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Wise Economy Workshop Consulting, training and tools to support communities in building long-term economic health and resilience. wiseeconomy.com.

You can learn more about the Wise Economy Workshop at www. You can also subscribe to our blog and listen to our podcast there, and you can download white papers as well. We also produce a monthly newsletter called The Wise Fool, which you can subscribe to via the web site.

A lot of organizations are talking about skills gaps right now.But I wonder if we're focusing on the wrong gap.The chall...
10/13/2026

A lot of organizations are talking about skills gaps right now.

But I wonder if we're focusing on the wrong gap.

The challenge isn't always that people don't know enough.

Sometimes it's that we've built organizations where people aren't expected to think beyond their assigned tasks.

The reality is that today's challenges rarely stay inside one department, one job description, or one area of expertise.

The organizations that seem most adaptable are helping people understand the bigger picture, connect ideas across silos, and contribute to problem-solving regardless of their title.

I've seen this play out in communities, nonprofits, businesses, and public organizations alike.

Future readiness isn't just about teaching new skills.

It's about creating conditions where people can use them.

What do you think is harder to build:

A. Technical expertise

B. Organizational cultures where people feel comfortable contributing ideas

The safest city may not be the one with the most cameras.It may be the one where people still recognize each other.In “S...
10/13/2026

The safest city may not be the one with the most cameras.

It may be the one where people still recognize each other.

In “Smooth City,” René Boer warns that many modern cities are becoming polished, controlled, and optimized for predictability — but less resilient, less creative, and less human.

We’re trading vibrant local ecosystems for sterile monocultures.

And maybe that “perfect” seamless experience is quietly costing us:
⚠️ social trust
⚠️ local culture
⚠️ democratic energy
⚠️ economic resilience

The future won’t be built by removing friction from life.
It’ll be built by learning how to live with complexity, diversity, and community again.

đź“š Buy the books and support future-focused thinking.
đź“° Subscribe to the Future Here Now newsletter on Substack.
🎤 Want a keynote or workshop on resilient communities, future economies, and adaptive systems? Visit wiseeconomy.com today.

If you're skeptical about AI in public participation, I understand.Honestly, I think some skepticism is useful.Who contr...
10/03/2026

If you're skeptical about AI in public participation, I understand.

Honestly, I think some skepticism is useful.

Who controls the system?

What information does it use?

How is participation protected?

Who is accountable?

Those questions matter.

I'm interested in testing the idea precisely because I don't think we should skip them.

Technology doesn't automatically make participation better.

The process still has to earn trust.

I'm not interested in using AI to make public participation more passive.I'm interested in using it to make participatio...
10/01/2026

I'm not interested in using AI to make public participation more passive.

I'm interested in using it to make participation more thoughtful.

There's a difference.

If technology simply collects more comments, we've automated the comment box.

If it helps people understand alternatives, consider tradeoffs, and engage with a structured process, that's potentially something much more interesting.

That's the level I'm interested in exploring.

Here's a practical problem with better public deliberation:It takes people.Good facilitators aren't available everywhere...
09/29/2026

Here's a practical problem with better public deliberation:

It takes people.

Good facilitators aren't available everywhere, all the time.

So what happens when the moderator isn't in the room?

That's one reason I'm interested in exploring whether appropriately protected AI could help facilitate structured participation.

Not replace the facilitator.

Extend the possibility of participation.

The interesting part of AI in public engagement isn't the AI.It's what the technology might allow people to do.If an app...
09/27/2026

The interesting part of AI in public engagement isn't the AI.

It's what the technology might allow people to do.

If an appropriately protected AI tool can help someone participate when an in-person moderator isn't available, that's potentially valuable.

Not because AI should replace people.

Because it might help more people participate at a deeper level.

That's the experiment I'm interested in.

"I don't like that option."Okay.But why?What principle does it violate?What tradeoff concerns you?What would you choose ...
09/26/2026

"I don't like that option."

Okay.

But why?

What principle does it violate?

What tradeoff concerns you?

What would you choose instead?

Those questions take us somewhere an opinion alone can't.

Good public engagement doesn't eliminate disagreement.

It makes disagreement more useful.

Sometimes the hardest part of a public decision isn't generating ideas.It's figuring out how to sort them.Which alternat...
09/24/2026

Sometimes the hardest part of a public decision isn't generating ideas.

It's figuring out how to sort them.

Which alternatives fit the principles we've agreed matter most?

Which ones don't?

Which tradeoffs are acceptable?

That sorting process can turn a pile of opinions into something much more useful: a decision-making conversation.

Sometimes people don't disagree about the goal.They disagree about which option gets them there.That's why I like puttin...
09/22/2026

Sometimes people don't disagree about the goal.

They disagree about which option gets them there.

That's why I like putting principles before preferences.

Instead of starting with:

"Which option do you like?"

Start with:

"What matters most?"

Once people identify the principles that should guide the decision, the alternatives become easier to evaluate.

It's a simple strategic planning idea.

But I think it has interesting possibilities for public deliberation, too.

Consensus doesn't always happen in one big conversation.Sometimes it has to be built in stages.That's the idea behind a ...
09/20/2026

Consensus doesn't always happen in one big conversation.

Sometimes it has to be built in stages.

That's the idea behind a strategy I'm currently exploring called **Cascading Consensus**.

Instead of asking people to agree immediately, we can give them opportunities to respond to a set of alternatives, see how other thinking develops, and progressively narrow the field.

It's a different way of thinking about public deliberation.

And we're going to test it.

I'm curious to see what we learn.

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