This week, we are thinking about people. What they need, what they build, and where they fit in a world that keeps changing.
1️⃣ He started on a forklift. He built a $13.4 million movement.
Most transformation fails. Not because organisations lack the tools or the budget. Because they lack the right people. Dean van Leeuwen writes about a different kind of leader, one who does not wait for permission to appear on a slide deck. In 1997, Sam McCracken was operating a forklift at Nike. He noticed something that mattered to his community and did something about it. What followed became a $13.4 million initiative serving Indigenous youth across North America.
Dean calls this the transformational intrapreneur. Someone who sees the gap between what the business is today and what it could make possible. Read the full article here on the TomorrowToday Blog.
2️⃣ A rescue dog called Frankie is redefining what school feels like.
In her latest episode from the Future Smart Parent Podcast, Jude Foulston sits down with Laurelle Fry, Head of Pre-Prep at Western Province Prep School in Cape Town, about what happens when a rescue dog called Frankie shows up at school on Fridays. But beneath the Frankie stories lies a real question about what it takes for a child to feel safe enough to learn.
Laurelle has a phrase she keeps coming back to, “home away from home,” and it points to something every school is trying to get right. It connects directly to the work Jude does with schools through Building Future-Fit Schools, and the Circle of Courage, a framework that asks what every child needs to belong, grow, and thrive. If you work in a school, lead one, or are raising someone who attends one, this episode is worth an hour of your time. Listen here…
3️⃣ What it’s like to be in the room when Graeme Codrington talks about AI.
Stacey Schroeder has watched Graeme Codrington work across multiple organisations. She wrote about what it’s like to be in the room when he talks about AI, and why his thinking cuts through where most conversations don’t. The framework she points to is the 5T AI Impact Model, the same one Jude draws on in her work with schools.
If that’s the kind of thinking you want in your organisation, we are running a 90-minute 5T AI Impact Masterclasses for leaders who have heard enough about AI and want to do something useful with it.
4️⃣ The self-driving taxi that proved AI still needs humans.
Dean van Leeuwen’s first Waymo ride did not go to plan. The self-driving taxi came to a dead stop, face to face with a roadworks foreman who had a few choice words for a car that couldn’t figure out how to go around a pile of wet tar. It’s a funny story. It’s also one of the clearest illustrations of where AI falls short that we’ve come across. Dean’s argument is straightforward. As AI gets more capable, human judgement, context and creativity become more valuable, not less. The video is short and worth your time.
5️⃣ The Accenture CEO who thinks most leaders are asking the wrong question about AI.
If Dean’s Waymo post got you thinking, Julie Sweet takes the argument further. The CEO of Accenture has a clear position on where AI is headed, and it’s not the one most headlines are running with. She’s not talking about job losses or productivity gains. She’s talking about growth, and about why the companies that win will be the ones that keep humans in the lead, not just humans in the loop. It’s a small but important distinction. Read the full article after you watch Dean’s video.
At TomorrowToday, this is the thinking we bring into rooms with leadership teams. If it’s a conversation you want to be having in your organisation, reach out and we’ll point you in the right direction.