The Visionary Heart

Heartitude Hero Series

Full disclosure, my heart’s vision has looked a little blurry lately. Life is moving faster and faster and not always in a direction that feels like progress toward a positive future. Help! I need a Heartitude Hero. Voila! Enter Mira Murati, an inspiring example that True leadership begins in the heart, brings a clear, heartfelt vision and helps others connect their personal vision to a shared organizational purpose. A purpose that is bigger than dollars, a vision that unites people in making the world a better place. That is the vision that led Mira Murati to start Thinking Labs and Chat GPT, an AI company, built on science AND ethics. This month’s Heartitude Hero is The Engineer Who Listened to Her Heart.

When Ms. Murati left her high-profile role as CTO at OpenAI, the world expected another “tech giant shuffle.” Instead, she offered something rarer: a pause for purpose. “I need space to explore,” she said—words that speak volumes about a leader who knows that innovation without reflection is just noise. Out of that introspection, she founded Thinking Machines Lab, not to dominate the AI arms race but to humanize it. To ask and answer the question, “How will this technology serve people?”

At Thinking Machines Lab, her guiding principles echo what we champion through Heartitude Works:

• Integrity and openness. She’s building AI systems that are explainable, not mysterious.
• Empowerment through collaboration. She attracts top talent by creating belonging, not fear.
• Purpose beyond profit. Her company is a public benefit corporation, reminding us that doing well AND doing good can coexist. Thank you Mira, we need more leaders like you!