Kevin Benedict

What’s AI For?
Import from wordpress feed
September 16, 2026

Telos is an ancient Greek word meaning end or purpose. Aristotle thought that to understand anything fully, we have to ask not only what it does, but what it’s for. That question sits very close to the philosophy in my new book,”The Future of Human Leadership.”Today we have astonishing and fas

What Leadership Becomes When Intelligence Is Everywhere
Import from wordpress feed
September 15, 2026

Available on AmazonFor most of human history, intelligence was scarce. Leaders mattered because they knew more or could decide better. That world is ending. Artificial intelligence is making powerful forms of intelligence cheap, fast, and everywhere. That raises a much bigger question than productiv

Whom Do We Serve?
Import from wordpress feed
September 15, 2026

The world is racing to build smarter artificial intelligence. We want AI that can think, plan, decide, and act autonomously. We want machines that can do more work, solve more problems, increase profits, and make organizations more efficient.But there is a question we should ask before we go much fu

A Concise Synopsis of The Future of Human Leadership: When Intelligence Is Everywhere
Import from wordpress feed
September 10, 2026

The central argument of my new book, The Future of Human Leadership is that humanity has entered a historically significant transition in which capability is expanding faster than people and institutions can understand, govern, or absorb it. Artificial intelligence is an important part of this chang

The Future of Personal AI with Expert David Espindola
Import from wordpress feed
September 08, 2026

What happens when AI stops being generic and starts becoming deeply personal? In this episode of FOBtv, I welcome back AI strategist, entrepreneur, author, and BrainyUs founder David Espindola to explore the emerging world of personal AI knowledge systems. We discus how AI learns not just our docume

The CEO We Need for the Sixth Great Transition
Import from wordpress feed
September 03, 2026

For generations, we have celebrated the CEO who seemed to know everything. The visionary. The strategist. The decisive commander. The person at the top of the pyramid who saw farther, understood more, made the difficult calls, and directed everyone else toward the destination.Coming soon!That model

The Great Transfer: From Human Muscle to Machine Intelligence
Import from wordpress feed
August 27, 2026

Human history can be understood as a long transfer of burden and capability. For most of our existence, what humanity could accomplish was limited by the capabilities of the human body. We could carry only so much, travel only so fast, work only so long, and remember only so much. Then we began movi

Your Personality May Be Distorting the Future
Import from wordpress feed
August 20, 2026

Futurists and business leaders spend enormous amounts of time trying to improve the quality of their information. We study weak signals, emerging technologies, demographic shifts, economic trends, geopolitical risks, consumer behavior, and scientific breakthroughs. We build scenarios, hire experts,

Foresight and Doctrinal Future time
Import from wordpress feed
August 19, 2026

Disclaimer: I'm no expert in world religions, traditions, theologies, philosophies or doctrines.  The point of this article is not to judge, but to highlight the fact that many of us have grown up in traditions that may influence our perspective of the future in many different and interesting w

The Future Through Distorted Lenses
Import from wordpress feed
August 18, 2026

Human beings like to imagine that the hardest part of seeing the future is that the future has not happened yet. We assume uncertainty is the main obstacle. If only we had better data, better models, better artificial intelligence, or more sophisticated forecasting tools, perhaps we could see what i

Foresight is Orientation
Import from wordpress feed
August 18, 2026

Foresight is often mistaken for prediction. We imagine its purpose is to tell us what will happen next: which technology will win, which market will emerge, which threat will become serious, or which opportunity will matter most. But prediction and foresight are not the same thing.The Future is Many

Historically Imagined Time: When the Past Distorts the Present
Import from wordpress feed
August 17, 2026

Click to EnlargeWe like to believe we make decisions based on the present. We study the evidence, examine the risks, debate the options, and try to anticipate what comes next. But there is another influence quietly sitting at the table: our imagined version of the past.I call this Historically Imagi

Why Foresight Fails, PT 2
Import from wordpress feed
August 17, 2026

(Continued from Why Foresight Fails, PT 1)Foresight is often described as the ability to see what is coming.  The challenge occurs when foresight forewarns, but the organization fails to act. They notice the anomaly, hear the warnings, but make excuses or ignore the significance of the insight.

The Choice We Keep Avoiding
Import from wordpress feed
August 14, 2026

Before budgets, before algorithms, before policies, one question sets the course: What is a human life worth? Not in dollars or votes, but in dignity and possibility. We dodge that question and then act surprised when our tools outpace our wisdom. Click to EnlargeEvery society optimizes fo

Why Foresight Fails, Part 1
Import from wordpress feed
August 14, 2026

Organizations rarely lose contact with reality in one dramatic moment. The separation usually begins while the institution is still functioning, customers are still buying, reports are still being produced, and leaders still appear to be in control.Click to EnlargeA weak signal is explained away. An

The Hidden Constraint on Transformation: Human Viability
Import from wordpress feed
August 13, 2026

Click to EnlargeFor decades, leaders have been taught to ask familiar questions: How can we increase capability? How can we move faster? How can we become more productive? How can we scale?Those questions still matter. But they are no longer enough.As artificial intelligence, automation, digital pla

Saving the World With IoT
Import from wordpress feed
July 15, 2026

What if we already have the technology to solve some of the world’s hardest problems—and we’re simply failing to use it? In this episode of FOBTV, I sit down with longtime technology pioneer, IDC Research Director, and author Rob Tiffany to discuss his bold new book, Saving the Earth with the

The Vices of Foresight: How Human Weaknesses Distort the Future
Import from wordpress feed
July 09, 2026

In the summer of 1846, a group of American emigrants heading west toward California faced a leadership problem familiar to every modern executive: they were behind schedule.The Donner-Reed Party had left later than was advisable for a journey of roughly 2,500 miles. The route west was already di

The Future of Leadership
Import from wordpress feed
June 23, 2026

Click to EnlargeThe world is not simply changing. It is accelerating, colliding, and reorganizing itself across multiple fronts at once. Artificial intelligence is reshaping work, decision-making, and competition. Ecological realities are imposing new constraints on growth, resource use, and long-te

Knowledge Friction Shaped Civilization
Import from wordpress feed
June 18, 2026

Click to EnlargeHuman history is often told as a story of inventions, discoveries, leaders, and institutions. We celebrate the wheel, writing, the printing press, electricity, computers, and artificial intelligence. We tell stories about explorers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and statesmen. Yet benea

Future Pathways with Futurist Frank Diana
Import from wordpress feed
June 12, 2026

In this thought-provoking episode of FOBTV, futurists Kevin Benedict and Frank Diana explore one of the most important questions of our time: Are we simply experiencing another period of disruption, or are we living through the early stages of a civilizational transition? Drawing on more than a deca

Why Do We Innovate? Part 2
Import from wordpress feed
May 19, 2026

Innovation is no longer just about creating better tools or improving efficiency. It is increasingly about shaping the conditions in which people live, think, work, and make decisions. That reality forces leaders to confront a deeper question: are our systems strengthening human capacity over ti

Why Do We Innovate? Part 1
Import from wordpress feed
May 19, 2026

Why do we innovate, invent, automate, optimize, and build?Is it for wealth creation, human flourishing, or both? And when those goals begin to diverge, does one path become stewardship while the other becomes extraction?This question has always existed beneath economic progress, but artificial intel

Rome and the Power of Standards
Import from wordpress feed
May 19, 2026

Most leaders think of standards as tools for compliance, efficiency, or cost control. History suggests something far more important. The best standards are force multipliers. They reduce friction, preserve human capacity, improve foresight, and allow complex systems to scale.Few examples illustrate

Beyond Human Speed
Import from wordpress feed
May 19, 2026

In April 1860, the Pony Express burst out of St. Joseph, Missouri, and raced westward toward Sacramento. It was one of the most ambitious logistics systems of its era: eighty riders, 400 horses, and nearly 200 relay stations spread across 2,000 miles of harsh terrain. Stations were positioned every

The Art and Science of Managing Supply Chain Risk
Regalix.tv
November 15, 2018

In this interview, supply chain risk and sustainability expert and SAP Ariba Global Vice President, Padmini Ranganathan, shares her knowledge, insights and experiences with us. She updates us on the latest trends in SCM and shares where the industry is heading.

Inside the Next Transition with Futurist Frank Diana | Ep.173
Import from youtube.com
September 18, 2026

The Future of Personal AI with Expert David Espindola | Ep.172
Import from youtube.com
September 08, 2026

Be More Effective than Traditional Foresight with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 24, 2026

Preparing with Rehearsal with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 23, 2026

Plausible Possibilities with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 22, 2026

Response to Pathways with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 21, 2026

Inserting Into Pathways with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 20, 2026

Defining Possibility Chains with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 17, 2026

Saving the World With IoT & Expert Rob Tiffany | Ep.166
Import from youtube.com
July 15, 2026

Saving the World With IoT & Expert Rob Tiffany | Ep.171
Import from youtube.com
July 15, 2026

The Concept of Possibility Chains with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 14, 2026

The Convergence of Domains with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 09, 2026

Understanding the Locals in Regenerative Tourism with Satu Angeli | Ep.165
Import from youtube.com
July 08, 2026

How Domains Can Change Over Time with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 08, 2026

The Difference between Sustainable of Regenerative Tourism with Satu Angeli | FOBtv
Youtube
July 07, 2026

In an era when many destinations are struggling with overtourism, ecological decline, and growing tensions between economic growth and environmental stewardship, this thought-provoking conversation explores a bold alternative: regenerative tourism. Journey to Finland’s extraordinary Archipelago Sea and discover how tourism can evolve from merely minimizing harm to actively restoring ecosystems, strengthening communities, and creating lasting value for future generations. This inspiring discussion offers a compelling vision of tourism as a force for healing—one that invites us to rethink our relationship with places, communities, nature, and each other.

When Pressure Crosses Different Domains with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 07, 2026

Where are We Experiencing Pressure with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 06, 2026

What Kind of Pressure are We Experiencing with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 03, 2026

The Trauma of Today and What that Means with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
July 02, 2026

The Promise and Future of Regenerative Tourism with Satu Angeli | Ep.165
Import from youtube.com
July 01, 2026

Transitional Periods of Time with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
June 29, 2026

Historical Similarities to Today with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
June 26, 2026

A Return to History as a Guided for the Future with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
June 25, 2026

A Return to History as a Guide for the Future with Frank Diana | Reimagining the Future
Import from youtube.com
June 25, 2026

A New Way to Understand the Future with Frank Diana | Ep.164
Import from youtube.com
June 12, 2026

Fewer young workers, pandemic-motivated early retirements, inspired searches for a better quality of life, and higher paying available jobs are all motivating businesses in the service industry to accelerate automation.

A Purposeful Future is Not Inevitable
Thinkers360
May 07, 2021

The future is not unexpected. Yesterday’s future arrived today. It’s an inevitable pattern. I have been reading a lot about inevitability lately. Last week I listened to Bill Gates and Rashida Jones on the Ask Big Questions podcast. In this podcast Bill Gates shared that we have already damaged the earth and the negative consequences are inevitable.

In my work over the past few months, I have written a series of articles under the title of The Future of Information, Truth and Influence. Many of the articles address the negative and unanticipated consequences of social media on our society. Many authors of the research I have been studying seem to have a fatalistic view. We have let the genie out of the bottle and there is no going back. It’s evitable.

And again today, I came across an article about automation, artificial intelligence and the jobs of the future. The author predicted that our economic system would drive us to compete on automation, and that we will automate away many of the jobs that employ us today. It’s inevitable. The answer according to the author is to tax the use of automation and robots, and then share the proceeds with us humans via monthly payments. I wouldn’t mind having automated robots generating a paycheck for me each month. Bring it on!

The weaponization of robots for the military is also a big societal issue today. Although many experts have been warning humanity not to create killer robots that can be unleashed against humans, many military strategists have already given up the fight and believe it’s inevitable.

The pandemic, I believe, has also invited us to feel fatalistic. Our dependence on globalization, international travel and interconnectedness guarantee we will experience these horrific global pandemics repeatably. It’s inevitable.

Some believe social issues like inequality, injustice, racism, income inequality, wealth gaps, etc., are also inevitable. But I believe it’s possible to have a more purposeful vision to believe in and embrace. We need positive social constructs that enable us to believe that the world can be a better place. If you are not familiar with the term social construct, I am using the definition – a collective belief placed on an object or event by a society. Often, members don’t even realize a social construct exists. They have just always accepted it to be true. For example, growing up in my family’s religious tradition, members believed woman could not be preachers. Today, however, many gifted and inspired woman are preachers. The belief that a woman couldn’t preach was not a reality, it was simply a social construct without merit, validity or value.

Social constructs need to be identified, analyzed, understood and re-evaluated constantly for merit and purpose. Does a particular social construct offer value for us now and/or in the future.

One social construct most of us embrace is the notion of the “rule of law.” We want to be governed by the “rule of law” not by the whims of some power-hungry despot. If we want to change things in a democracy, then we the people change the laws that govern us. This is not a social construct that every culture and society has adopted. Scribbling the words “rule of law” on a piece of paper does not in and of itself provide us value, but the collective belief that following the “rule of law” helps support a more perfect union offers enormous value for us.

Here are some additional and very powerful social constructs that our society has found useful to believe in - human rights, morality, democracy, capitalism, the value of a constitution, liberty, importance and value of an educated population, the notion of property and property rights, the notion of territories and borders, science and the scientific method, medicine and public health, logic, etc.

None of the social and mental constructs listed above are visible. The elk grazing in the meadow above me can’t see a social construct. They are collective beliefs, notions, concepts that add value and order to us humans. They are not inevitable. We have to purposely develop them in order to form a more perfect union.

With the right social constructs, we can stop social media from manipulating the minds of the vulnerable. AI powered robots don’t have to be weaponized. Injustices don’t have to be acceptable. Truth can be honored, the rule of law respected, science can heal, conspiracy theories rejected, and education can improve us. We are responsible for our own social constructs. We need to purposefully create and embrace social constructs that help us form a more perfect union and the future we want tomorrow.

Truth, Science and Reasoning in a Pandemic Age
Thinkers360
May 08, 2020

I have the good fortune to meet with and interview many distinguished business and technology leaders in the normal course of my work. One of the most common subjects of discussion in 2019 was the increasing importance of data and data analytics. Everyone needs data and an understanding of what it means to operate today. Data is captured and analyzed to determine facts, and the facts are weighed and measured to derive the truth. Without data, facts can’t be supported, truth can’t be determined and effective reasoning cannot be applied. Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to see clearly that knowledge of science would have to come from repeated experiments done, not unproven ideas. He was also the first scientist that correlated mathematics and science. Most people recognize the role of truth in reasoning. Reasoning without truth is like programming without logic. It doesn’t work. Computers run on logic as does nearly the entire world as a result of digital transformation. Truth and logic allow others to replicate your processes by following the logic, testing it, and debugging any issues. That is why it is so critical, in an advanced digital society, to respect and honor the value and utility of truth and logic. Without truth scientific breakthroughs and processes can’t be delivered, digital systems and economies can’t operate, and governments cannot sustain the trust and cooperation of their citizens. If a person rejects data, denigrate facts and devalues truths, then their ability to use logic and reasoning to make good decisions is severely limited. In the absence of reasoning, superstitions, bias, false narratives and prejudices find room to grow. Galileo was one of the first modern thinkers to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. When I ask business leaders to identify emerging technologies they feel will have the biggest impact on their business in the near future they most often list technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, automation, robotics, personalization, etc. All of these emerging technologies and their potential value to society are fully dependent on data, data analytics, determining facts and the revealed truth, and then using it within logic systems to build cool things like autonomous self-driving cars! Given the absolute centrality of data, facts, truth and logic to our current and future quality of life and common good, it would seem we could all agree on their value and utility, but

Pre-Pandemic Assumptions and Presumptions in Decision-Making
Thinkers360
April 07, 2020

Over the last 3 years my wife and I have become avid backpackers with many adventures under our belt. One of the biggest surprises I learned during my time in the wilderness was how often I make wrong assumptions. It was mid-July and the lake we were backpacking to was still frozen over and the trail was covered in deep snow. I had assumed warm mid-July weather would have cleared the trails. Another time after fishing in a high mountain lake, I looked at the map and saw the trail passed directly above our location. After over an hour looking for the trail we realized it didn't exist. My assumptions that maps are updated regularly and accurately reflect the reality on the ground were wrong. I can't tell you how many times I have learned that the obvious shortcut doesn't save you time. We all make assumptions. We assume something is true or certain to happen, without proof. We also make presumptions. We presume ideas are true, and then use them as the basis for other ideas until we have built ourselves a house of cards that is one fact away from collapsing. As we ponder our changed mid-pandemic world from our home offices with our dogs and kids under our desk, it is a good time to reflect on the assumptions and presumptions that got us into this predicament. I think we presumed the biggest dangers in flying were potential terrorist attacks or equipment failure. I think we assumed our doctors had the answers to whatever illness we picked up. I think we presumed that since all companies seemed to be developing long and lean supply chains that they must be resilient, redundant and reliable. I think we presumed that an illness in China was a Chinese problem. I think we assumed that the local hospital could just order and quickly receive any supplies or equipment they needed. I think we assumed that our economy would always be there in the morning. I think we assumed toilet paper would always be available. I think we assumed our leaders had a plan. As our anxiety evolves into acceptance of our mid-pandemic situation, perhaps it is a good time to re-evaluate the assumptions and presumptions we all have about the world around us. What I have learned in this past month is we have far less control over our world and destiny than might have been presumed.

Flattening the Curve of a Risky Future
Thinkers360
April 06, 2020

Today, in the midst of round one of the COVID-19 pandemic, I received an email from Delta Airlines sharing their efforts to make travel safe and normal. What will normal be post-pandemic? Will society be comfortable going right back to flying all over the world again? The thought of spending time in crowded airports, attending conferences with tens of thousands of people in one room, sitting in tightly packed business meetings and sitting elbow to elbow with coughing strangers on planes fills me with anxiety. I don't think I am the same person that I once was. I suspect most of us aren't. As the pandemic and resulting economic anxieties extend further into the calendar and deeper into our mutual psyches, our habits will be altered - some temporarily, others permanent. Just as our grandparents (and great-grandparents) before them developed a propensity to save and to be financially conservative as a result of experiencing the Great Depression during their formative years, we also will be known for the changes about to take place in us. This pandemic will alter the curve of our future. We have now all borne witness to the results of our societal decisions or lack thereof, and experienced the consequences. I am reminded of a popular Greek myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus. They were imprisoned in a tower by the King of Crete. Being a great craftsman, Daedalus devised two pairs of wings using wooden frames, wax and feathers to escape and fly away. Daedalus warned his son Icarus that flying too near the sun would cause the wax to melt and the wings would fail. Icarus jumped from the tower, escaped and his wings allowed him to soar high over the ocean. It was not long, however, before Icarus forgot all about his father's warnings. Soon he was flying higher and higher. The warm sun quickly melted the wax, the feathers came loose and Icarus plunged to his death in the sea. I think today we may have flown too close to the sun. In 2015, Bill Gates, gave a Ted Talk titled "The Next Outbreak? We're Not Ready." It accurately described what would happen if a pandemic similar to COVID-19 occurred. He precisely warned of the impact and what the world needed to do to prepare for it. Bill Gates was our Daedalus, and like Icarus we were captivated by the joys and excitement of flying high and far. The question for us all now is - what next? What will we do differently? How will our future be reshaped?