The AI Paradox: Reducing Technostress While Elevating Talent Performance Through Happiness Habits

AI is no longer an experiment. It is infrastructure.
Across industries, organizations are embedding AI into workflows to increase speed, precision, and scale.

A recent global study found that employees who use AI daily report higher job satisfaction and greater optimism about their careers. Yet those same workers report up to 20 percent higher stress levels.
This is the paradox leaders must confront.

Productivity has accelerated. When output becomes easier, expectations rise. More efficiency leads to more tasks. More capability leads to more responsibility. As AI expands performance capacity, it can simultaneously intensify psychological load.

For HR leaders and C-suite executives, this is not a wellness sidebar. It is a talent strategy issue.
Technostress — the strain created by constant technological adaptation and rising performance expectations — is emerging as a measurable business risk.

When cognitive overload increases and recovery time decreases, engagement drops, decision quality declines, and turnover risk rises.

The future of work is not AI versus humans. It is AI plus human capacity. And human capacity depends on emotional regulation, resilience, focus, and connection.

In this session, I introduce Happiness Habits as a strategic lever for performance in AI-driven organizations. These are not motivational slogans. They are small, research-backed behavioral practices that strengthen neural pathways linked to stress regulation, optimism, and sustained engagement.

Key Objectives:
→ Identify how technostress shows up in high-performing, AI-enabled teams
→ Implement practical micro-habits that improve resilience, focus, and sustainable productivity
→ Design cultures where elevated performance does not require elevated burnout

As AI scales capability, leaders must scale humanity with equal intention.

The competitive advantage in the AI era will not belong solely to the most automated organization. It will belong to the organization that understands how to sustain human performance inside acceleration.

That is the real AI + HI strategy.

Speaking REEL— University of Tennessee System Administrative Professionals Summit. 11/12/25 Hilton Knoxville, TN https://youtu.be/aaW0Jz7593U

Strategic Leadership: How to Create the Culture You Need to Manage all of the Changes

Culture by Design: Build the Workplace You Want Turn values into action. Turn action into results. Your culture is shaping your organization—whether you guide it or not.

This training equips you to lead culture intentionally, creating an environment where people feel trusted, valued, and motivated to excel.

Through proven frameworks, including Harvard Business Review’s 8 Types of Organizational Culture, you’ll learn to assess your current culture, identify areas for growth, and implement strategies that drive engagement, belonging, and lasting success.

For all Levels: Emerging Leaders, Mid Level, and Senior Leadership

Take the Online Course https://knoxvillehappinesscoalition.systeme.io/

Explore Knoxville Happiness Coalition Academy Courses https://academy.knoxvillehappinesscoalition.com

Testimonials

Dr. Shirley Raines, President Emerita, University of Memphis, Speaker, Author, Leadership Development Consultant: “From my experiences with Alexia Georghiou, she is an exemplary leader and a dedicated learner. For example, she became an exemplary community leader as President of the Knoxville Professional Women. Alexia is very bright and took courses at Wharton. Ms. Georghiou also leads in human resource organizations in the area. As an engaging instructor, her virtual and in-person courses are in demand. Alexia's consulting strengths with organizations are in building positive and productive culture and strong teams.”

Lawrence Kitambi, PMP, Vice President - Programs Central Arkansas Chapter
Positives: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value
“Alexia, presentation to our PMI Central Arkansas Chapter had good content and insights into practical ways of how to deal with conflicts. The members' response was very positive and as a group of leaders we learned a lot. In general, the delivery was very good, and she was passionate and came across as a high level expert in this field.”

Kathryn Schrader, Founder & Principal Strategic Tax and Business
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value
“Alexia spoke at our Annual CPE Conference for the Knoxville chapter of the Accounting & Financial women's alliance. Her presentation was well organized, interesting and of value to the audience. The reviews of her presentation were excellent. Alexia will be asked to speak again at one of our future events!”

Short BIO— Alexia Georghiou is a keynote speaker on happiness and human-centered leadership, organizational development consultant, and founder of the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, parent company of World Happiness Fellowship. Her book, The Future of Work is Human and The Future of Success is Happiness, has been featured at national and international conferences. Through her V.A.L.U.E.S. Model—Vision, Action, Leadership, Unity, Engagement, and Synthesis; she coaches leaders to align performance with purpose.

As an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, Alexia teaches professional development courses on civility, listening as a leadership skill, executive presence and burnout. Her writing has appeared in Florida SHRM Newswire and MSN News, and she has been interviewed by the Knoxville News Sentinel and HR Dive. Alexia has lived experience as an executive woman in menopause. Her work, “Menopause Matters: Supporting Women in the Workplace,” has been featured in HR Pulse by The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA).

Under her leadership, the Knoxville Happiness Coalition Academy is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® and SHRM-SCP® through self-paced online and in-person learning programs.

Email for author events/book club meetings ageorghi@utk.edu