An Open Letter to the Class of 2026
From a grandma who knows some things
The Human Futures Design Lab
Human-Centered Systems Design in service of the individual, the organization, and society. Because only Human Systems can design an evolutionary future.
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Latest posts
What Language Actually Is
Why AI Can’t Produce Meaning and Why the AI Debate Still Annoys Me
A Review of Service America: Leading the New Customer Revolution
(The Amazon review is far shorter)
The AI Debate Is the Wrong Debate
Cathy Reisenwitz is right. And there’s one more thing.
The Jury Has Spoken. The Industry Hasn’t Listened Yet.
What today’s social media verdict means for every tech company building with AI
AI Can’t Imagine What Doesn’t Exist Yet. You Can.
The question about what AI can and can’t do is less interesting than what humans can do.
Designing the Future Together: New Methods for Complex Times
The problems most organizations face right now don’t sit still long enough to be solved by conventional methods.
Thinking Together in a Fractured World: Reflections After Chicago
In January, my colleague and former graduate student, Brian Jones, and I traveled to Chicago to meet with social systems scholar Alexander “Alecos” Christakis and his colleague, Jeff Deitrich. Our aim was to engage in a technical and scholarly conversation to explore whether two complementary approaches—Structured Dialogic Design (SDD) and a newer method developed by Brian: Values Evaluation,…
Why Meeting Your Neighbors is a Form of Radical Resistance
If you identify as someone on the political left, you likely feel a constant pressure to address the vast array of challenges facing our society.
In a Week Like This, Where Do Ordinary People Still Have Influence?
How Systems Thinkers Find Leverage in a Mess