“AI isn’t curious on its own,” Chris Huizenga tells me with thoughtful clarity. “But it can help me become more curious.”

This is the second article in our three-part series exploring how learning leaders are navigating the promises and pitfalls of AI. In this conversation, we hear from Chris Huizenga, Head of Client Experience & Strategy at Desklight.

For Chris, the power of AI lies in its ability to expose gaps in knowledge and spark deeper insight. It doesn’t replace thinking, it challenges it. The difference, he says, is curiosity.

This gap can ignite critical thinking, and curiosity is the beginning of human-centered innovation.

A Reality-Shaking Renaissance

While AI can improve workflows, Chris sees serious risks, especially for early-career professionals. As someone who’s mentored people across career stages, he views this shift as both an opportunity and a warning.

“Entry-level roles are being replaced by AI. And my heart breaks for young people coming into the workforce. If those traditional stepping stones disappear, how do we prepare them? Are we, as a society, willing to meet them at the next level? Or are we stuck in an outdated framework?”

This raises big questions about intergenerational learning. It’s not just young professionals who are uneasy, older workers fear being replaced. But Chris sees a reframe:

“AI gives us the chance to extend and grow the marketability of seasoned professionals. Imagine being 67, with decades of experience, and finally having tools to repackage your knowledge in a way that’s adaptively meaningful.”

He calls this moment a reality-shaking renaissance, one that demands new skills, human skills.

For Chris, thriving in an AI-powered world requires three essential abilities:

• The ability to edit: to pivot, adapt, and refine
  
• The ability to question: to stay curious, not just compliant
  
• The ability to connect and bring joy: to be fully present with others
  

These are not just technical abilities, they’re uniquely human. If used with care, AI can become a bridge between generations, not a wedge.

Leading with Curiosity, Not Control

When asked what learning leaders most need to hear, Chris doesn’t start with technology, he starts with people.

“As leaders, we have to ask: how do we make space for people to be whole? To bring the full range of who they are into the work? Because if we don’t, we’ll miss out on the deepest source of innovation we have: our people.”

Chris Huizenga

He talks about the “other resume”, a quiet inventory of soft skills, creative talents, and emotional intelligence that rarely show up on paper. Skills learned from life and often kept separate from the professional space.

The task for leaders? Create psychological safety. Build environments where people feel safe to learn, safe to fail, and safe to bring their full selves to work.

“How do we help draw that out of people?”

He shares a story of a former team that shifted from compliance-based training to a deeply human-centered learning design. He gave them freedom to experiment and fail. What unlocked the change wasn’t AI. It was trust. They could not collaborate with one another until there was trust, and only after that was established did they bring AI in as a thought partner.

“One team member had a background in theater. Another was a musical composer. We gave them room to bring that in, and suddenly, we were running improvisational workshops for early-career professionals that felt more like improv theater than a training course.”

These weren’t bullet points on a job description. But they created the kind of culture where learning becomes joyful, creative, and contagious.

The result?

• More vision
  
• More ownership
  
• More delight
  
• A ripple effect of engagement across the organization
  

When people feel trusted and seen, they bring new energy, ideas, and creativity into the workplace.

Imagination, Not Just Output

In a world rushing to automate, Chris reminds us that curiosity is the fuel for imagination, and imagination is what powers human growth.

As YA author Jason Reynolds put it:

“Imagination comes from curiosity. Agency and permission to be curious is enough, it’s the fuel for imagination.”

But too often, our systems, both in school and at work, do the opposite.

We chastise before we humanize.
We standardize before we see the person.
We focus on data before asking what lights someone up.

Chris believes that’s one of the biggest failures of traditional systems: we define people too narrowly, and subsequently design job roles that constrain imagination, creativity, and the drive to learn.

In contrast, the future of work, and the future of learning, depends on our ability to see, celebrate, and support the whole human.

The Real Magic

When asked about what’s working best at Desklight, Chris doesn’t miss a beat:

“The team. High-functioning people who care and who are endlessly creative. That’s magic.”

In an era dominated by algorithms, Chris makes one thing clear:

Don’t just invest in AI. Invest in the conditions for people to be fully human.

Yes, we work with AI.
But more importantly, we work with people, curious, courageous, and creative, who are reimagining what learning can be.

And that’s something no algorithm can automate.

More voices from the Desklight team coming soon.
Because this isn’t a one-answer conversation, it’s a shared exploration.

Let’s imagine what’s possible, together.

Lunna Pigatto