This time on A Productive Conversation, I sit down with someone who has spent decades at the intersection of technology, leadership, and what it means to remain truly human. Faisal Hoque isn’t just writing about AI from afar—he has lived inside this world for more than thirty years. From founding multiple companies to advising global organizations and government agencies, he brings a rare blend of deep technical expertise and grounded philosophical clarity.

In this conversation, we get into his newest book, Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI, and explore the place where innovation meets conscience. We talk about fear and fascination, the frameworks that help us navigate uncertainty, and the practical ways AI is already reshaping how we think, work, and relate. It’s a wide-ranging, honest exchange about what we stand to gain—and what we can’t afford to lose.

Six Discussion Points

• Why the rise of generative AI is only the beginning—and why thinking still matters
• How fear and fascination operate as “twin cousins” in our relationship with emerging technology
• Using the OPEN and CARE frameworks as complementary guides for opportunity and risk
• What organizations often overlook when AI governance becomes purely operational
• The philosophical crossroads ahead: outsourcing cognition vs. elevating human capacity
• How empathy, devotion, and even love should shape the way we design and interact with technology

Three Connection Points

• Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI
• Faisal’s website
• Faisal’s writing at Psychology Today

Getting to speak with Faisal reinforced something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: technology can extend what we do, but only we can determine who we become. AI may accelerate our output, sharpen our insights, and open new doors—but it can’t choose our purpose. That part remains ours. This conversation left me more convinced than ever that if we want a future worth inhabiting, we have to bring our humanity to the center of it.

This episode marks the final PM Talks conversation of the 2025 calendar year, and it’s a fitting one: Patrick and I explore legacy — not as something we engineer, but as something that unfolds in the stories others tell about us. As always, this episode is part of our monthly PM Talks series, and it might be the most reflective note we’ve ended on so far.

We talk about time, presence, family, uncertainty, and the way small choices echo long after we’re gone. This one weaves philosophy into the everyday in a way that feels real, grounding, and honestly necessary as we close out the year.

Six Discussion Points

• Why time feels like it’s accelerating as we age, and how presence slows the smaller slices of our days
• The balance between certainty and agency — and how we navigate what we do and don’t control
• Why trying to “control” your legacy is ultimately a losing battle
• How stories — both true and inferred — shape the legacies we inherit and the ones we leave
• The importance of documenting your own story so others don’t have to invent one later
• How everyday tasks, decisions, and moments of presence quietly become the stories others use to remember us

Three Connection Points

• Patrick’s work
• The Productivity Diet
• Our episode on uncertainty

Legacy isn’t a monument — it’s a story, shaped by moments we’re often too busy to notice. This conversation reminded me that what endures isn’t the grand plan, but the small choices, the presence we bring, and the stories people choose to carry forward. Thanks for being with us through another year of PM Talks. There’s a lot more ahead in the next season.

Most of us think of sleep as a nightly event. Michael Breus thinks of it as a lifelong pattern—a shifting, evolving chronotype that changes as we age. Every time he joins me, we end up deep in the details of how rest, alertness, and biology shape our days. This conversation was no different.

In this episode, Michael and I dig into the core ideas behind his book Sleep, Drink, Breathe, why wellness keeps getting more complicated, and how simple habits—done with intention—can create real momentum. We also get into mouth taping, CPAP myths, the rise of at-home sleep tests, and why hydration and breathwork may be more important than most people realize.

Six Discussion Points

• How chronotypes shift as we age—and why both of us are noticing that shift right now.
• The three “dominoes” of wellness and why breathing and hydration often need fixing before sleep.
• Why wellness feels overwhelming today, and the simple starting points Michael recommends.
• The real science behind mouth taping and why it can be risky without proper screening.
• How home sleep testing has changed—and why diagnosing sleep apnea is easier than ever.
• The Sleep, Drink, Breathe plan and how small, steady habits build lifelong change.

Three Connection Points

• Read Sleep Drink Breathe: Simple Daily Habits for Profound Long-Term Health
• Get Life Gives to the Giver by Joe Polish
• Take The Sleep Quiz

Conversations with Michael always leave me thinking differently about how deeply biology shapes behaviour. His work reminds me that productivity isn’t a matter of pushing harder—it’s a matter of aligning with the rhythms that already exist. If you’re looking to simplify wellness, understand your changing chronotype, or build habits that actually last, this episode is a worthwhile listen.