In Episode 007 of The Next Thing Now, Rob Borley is joined by Dootrix’s Head of People and Culture, Ang McKenna, for an unusually candid conversation about what it means to lead, support, and grow a human-centric organisation during a time of seismic technological change. From post-pandemic burnout to AI anxiety, neurodiversity, remote work, and redefining leadership itself, the episode delivers a rich and often emotional exploration of how the people function is evolving—and why it matters more than ever.
Ang traces her journey from traditional HR to becoming a leader in people and culture. After a decade in a law firm focused on policies and procedures, she had a moment of reckoning during the pandemic and left HR entirely to work in care. That experience changed her outlook:
“Everybody’s carrying something,” she says. “Even CEOs.”
She returned to the field with a renewed sense of purpose: to only work with companies that truly value culture—and to humanise HR beyond tick-box compliance.
The pandemic may be over, but its psychological shadow lingers. Ang sees burnout, anxiety, and grief still shaping how people show up at work. Even with AI and automation promising relief, many employees are emotionally exhausted—particularly from the relentless pace of change.
“The pressure to keep up is real—but it’s also unsustainable.”
Leaders, she argues, must recognise the emotional landscape their teams are navigating. Tech moves fast. People don’t.
Ang confirms what many leaders suspect: people are quietly worried that AI will replace their jobs. Even those who use ChatGPT feel conflicted.
She explains that developers are especially vulnerable—they’re speeding up, but also questioning the long-term relevance of their skills. Junior engineers face the biggest uncertainty: will there even be a traditional career ladder to climb in a world where agents write their own code?
“We assume the technical folk will just get it. But they’re human too.”
One of the more sobering takeaways from the episode is the trust gap. Employees may hear leadership say “your jobs are safe,” while seeing six new AI tools being rolled out behind the scenes.
“People want to feel safe. They want to feel seen,” Ang says.
The challenge isn’t just the technology—it’s communication. If leaders fail to bring people on the journey, fear will fill the vacuum.
With family, religion, and traditional institutions on the decline, Rob argues that companies are becoming the last bastion of community and identity. But that raises uncomfortable questions. If employees no longer offer long-term loyalty, should businesses still act like families?
Ang believes yes—with caveats.
“We need to be okay with people staying two or three years. But they should want to be here for that time.”
Her goal? Make Dootrix the place where people want to work—even if it’s not forever.
Leadership, Ang argues, is undergoing a major shift. The modern leader needs:
Emotional intelligence
Resilience
The ability to ask, “How are you—really?”
Permission to call people out (e.g., when remote workers don’t leave the house)
“Your team doesn’t need pressure. They need partnership.”
Leaders must be more than deliverable-chasers—they need to read the room, recognise strain, and support people holistically.
Remote work offers flexibility—but also risk. Ang warns of:
Young or under-resourced workers stuck in cramped bedrooms
Invisible burnout due to lack of separation between home and work
A new form of social inequality masked as freedom
Dootrix’s approach—supporting co-working memberships and keeping physical offices—helps employees find balance. But not everyone uses the support offered. Part of modern leadership is nudging people to step outside when they forget to.
Ang closes with a forward-looking insight: AI systems are trained on normative input. Neurodivergent individuals may interact with AI in fundamentally different ways—and may even be excluded by models that aren’t designed with them in mind.
“We could be excluding the very people who could help us build better AI.”
This issue—largely absent from mainstream discussions—could be a major accessibility and inclusion challenge in the years ahead.
Throughout the episode, the word “resilience” returns like a refrain. Ang wants to add it to Dootrix’s career development framework—not as a way to excuse hardship, but as a vital leadership and life skill.
“Resilience and emotional intelligence will be more important than ever.”
The real future of work isn’t just about what we do. It’s about how we feel—and how we support each other through it.
Episode 007 reframes the role of people leaders in the age of AI. They’re not side players. They’re not compliance officers. They’re not therapists, either—but they are culture shapers, trust builders, and navigators of uncertainty.
If AI is reshaping what companies do, then culture must reshape who they are. That’s not an HR problem. That’s the next thing now.