Thursday, November 12th from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM
14545 Bay Oaks Blvd, Houston, TX 77059
We will meet at Bay Oaks Country Club, where a full breakfast and coffee will be served.
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The Topic:
"A HumAIn First Approach to AI Transformation" with Mohammad Anwar
Artificial Intelligence is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, yet 95% of AI transformations fail—not because organizations chose the wrong technology, but because they ignored the human element. With over 70% of employees fearing AI could displace their roles, leading through technological disruption requires shifting from a tech-first mindset to a people-first strategy.
In this session, Softway CEO Mohammad Anwar shares a practical, experience-driven framework for leading AI transformation through trust, empathy, and psychological
safety. Moving beyond the hype, technical jargon, and vendor-specific tools, this presentation focuses on how leaders can prepare their workforce to embrace AI as a tool for human empowerment rather than a threat to job security.
Participants will explore how AI can be leveraged to eliminate tedious, mechanical tasks and shift organizational value toward essential human "soft skills"—creativity, empathy, connection, and co-creation.
Learning Objectives:
- De-escalate Workplace AI Fear: Understand the underlying anxieties driving employee resistance and learn strategies to build a culture of change readiness and psychological safety.
- The Soft Skills Pivot: Recognize why AI taking over technical ("hard") skills elevates the value of human-centric skills, and learn how to foster these critical competencies within your team.
- The 3-Part Operational Framework: Master a practical approach to evaluating organizational workflows: Eliminate, Automate, and Augment.
- People-First AI Strategy: Learn how to design a sustainable AI roadmap that puts culture, values, and governance before software implementation.
Meeting Agenda:
- 7:30 AM - Check-in / Networking begins
- 8:00 AM - Breakfast service / Announcements
- 8:30 AM - Speaker Presentation, followed by Q&A
- 9:30 AM - End of Session
Re-certification credits are available for this event (1 SHRM PDC; 1 hour HRCI) and will be shared with attendees after the meeting.
Registration:
Guests are always welcome and encouraged to attend our meetings!
For on-site breakfast, networking, and presentation at Bay Oaks:
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$38 TXBA SHRM Member
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$48 Non-Member / Guest
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$20 Student
Speaker Information:
Mohammad F. Anwar
President & CEO, Softway and Culture+
Co-author of the Bestselling Books "Love as a Business Strategy" and “Love as a Change Strategy”
Mohammad is the youngest of five children and was born and raised in Saudi Arabia by Indian parents from Bengaluru. He graduated from the University of Houston (Go, Coogs) with a BS in Computer Science and started Softway at age 20, where he still serves as president and CEO.
Mohammad lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with his amazing wife, Yulia, a Russian diver and five-time Olympic medalist, and his beautiful children, Sufia and Mohsin. In his spare time, he enjoys fitness, watching college sports, and butchering American idioms.
