June 16, 2026 | Issue Archive
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What business are we really in? Adding value... wherever we go
My aim is to add the most value I can wherever I go. My hope is that every engagement is a gift I get to give—but last Friday, the gift went both ways.
I spent the afternoon with a group of OhioRISE care coordinators—the wraparound support professionals who show up for kids and families navigating serious emotional and behavioral challenges. They call themselves fairy godmothers. And they aren't wrong.
Our family has one named Courtney. She's part of a village that helped turn things around for our son in ways I couldn't have imagined a few years ago. Brody went from Ds and Fs, on the verge of getting kicked out of school, to As and Bs, managing his freshman basketball team, and heading into a career center hospitality program as a high school junior.
Getting to look at a room full of people like Courtney—and say thank you on behalf of the families they serve, while sharing the 5 C's of Radical Adaptability to help lighten the load they carry every day—that's why I do this work. Always happy to sign copies of Mastering the Moments too!
Some rooms give you energy. Friday was one of them.
Now, on the topic of adding value—and getting back to your world...
Adding value always comes back to two questions:
Who do we serve?
What problems do we help them solve?
Those questions are why I've been thinking a lot about AI lately—even though I'm not an AI speaker.
When your work lives at the intersection of adaptability, change, and resilience, and your clients and audiences are increasingly wrestling with what AI means for their people, their roles, and their future—there's a clear intersection you can't ignore.
Radical Adaptability is about letting go of what holds us back so we can step into what's next. Right now, AI is forcing that conversation in every room I walk into—tech companies, healthcare systems, manufacturers who've been in business for over a century.
So last week I wrote something, prompted by a New York Times panel discussion that's worth your time: Five endings every leader has to choose in the age of AI. Not a technology playbook, just the human side of a conversation that's already happening whether we're ready or not.
THIS ENDS NOW
Maybe you've seen the videos from college commencements this spring—students in caps and gowns, booing. Not a bad joke. Not a controversial opinion. The mention of AI.
I get it. These graduates did everything right, learned everything they were told would matter, and walked into a job market that feels like it changed while they were in class. That fear is real. That anger is real.
But fear and denial aren't a strategy. And if you lead people, you don't get the luxury of booing.
The leaders who are getting ahead right now aren't the ones who predicted AI most accurately. They're the ones who stopped waiting for certainty and started making decisions. The ones who ended the posture of "we're monitoring the situation"—and chose a direction instead.
That's what needs to end: the idea that this is someone else's problem, in someone else's industry, on someone else's timeline.
It's already in your building.
THIS MOMENT MATTERS
The NYT panel discussion featured four of the world's leading experts on AI and the future of work: Nobel laureate. Former White House AI adviser. Wharton professor. Tech executive. They disagreed on almost everything.
But one thing was undeniable: AI has already changed the way we live and work. And the leaders navigating it best aren't predicting it—they're choosing how they're going to lead their people through it.
That's a decision you can make today. Before the forecast clears. Before the dust settles. Before you have all the answers.
I pulled five of those decisions into last week's blog post. If you lead a team, a department, or an organization—this one's for you:
→ 5 Endings AI Is Forcing on Every Leader
Up we go—
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