The Future Of Less Work Leading with Heart: The Most Underrated Skill in Business with Claude Silver
What if the most important skill for the future of work isn’t technical or strategic—but human?
In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Claude Silver, the world’s first Chief Heart Officer and No. 2 executive at VaynerX, to explore what it really means to lead with heart. As the right hand to Gary Vaynerchuk, Claude has built a culture where empathy, belonging, and authenticity are not soft skills—they’re strategic advantages.
Together, Nirit and Claude unpack how workplaces can scale humanity, how leaders can create belonging even across time zones and generations, and why fitting in is outdated in a world that demands genuine connection. Claude shares how her framework of emotional optimism, bravery, and efficiency helps leaders balance compassion with performance—and why fear around AI is an opportunity to rediscover what makes us uniquely human.
They explore what “being yourself at work” truly looks like, how to design cultures where individuality is celebrated instead of suppressed, and why the heart—not the algorithm—will define the next era of leadership.
If you’ve ever wondered how to build trust in a hybrid world, how to bring more humanity into leadership, or how to stay grounded as technology transforms what we do, this conversation will change how you think about work—and about yourself.
Guest Information:
Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX and author of Be Yourself at Work.
Claude Silver is on a mission to revolutionize leadership, talent, and workplace culture. She is the world's first Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX and partners with CEO Gary Vaynerchuk to drive their success. Silver has earned Campaign US's Female Frontier Award and AdWeek's Changing the Game Award and she electrifies audiences at national and international conferences and at organizations, including Meta, Google, US Government agencies, and the US Armed Forces. She has been interviewed on dozens of podcasts and featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of Be Yourself at Work: The Groundbreaking Power of Showing Up, Standing Out, and Leading from the Heart.
Links:
Website: https://www.claudesilver.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casilver/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudesilver/?hl=en
Chapters:
00:00 – What Does Being Yourself at Work Really Mean?
01:15 – What Does a Chief Heart Officer Do?
03:10 – Why VaynerX Created the Chief Heart Officer Role
04:55 – What Makes Humans Valuable in an AI World?
06:45 – Can Empathy Drive Business Performance?
08:55 – Do Companies Still Need Humans When AI Is Everywhere?
10:45 – What Is Authentic Presence at Work?
11:05 – Emotional Optimism, Bravery, and Efficiency Explained
13:35 – How to Face AI Fear Without Ignoring It
14:50 – Why Fitting In at Work Is Outdated
15:55 – How to Create Belonging in Hybrid and Remote Teams
16:45 – Why Managers Are the Weakest Link in Culture
17:20 – How to Train Managers to Build Trust
18:05 – How to Build a Culture Where You Don’t Have to Change to Belong
19:30 – How VaynerX Scales Culture Across Countries
21:40 – Can Processes Kill Authenticity at Work?
23:40 – How to Put People First During Layoffs and Hard Decisions
26:30 – What Question Should We Be Asking About the Future of Work?
28:55 – How AI Changes What Makes You Valuable at Work