The Human Signal AI Will Never Replace

We like to think influence starts with ideas. But it doesn’t. It starts with the body.

Before a word is spoken, your nervous system is already speaking through tone, posture, eye contact, the tension in your face. And in less than a second, the people around you decide: safe or unsafe? It’s not conscious. It’s biological.

This is the Embodied Quotient. It’s your capacity to influence through presence and regulation. Because trust doesn’t live in the mind. It lives in the body. And people don’t just hear you, they feel you.

In a world saturated with AI-generated content, the real question isn’t what’s real, it’s who is? Disembodiment (aka AI) can mimic tone and simulate empathy. But only embodiment creates connection. Trust is perceived. And that perception starts in the body.

I learned this the hard way.

At one of our first keynotes, the tech glitched. The slides froze. And before I said a word, my nervous system had already made the call: This room isn’t safe.

I sounded composed. But my body told a different story. Tight shoulders, shallow breath, jaw locked. The message was clear. Even if no one could name it, they could feel it. (Take a closer look at this photo and you will see what I mean.)

This is what most models of influence miss. It’s not only the words that build trust. It’s the signal underneath them.

To understand that signal, you have to start with the nervous system. At the core is the vagus nerve, the communication highway between your brain and body. It regulates your heart, breath, voice and much more. It constantly scans for cues of safety or threat.

According to Polyvagal Theory, developed by neuroscientist Stephen Porges, when the body feels safe it shifts into the social engagement system: calm, connected, present. When it doesn’t, it flips into fight, flight or freeze.

Emotion plays a role too, because emotion is physical. Fear clenches the gut. Anger tightens the jaw. Joy lifts the face. Sadness drops the shoulders. Yet we’ve been taught that emotional intelligence lives in the head. That naming a feeling is enough to process it.

So how do we shift? We let the body do what it’s built for. Emotion needs motion. Movement, breath, stillness, sound, connection these are how we complete the cycle and reset the system.

That’s why animals shake after stress. They release it. We tend to store it. But when we let the body move, when we regulate tension and release emotion, safety returns. Presence returns. And with it regenerative and real influence.

To see it in action, watch horse whisperer Koelle Simpson’s work. In her signature round-pen sessions, a leader enters an arena with a horse, no reins, no commands, just presence.

The horse doesn’t follow orders. It follows coherence. If the human is tense, the horse won’t approach. When the nervous system calms, the horse comes closer. Because it felt safe.

You can listen to our interview with Koelle on The DNA of Purpose Podcast.

This is somatic leadership. Your team, your clients, your audience they’re not responding to your message. They’re responding to your signal.

And now, we can measure that signal in real time. Nicole Gibson’s company, In Truth Technologies, uses biometric sensors to track emotional states, mapping breath, tone, HRV and micro-expressions. It’s a mirror for what your nervous system is broadcasting beneath the surface.

This is the future of influence: Felt before it’s heard. Measured in resonance. Rooted in coherence.

The Embodied Quotient isn’t a trend. It’s infrastructure. The body is no longer optional in leadership. It’s the starting point of trust. And like any intelligence, it can be cultivated.

Our friend Kate Kendall lives and breathes this work. Her somatic tools and breath practices don’t just support presence, they unlock it. Her approach is grounded, graceful and fiercely effective.

Because knowing this is one thing. Grounding it in the body is everything.

This is what really builds trust in 2025.