Page 4 - BusinessWest August 4, 2025

The Blended Workplace
Linda Dulye Envisions Harmony Between
Technology, Human Connection
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
tions of artificial intelligence (AI) and
other disruptive technologies, the con-
As companies grapple with the implica-
versations tend to focus on productiv-
ity and efficiency.
Linda Dulye wants companies to
think about something else: the human element.
“I’ve seen it in my clients; there’s this rush, this
FOMO — ‘we’ve got to get this injection of AI,’” she
told BusinessWest, using the popular acronym for
‘fear of missing out.’ “This reminds me a lot of when
I was working with General Electric and also Allied-
Signal — when Lean and Six Sigma were unfolding,
we were on the front end of it; we were the pio-
neers. And there was this rush.”
And her current concern surrounding AI is the
same concern she had then — and has expressed
with clients over the years when discussing those
efficiency models — which is whether the human
element is being squeezed out of the discussion.
“You can come in with all the tools, all the tech-
nology that is going to improve processes, and we’re
going to take what was 10 steps down to three
steps, but that can be daunting and scary for many
people. So you still have to have a degree of human
connection, collaboration, and communication.
“A lot of my work has been centered on, how do
we get people to understand the new technology
that’s coming in? Automatically there’s a barrier —
‘we’ve been doing this for 10 years; what do you
mean I have to change?’”
Dulye — who launched her management con-
sultancy, Dulye & Co., in 1998 to help business
leaders and their organizations cultivate cultures
where people want to stay and grow — has turned
her thoughts on the coming AI revolution into a con-
cept called the Blended Workplace, which she calls
“You can come in
with all the tools,
all the technology
that is going to
improve processes,
and we’re going
to take what was
10 steps down
to three steps,
but that can be
daunting and scary
for many people.”
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