Saul Kaplan

An hour with my friend, mentor and design icon Richard Saul Wurman is a master class in understanding understanding. We talked about the origin of TED, Louis Kahn’s Brutilism sensibilities and a new invite only conference 90 year old RSW has in the works!

Say it ain't so, Mo! #MoVaughn #RedSox

You can’t step in the same meme twice–the second time, the culture is different. Godin

Our Obsession With Scale Must End What if we designed for the emergence of new system-changing business models?

Let a thousand AI business models bloom. Our obsession with scale is leaving way too many people and communities behind and putting our planet at risk.

The way life should be! Always energized by a quick trip to the Maine coast.

Sticking to more reading and less cable news/social media in 2025. Going deep on LBJ thanks to Robert Caro. I’m already on the 3rd book in this amazing series and it’s impossible not to recognize many of the origins of today’s unsettling partisan power politics.

No movie we wanted to see in the theatres on Xmas so Susan Kaplan made matzah ball soup instead. Lots of it! Happy Holidays.

Kidnapped Susan Kaplan for a couple of winter hide-away days in a beautiful little beach cottage in Newport. Off season rocks!

Less Cable News. More Reading. Reimagining Huck’s adventures through the lens of James. Great read.

It feels to this long-time strategy consultant that McKinsey got away with their wrist slapped ($650M) for their role in the US Opioid Crisis. It’s increasingly difficult for the consulting industry to insulate itself from being legally linked to the business model outcomes of its clients.

Business Models Aren’t Just For Business During my six years as an accidental bureaucrat, after spending twenty-five years in the private sector, my friends often wondered how I could do it. They routinely asked versions of the question: doe...

I first said out loud in HBR in 2011 that business models aren’t just for business. Still true.

hbr.org/2011/04/busi...

What truly changes the game is when we commit to being better at being better. It’s hard to do and difficult to compete against. Godin

Euphemism-Of-The-Day: Innovation Troubles. As in Intel is mired in innovation troubles! They aren’t alone.

Less cable news. More reading. Loved Salvage The Bones by Jasmyn Ward.

Be still my Papa geek heart. A day with our granddaughter Rory at the Museum of Science, Boston.

Embrace fuzzy. If you need perfect visibility into the future, you’re limiting the impact and power of your work. Godin

Thx Chris. Hope springs eternal! Nice to connect with you here.

Innovation junkies have a strong point of view but know that they are missing something. It’s the forever search for the missing puzzle piece that defines true innovators.

Things I wish I knew earlier in life.

Apparently nature and nurture aren’t mutually exclusive health determinants!

Youth is our future. It’s not going well. Guns, drugs and car accidents are fueling rising U.S. youth mortality rates.

Design for Emergence: A Theory of Social System Change Social systems challenges require social systems solutions. What if we can design for the emergence of new social systems?

Systems problems require systems solutions. What if we could design for the emergence of better, more equitable social systems? saulkaplan.medium.com/design-for-e...

Thx Jennifer. Nothing like the hopeful emergence phase of a promising new social platform!

In times like these I find the BIF Genome helpful.