Bob Hutchins, MSc

AI Advisor, Fractional CMO delivering scalable outcomes. Evidence-based marketing and GTM strategies. Human flourishing in technology and culture. PhD Candidate -generative AI. EdTech. Org Culture Change. Author. Speaker

I help organizations and leaders make sense of AI and digital transformation-without losing their humanity in the process.

I make sense of how technology shapes human psychology, relationships, and meaning.

20+ years building things, studying people, watching patterns. I don't perform expertise. I share what I've noticed.

I’ve spent my career where psychology, marketing, and technology meet. I’ve led campaigns for brands like Disney, GM, Sony Pictures, and HarperCollins, and now advise education systems, startups, and Fortune 500 and 100 level companies on how to integrate AI with wisdom and care.

As a Fractional CMO, AI Advisor, and PhD researcher, my focus is helping teams build clarity, not just capability. I guide clients through generative AI adoption, ethical transformation, and storytelling that still feels human in a data-driven world.

My work has helped more than 100 companies grow their revenue by over forty percent through strategies that start with people, not platforms.

I also write and speak about what it means to stay human in an algorithmic age.
I’ve authored books including 'Finally Human' and 'Our Digital Soul', and I host podcasts-'The Human Voice', 'Future Proof Education: AI and Beyond' and 'AI & Coffee', where I explore how technology reshapes creativity, business, culture, education, and meaning.

You’ll find me presenting at conferences, universities, and companies who want to understand AI’s real impact on work, learning, and the human spirit.

If your team is wrestling with AI strategy, culture change, or how to tell your story in this new era, let’s connect.

Founder and President | Fractional CMO and Marketing Problem Solver, AI Literacy, AI Advisor

Solving complex marketing challenges, leading to a 40% increase in scalability for all client companies.
Enabled 20+ companies to achieve a minimum of 30% growth in revenue and digital transformation through a human-driven, data-informed marketing strategy.

Utilized AI and data intelligence to improve customer segmentation and targeting, resulting in a 25% increase in campaign efficacy. Implemented personalized marketing strategies, contributing to a 35% growth in customer acquisition for small and medium businesses. Achieved 40% higher engagement rates by integrating smart data attribution while maintaining authenticity in brand messaging.

Fostered collaborative partnerships, resulting in 50% more successful co-branded campaigns.
Developed impactful content and media projects that increased client brand awareness by 45%.

Bob Hutchins

I’ve been reading about how Finland handles fake news. While we often treat media literacy as a workshop or a checkbox, they treat it like a survival skill.

Rather than just adding a "critical thinking" class to the schedule, they weave it into the fabric of the entire curriculum. In math, students learn how statistics can be manipulated to mislead. In art, they study how images are altered to change the narrative. In history, they analyze propaganda campaigns to understand the mechanics of influence.

It starts young. Really young. Finnish children begin these lessons in preschool. As they learn to read; they are learning to question what they read. Teachers encourage them to act like detectives, asking simple but powerful questions: Who wrote this? Why did they write it? Where is the evidence?

This approach came from necessity. Sharing a long border with Russia, Finland has faced targeted disinformation for decades. They understood early that a strong democracy requires a citizenry that can’t be easily fooled.

It makes me wonder about our own relationship with information. We often focus on the platforms-the algorithms, the moderation policies, the tech giants. We look for a technical fix to a human problem. 

But Finland reminds us that the most effective filter is the mind.

Are we teaching our teams, our kids, (and ourselves) to pause and ask who is behind the information we consume? Or are we just scrolling?

We could learn a lot from a system that values the ability to doubt just as much as the ability to know.

Bob Hutchins, Phd(c)

Open article: Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It's protection against Russian propaganda by apnews.com

Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It's protection against Russian propaganda

There are five Sears stores left in America. Just five.
I read Mark Faithfull’s recent piece in Forbes, and it hit me harder than I expected. 

I'm old enough to remember the smell of rubber tires and popcorn, or the weight of that massive Wish Book arriving in the mail as a kid. It’s the sheer gravity of seeing an institution that once defined American commerce effectively vanish.

It’s easy to look at the headlines and blame Amazon or Walmart. And that may be partially true. But Sears didn't die because the market changed; it died because it stopped caring about the people who made the market.

The Facts: 

Sears stopped being a retailer a long time ago. It became a hedge fund that happened to own some buildings.

For the last two decades, the strategy wasn't about selling better products or serving families. It was about financial engineering. They sold off the real estate. They spun off the crown jewels-Craftsman, DieHard, Kenmore. They stripped the assets to prop up the balance sheet while the roof leaked and the carpets frayed.

They treated the business like a math problem to be solved rather than a relationship to be nurtured.

If you are building a business today, here is the lesson:

You can't cost-cut your way to relevance.

Efficiency is dangerous when it comes at the expense of value. You can have the leanest operation in the world, but if your customer walks into your store-or lands on your site-and feels indifference, you are already dead.

Sears had every advantage. They had the logistics network before Amazon existed. They had the customer data before big data was a term. (At its peak, Sears sent out over 500 million catalogs per year) 
They had the trust. 

⭐️ But they assumed that trust was a permanent asset rather than a renewable resource.

Look at your own operation this week.

Are you making decisions to look good on a spreadsheet, or are you making decisions that actually make your customer’s life better?

Are you protecting what you have, or are you building what they need next?

The market is ruthless, but it’s also fair. It rewards those who show up. Sears stopped showing up long before they closed the doors.

What’s a brand you see making the same mistake right now?

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social-www.forbes.com

Sears Stores Could Be Consigned To History As Final Five Face Closure

Retail and real estate content

Forbes

AI Strategist | Chief AI and Marketing Officer | PhD Researcher (Society, Technology & Culture) | Philosophy of AI | Human-Centered Marketing | Bridging Silicon & Soul | Speaker & Author| Behavioral Psychology

Carol Corey,  STAR, TRS

We keep grading the 'answer' and wonder why the work feels thin. We are focusing on the wrong thing.

AI makes this plain- If I can’t name the goal, choose a role, list the steps, and set the constraints, the model mirrors that fog. Tight prompts come from CLEAR THINKING, not clever phrasing.

This is the pitch I’m making to schools and business teams: grade the prompt. Make the student’s or employee’s thinking visible. Score how they frame the task, who they’re serving, how they test ideas, and how they revise. Keep correctness, just move it off center.

Generative tools let us peel back the curtain. In minutes we can see whether the lesson or brief landed, where understanding breaks, and how a mind organizes the work. That trail is visible AND coachable.

In my latest article I share a simple scaffold, an 80/20 rubric, and a short routine any class or project team can run next week. The aim is judgment, voice, and honest reasoning. Machines race to answers.  People set clear direction.

If this resonates, read the full piece and steal what helps. Then tell me how you’re grading the prompt where you work.

View newsletter: Bob Hutchins-The Human Voice

When I work with educational organizations and companies, I see the same pattern around generative AI. People focus on the final output and miss the t

Open article: Grade the Prompt by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 5 min read

I heard a song that made me feel something real.
Then I found out no human made it.

April 2023. "Heart on My Sleeve" dropped on TikTok. Drake's voice. The Weeknd's flow. 9.4 million views in 72 hours.

Neither artist touched a microphone. The whole thing was AI.

I live in Nashville. My friends write songs for a living. They pour their lives into three-minute tracks. Years of craft. 

An algorithm can now replicate the sound in seconds.

Millions of people felt genuine emotion listening to that AI track. (and still do daily) The feeling was/is real.

We've always assumed the soul of a song lives in the singer.
What if it actually lives in the listener?

April 2023. A track drops on TikTok. The opening bars hit, and it’s Drake's voice, unmistakable. The Weeknd's melodic signature woven through the hook

Open article: AI Music and the Hermeneutic Shock by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 5 min read

I've never asked my kids what they want to be when they grow up.

It feels like a clumsy attempt to coerce them into immediate utility, asking them to select a future profession before they’ve even finished being children.

"Doctor? Teacher? Astronaut?"

They stare back at us like we're speaking a different language. Then they return to their blocks or their crayons. In their world, they already are all those things. Kids don't need permission to try on different lives. They slip into characters without losing themselves in the process.

That's where we are with generative AI.

We have been handed an incredible capacity to play dress-up on a grand scale. We can simulate expertise. We can mimic artists. We can draft copy in voices that aren’t our own.

Play is how children test limits. They experiment without fear of real consequence. They're building the foundation for who they'll become. That's the frame we need for AI right now.

Push the boundaries. Pretend to be whoever you want inside these systems. But don't forget who you actually are. And don't forget who you're responsible for becoming.

When kids get to be kids, really be kids, they grow into the best versions of themselves. Not some watered-down copy of what we thought they should be.

That's how I think about AI.

We shouldn't lose ourselves in it. We should use it to become more fully human.
The tools we use to communicate reshape the world around us. AI isn't exempt from that rule.  AI does not just exist in our environment-it is an environment. It shapes the ecosystem of our culture. 

Let's build technology that protects what it means to be human. Let's play without forgetting why we're here.

I don’t think we are necessarily afraid of our true selves. Fear is too active a word. It feels more like a chronic unease. We have lost the tolerance for the silence that self-reflection requires. 

It isn't that we fail to understand mindfulness; it’s that we prefer the noise of the feed to the quiet of the mirror.

We don’t need to disconnect from reality. We need to disconnect from the performance of reality-the curated, manipulated, and commodified version of it that distorts our emotions for profit.

The peace we seek is not in the next post, the next comment, or the next breaking news update. It’s in what we refuse to engage with.

It is in the quiet.

And the quiet has been waiting for us all along.

Why can a chatbot write a perfect sonnet but sometimes fail at simple math?
The answer lies in a deep schism that fractured the field of artificial intelligence back in 1960. The researchers split into two tribes. The Symbolists prioritized the "Mind" and rigid logic. The Connectionists looked to "Life" and biological learning.

We are currently living through the victory parade of the Connectionists. We have built systems that mimic the adaptability of life but lack the reliable structure of the mind.

My latest article explores how that sixty-year-old divorce defines the exact limitations of the tools we use today.

We often act as if the current wave of generative AI arrived yesterday, fully formed and unprecedented. But the tools we utilize today are essentially

Open article: The 60-Year Schism Defining Generative AI by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 3 min read

The 60-Year Schism Defining Generative AI

The smartphone is neutral. (for the most part)

The lived reality for most of us is that we adopted it without reading the terms of service for our own psychology. We treated it like an accessory when it was actually a rewiring of how we experience time, attention, and each other.

The solution isn’t necessarily a "digital detox" or returning to flip phones. The solution is media literacy. We have to understand what the trade-off is. Once we see the deal clearly-that we are trading depth for connectivity-we can stop sleepwalking into the default settings designers chose for us and start making actual choices.

We have to ask ourselves: Is the convenience worth the erosion of our ability to sit quietly with ourselves? Because if we lose the capacity for solitude, we paradoxically lose the capacity to be truly present with others.

More in my article below.

We often ask, "Why are smartphones bad for us?" It implies that the technology is inherently evil or that we are simply weak-willed. Neither is true. 

Open article: The Trade: What We Gave Up to Get Connected by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 3 min read

The Trade: What We Gave Up to Get Connected

Business and Life Lesson 101
Never get these out of balance.
👇

My weather app guaranteed rain. My window showed blinding sun. For a split second, I thought the window was the one lying.

We have outsourced our senses to screens. We know the political climate in London but miss the actual climate on our front porch. We are everywhere in spirit, and nowhere in body.

My latest piece explores the loss of "local" weather and why we need to get back to trusting our skin over the data.

Read the full article here 👇

I woke up last Friday and did what most of us do before our feet touch the floor. I checked the weather. The glowing rectangle in my hand presented a 

Open article: Everywhere in Spirit, Nowhere in Body
 by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 3 min read

Here is a clip from the latest episode of The Human Voice where I talk through the concept of-'The Water We Swim In: When Technology Becomes Environment'

Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Sovereign AI is a response to technological colonialism. The idea that one model, trained on one set of assumptions, can serve everyone equally is both arrogant and impractical. I predict this is the future of generative AI.

To the educator questioning if they still have a place in a world of ChatGPT: A bot can recite the Pythagorean theorem instantly. However, a bot cannot look a failing student in the eye and say, "I see you, and you can do this". Data is abundant. Encouragement is priceless. We no longer need you to just be a conduit of information. We need you to be a mentor. Technology has evolved, but the fundamental human desire for connection has remained stationary.

We tend to think we’re addicted to the stuff we buy. But the behavioral science suggests otherwise. We are addicted to the arrival.

It turns out, dopamine isn't the chemical of pleasure-it's the chemical of anticipation. The "joy" is in the tracking number, not the unboxing.

In this week's article, I look at the "Seeking System" and why the sound of the delivery truck triggers such a primal part of our brain.

It’s not just consumerism. It’s biology.

Read the full reflection below. 👇

I know the sound of the Amazon truck better than I know the sound of my own ringtone. It’s that distinctive, heavy deceleration, the hydraulic hiss of

Open article: The Porch Lottery: Why We Can’t Stop Waiting for the Brown Box by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 4 min read

The Porch Lottery: Why We Can’t Stop Waiting for the Brown Box

There is a video going around from Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD, MEd in a senate hearing committee about Gen Z and their lack of coginitive skills surrounding education, essentially blaming tech and screens.

But there is a deeper, uncomfortable truth sitting underneath the 'screens vs. paper' debate. While I agree that devices have fragmented our attention, we have to admit that the structure of education was broken long before the iPad arrived.

Gen Z didn't just get distracted; we optimized ourselves into obsolescence.

For over a century, we treated the human mind like a hard drive to be filled rather than a muscle to be developed. We can trace this back to Horace Mann and the Prussian model of the mid-19th century. The goal wasn't 'innovation' or 'creativity'; it was order. We built a system designed to produce loyal subjects and efficient workers who could follow instructions and store facts.

Then came Frederick Winslow Taylor and the era of Scientific Management. We took that desire for order and applied the logic of the factory floor to the classroom. We obsessed over efficiency. We standardized testing. We reduced the messy, complex act of thinking into replicable, linear processes.

We spent decades training humans to act like computers.

We prioritized memorization (data storage) over synthesis (pattern recognition).
We prioritized speed (processing power) over depth (wisdom).
We prioritized standardization (output consistency) over nuance (human variability).

And now, we are shocked that an actual machine-Artificial Intelligence-has arrived to do those specific things better, faster, and cheaper than we can.

The trap wasn't set by AI or screens. We built it ourselves, one standardized test at a time. By training students to be perfect processors, we made them vulnerable to the ultimate processor.

If we want to save education, the answer isn't just to ban the screens. It’s to stop training children to compete with them. We need to move away from the efficiency of the machine and back toward the complexity of the human. AND use the tech to help us do that. 

In my opinion, its lazy and dangerous to simply JUST go back to pen and paper and do things the "good old fashioned way". Maybe we are finally seeing that way wasn't always the best way.

E.M. Forster published "The Machine Stops" in 1909. It sounds like a letter from the past, but about our current time.

People live underground, alone in the same type of room. They are fed by The Machine. The Machine entertains them. The Machine educates them. The Machine comforts them. People talk to each other using a screen. Traveling seems unusual. The human body is seen as an inconvenience.

In 2026, there are many names for “the Machine”.  Cloud. Feed. Model. Platform. Company Portal. Smart Phone in your hand at 1:12 a.m. 

The Machine doesn't need to turn evil to mold you into what it wants. It just needs to get to the point where you are unable to perform life without it.

Forster's most frightening warning isn't “Technology is Bad.” It's much smaller than that. When a system allows us to make comfort automatic, we lose three major human muscle groups:

First-hand seeing. We begin to substitute actual person to person contact with commentary.

Repair. We stop understanding how things work, and therefore call that advancement.

Embodiment. Our minds float; our nervous systems pay the price. We become blind to context.

A simple 2026 test: Can you still accomplish your work. Keep your relationships warm. And think clearly if The Machine goes down for a day?

A few ways to remain free:

Schedule a weekly face-to-face conversation with no screens involved.
Create one “analog lane” for your life (paper notes, printed maps, a physical book).
Learn one repair skill this month. Any repair skill will do. Tire on bike. Basic budgeting without apps. Cooking without delivery.
Spend 15 minutes walking outside every day. Long enough to allow your mind to stop working.

Forster was observing a human tendency- to trade alive-ness for convenience, one small click at a time.

For years, a "McKinsey-style" memo was the gold standard in business schools. It meant the work was polished, structural, and precise.

But when NYU professor Panos Ipeirotis started seeing that level of polish from almost everyone, he realized it wasn't a sign of excellence. It was a disguise. The grammar was perfect, but the understanding was missing. The work was being generated, not thought through.

His solution wasn't to ban the AI software. It was to bring back the oral exam.

He set up a system where a computer interviews students for twenty minutes about their specific submission. It asks them to defend their logic, explain their data, and troubleshoot on the fly. It costs about 42 cents per student to run.

The results were immediate. Students who turned in flawless papers often couldn't answer simple questions about them. They found the experience stressful, but most admitted it was a much fairer test of what they actually knew.

There is a quiet warning here for the rest of us.

We have relied for a long time on the written document-the report, the slide deck, the strategic plan-as proof of competence. That proxy is now broken. It is now remarkably easy to produce a document that looks like it knows what it’s talking about.

If we want to know if someone actually understands the work, we have to stop reading and start talking. Can they explain the why behind the decision? Can they handle a challenge?

If the answer is no, the perfectly written memo is worthless.

Open article: NYU professor tested students with AI oral exams, here's what happened next by businessinsider.com

NYU professor tested students with AI oral exams, here's what happened next

You might picture your own thinking as occurring within your skull. The boundaries are supposed to be there: Inside is your brain; outside is the world. But this model starts to fall apart whenever you try to get somewhere new, create a document or order a meal.

I explain more in my latest article. 👇

You might picture thinking as occurring within your skull. The boundaries are supposed to be there: Inside your brain; outside is the world. But this 

Open article: Your Brain Is Bigger Than You Think by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 8 min read

We’re walking into three human crises, and none of them are abstract.

Creativity: A machine will now be able to create a good poem in seconds- creativity ceases to be an enigma. The human task will no longer be how we create something (that has been done by machines) but rather about being present and having taste and direction as to what you wish to communicate.

Authenticity: While the work may be "real" the labor creating that work will have disappeared. What we call "original" will be less about "purity tests," and more about taking on the responsibilities of that original work. Are you accountable for verifying that it is true? Have you taken part in shaping that truth? Would you take responsibility for standing behind that truth?

Meaning: The noise can sound correct, while the source is lacking. This is the ultimate issue. We seek contact and embodiment, not just information.

I discuss these further in my article below. You may agree or disagree.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

There’s a feeling that I am finding myself coming across quite frequently these days. You read a passage, and you have a reaction to it. It feels true

Open article: The Three Crises of the Human by Bob Hutchins, Phd(c) • 7 min read

Founder | CEO | Using data to build happier, healthier communities IRL | AI Adventurist | Startup Advisor | National Media Keynote Speaker | Happiness Warrior 🌈

Hi! I’m Karen, a multidisciplinary founder, mom, and storyteller who has spent 20 years at the intersection of communication, healthcare, technology, and human connection.

My work now centers on AI, social health, and the future of community. I've taught over 100 AI classes and most recently co-founded an community for AI-first founders, so no entrepreneur ever needs to build alone again. 

I'm known for translating complex ideas into simple, meaningful action - and for the now viral grassroots movement that transformed after-school care in my MA town.

I’m available for keynote speaking, AI thought partnership, and CEO support with sales, marketing, strategy, and fundraising.

Karen Kelly 🌈

Today’s my birthday 🎂 And instead of a big personal goal for 2026, I’ve got one simple mission: Help my network succeed.

That means:
🔺Making thoughtful introductions
🔺Sharing opportunities early
🔺Inspiring human-centered change en mass
🔺Using what I know (and who I know) to create momentum for others

We’re living in a moment where connection, trust, and generosity compound faster than almost anything else. If you’re building, pivoting, leading, or are ready to expand - I’m in your corner.

If there’s a way I can be helpful this year, tell me.
If I can open a door, make a connection, or be a sounding board - happy birthday to us. 🎉

Here’s to a year of shared wins.

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It still blows my mind that there was a "longevity" themed TEDx in Boston last October and not one speaker addressed Social Health. The data is OVERWHELMING, but many health-tech companies won't to show it to you because it doesn't support buying deeper into their biometric monitoring systems.

In Harvard's 80 year longevity study, the major finding was clear.  People with the warmest connections to others...

- were the happiest
- stayed healthiest as they grew old
- lived the longest

Meanwhile, later in October, I was on a different TEDx stage talking to a very different crowd in Concord about my lowest professional and personal moment...how it changed everything about how I live, and how I came to discover I needed community more than I could have imagined. I desperately needed to improve my social health.

I can't wait to share it with you when it goes live. Mostly because I get excited when I see articles like the one in the The Wall Street Journal today (link in comments), talking about how being naturally social, PERSISTENTLY social, actually heals yourself and others all at once. The tide is starting to turn. 

Imagine, that the best thing you can do for your health doesn't cost any money?

This is 2026's new wealth.

This is social health. 🩺

#socialhealth #tedx #comingsoon

It's January and the cold outreach is comin' in hot and heavy! If you're about to send a message that includes “pick your brain," let me offer a more effective alternative.

One of the best networking books I ever read, Never Eat Alone, lays out an extremely powerful premise: strong networks aren’t built through extraction, they’re built through intention and generosity.

“Pick your brain” is vague and signals one-way value. Think about it - if that successful person gave every brain-picker 30 minutes, they'd have no time left to work, let alone continue to be successful.

Here's what I suggest instead:

🔺 Use your network before you cold-email.  
Do the diligence on your contact tree. Who already knows this person? Who could make a warm intro? Even a light reference - “X suggested I reach out” -instantly establishes trust and context.

🔺  Be intentional about why this person.
If you can’t clearly articulate why they are the right person to talk to, it’s probably not time to reach out yet.

🔺  Say why you’re reaching out to them.
Reference something specific: a talk they gave, a product they built, a transition they made. Specificity signals respect and real interest.

🔺  Be clear about the focus.
One thoughtful, specific question is far more inviting than “your thoughts.”

🔺  Ask for 15 minutes.
Not “a quick chat.” Not 30. Fifteen minutes feels bounded, doable, and easy to say yes to.

🔺 Name the mutual value.
Shared context, curiosity, alignment, or a perspective you’re exploring. It doesn’t have to be transactional, just honest.

🔺 Give them an easy out.
 “If now’s not a good time, no worries at all.”  Psychological safety matters more than you think.

This works because busy people make fast decisions. Clarity lowers cognitive load, and makes it easy to say yes or no quickly. Boundaries create comfort. 

And most importantly, warm context 🌴  beats cold outreach 🥶  every time. Reference a talk someone gave, even if it has nothing to do with what you're reaching out about. It shows you care enough about this one specific person to do your homework.

Hope that's helpful.

Happy networking! 

#network #coldoutreach #brainpickers #nevereatalone

Best way to start my day! New friends, old friends, and just good old fashioned community building. Huge thanks to Stephanie Roulic and Ben Maitland-Lewis for bringing allllll the ladies together at SVB! 

Great seeing and meeting Bobbie Carlton Lindsey Whiteley Alison Campbell Samanda J.V. Jean Carla E. Small Jill Palese 👯‍♀️

I've been approached by 2 distinctly different groups of people over the last week about how to be selected for a TEDx talk. Here's what they asked:

Group 1:
How do I network my way to a TEDx?

Group 2:
I have a story I want to share. Will you help me tell it?

Sadly for group 1, you cannot network your way to a TEDx.

Happily for group 2, I love helping people get clear on what they want to share, why it's valuable, and who needs to hear it now. 

I needed a nice hard push from a friend to decide to submit my story a year ago. And going through this process has had a transformative effect on me.

At the end of the day, I want to help highlight the lives of people who are quietly doing incredible things for their community...

or who've shown extreme bravery in the face of consequences...

or who have failed and fallen and gotten up again.

Knowledge is quickly becoming a commodity.

Lived experience has never been a more important asset on the stage or in the workplace. 

If you've been sitting on a story, now is the time to tell it.

#tedx #storytelling

Looking for some input! I’m working on a keynote for the launch of Williams College’s entrepreneurship program, Ephstart. When I was there over 20 years ago, I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur…and honestly, most liberal arts students still don’t.

Enter 2026: the golden age of building with nothing more than command of the English language. 🌈 

I’d love your input. Non-technical friends, what’s the one thing that you’d need to hear that in fact, you too can build and thrive in the new world? 

Some themes I’m exploring:

A. Storytelling as a critical skill 
B. Empathy as a leadership advantage
C. Why social capital may be the most valuable long-term capital 
D. How command of language = command of your company  
E. Leading through change when there is no stable playbook

Whaddaya think? 

(Pic: graduation day from Williams in the early aughts.)

#keynote #speaker #entrepreneurship #goephs #ai

Did you know our social lives are a leading indicator of US economics?

Last night I had the great honor or hearing Robert Putnam, author Bowling Alone and subject of Join or Die Film, share 150 years worth of data on the interplay of democracy, economics, social connection, and a cultural "we" mindset.

When you look at American life across these four very different dimensions, they all trace the same arc.

High dysfunction in the late 1800s.

A long climb toward health and cooperation through the mid-20th century.

Then, a steady decline.

What matters to me isn’t the dip. It’s the peak, because it tells us something important: this isn’t theoretical. We’ve lived through a version of cohesion and community-first before.

The country didn’t get there by accident. It wasn’t because people agreed on everything. And it didn’t start in Washington.

It started locally AND socially.

And it started with a shift in how people saw one another... from “me” to “we.”
I don’t think our current moment is about one election, one leader, or one policy. That's the symptom.

It turns out, connection erodes before institutions do. We should pay attention to this.

Culture actually shifts before outcomes show up in the data. The chart isn’t a warning as much as it is a reminder: direction can change.

But it's up to us to change it. To start being more intentional about how, where, with who, and how often we connect.

And I like this because we can control what happens next. I'm going to show up a little differently in 2026. Will you?

Stephen J. Coté Doug Levine Elizabeth Wuerz  

#socialhealth #startlocal #communityfirst

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