours of our week. I've even used it for personal things, like helping me decide whether a concerning mole on my shoulder was worth getting checked. (It was, and thankfully I listened.)
Our daughter, Eden, still rolls her eyes when AI comes up in conversation. She's incredibly creative and wants her ideas to be her own. Although, ironically, she has condoned my use of AI for input on a couple of important topics recently. She's not rejecting technology. She's protecting her creativity.
Watching those conversations unfold in our own family has been fascinating because they're forcing us to ask bigger questions.
Not, "Is AI good or bad?”, but, "What should we use it for?"
The more we've embraced AI, the more one surprising truth has become clear: technology can help us work faster, but it has also reminded us that people still need people.
Mark:
When I started in business decades ago, success was measured by transactions.
Closing the deal.
Winning the customer.
Hitting the next sales goal.
Today, I think about business very differently.
I'm far less interested in collecting customers than I am in building communities.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I wasn't really leaving sales behind.
I was redefining what I was offering.
Information has become abundant.
Connection hasn't.
Knowledge is becoming easier to access every day.
Trust has become infinitely more valuable.
That's why I believe we're entering what I think of as a Trust Economy.
People won't choose a coach, consultant, speaker, or business owner simply because they know more than someone else. AI can answer almost any question in seconds.
People will choose the person they trust.
The person who listens.
The person who makes them feel seen.
The person who consistently shows up with integrity.
Those things can't be automated.
Renee:
The parts of our business that bring us the greatest joy are also the parts AI will never replace.
We love hosting retreats, mastermind groups, networking events, and dinners where conversations continue long after dessert is served. Some of our favorite moments aren't on the agenda at all. They're what happens during the breaks, over breakfast, or while walking back from dinner.
One of my favorite examples happened without us ever planning it.
Two people attended our very first Soulful Leadership Retreat in 2020. They both joined MetaMind, became friends, and over time that friendship became something much deeper.
Last year they got married.
We didn't create their relationship; we simply created the room where it had a chance to begin.
Moments like that remind us that the most meaningful thing we've ever built isn't a program.
It's a community.
I've watched someone arrive at breakfast alone on the first morning of a retreat and leave a few days later surrounded by people they now call lifelong friends. I've watched business partnerships begin over a cup of coffee and collaborations emerge from conversations that weren't scheduled or scripted.
Those moments don't happen because someone had the perfect marketing funnel; they happen because people gathered together.
Mark:
Years ago, one of my mentors gave me the nickname "The Soul Connector."
At first, I thought it simply meant introducing people to one another.
Today, I think it's much bigger than that.
Sometimes it's helping someone reconnect with their purpose.
Sometimes it's introducing future business partners.
Sometimes it's creating a space where someone walks in feeling isolated and leaves knowing they've found their people.
Looking back, I realize that's always been the work that matters most to me.
Not the agenda.
Not the slides.
Not even the content.
The connection.
Renee:
One of the unexpected gifts of building a community-centered business is what Eden and Xen have experienced along the way.
They've grown up watching entrepreneurs from around the world gather with us, attend our retreats, join our mastermind, celebrate victories together, support one another through difficult seasons, and become lifelong friends.
To them, it's normal to watch strangers become business partners, to see introductions become collaborations, or to hear someone say, "I met my best friend at one of your events."
I hope that's one of the greatest lessons they carry into adulthood.
Success isn't measured only by what you accomplish.
It's also measured by the lives you bring together and the people who are better because your paths crossed.
Mark & Renee:
We believe AI is one of the most remarkable tools we've ever been given.
It allows us to think more clearly, work more efficiently, and spend less time on repetitive tasks.
But perhaps its greatest gift is that it frees us to spend more time doing the work that matters most.
Having meaningful conversations, sharing meals, introducing people, hosting retreats, building communities, or creating places where people feel seen, valued, and connected.
Technology will continue to evolve, and we hope it does.
But the human heart is still searching for exactly what it has always searched for.
A place to belong.
And that's something no technology can ever replace.
Because in the end, people still need people.