Matt Abrahams

Enabling human progress is the driving force behind the future we all envision—where individuals thrive, organizations succeed, and society prospers. Yet many of our systems in education and work still rely on rigid practices that reinforce privilege rather than surface the abundant talent that exists. The result? Widening skills gaps, low engagement, and millions of capable individuals sidelined. Much like Neo choosing the red pill in The Matrix, transformation begins when we’re willing to see beyond the illusion—that talent is scarce, that opportunity must be rationed, that potential belongs only to a few. The forces driving change are exposing the limits of that thinking. But they also offer an opening to redefine how we approach education, work, and life, grounded in five beliefs I’ve come to see as foundational: -       Every individual has inherent worth -       Opportunity is abundant -       Human capacity to learn and grow is boundless -       Talents are complementary -       Mutual stewardship accelerates shared progress If we consistently operated from these beliefs, how would we reimagine education? Work? Leadership? #HumanPotential #TalentEconomy #Leadership #FutureOfWork #Progress

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I'm a few months late to reading this wonderful piece by my dear friend Matthew Rascoff, Stanford's VP of Digital Education. For decades, we've focused on building individual skills to get ahead. While this "human capital" approach has led to skill building, it's also led to increased isolation, anxiety, and inequality—even with massive education investments. What if we reinvented the college experience to focus on building social capital? Stanford produces so many successful startups not because they teach different skills, but because they are intentional about curating experiences where students connect and collaborate. Specifically, their "Code in Place" programming course serves 12,000 students globally while maintaining small discussion groups. It actually gets better with scale—more people means higher chances of meaningful connections. This is what it means to scale social capital. As AI reshapes work, our ability to build relationships and collaborate becomes even more valuable than individual skills. So, how are our colleges and workforce training programs building community in their learning environments? https://lnkd.in/gNYYrpuH

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Leaders must advocate for their teams, showcase progress, and communicate impact. If they under-signal achievements, their work goes unnoticed. If they over-signal, they risk damaging trust. Övül Sezer ’s insights on 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 can help leaders learn how to share accomplishments in a way that builds credibility, reinforces psychological safety, and models healthy pride rather than self-inflation. It also helps leaders: • express gratitude in ways that strengthen relationships rather than perform them • understand how different generations interpret self-promotion • navigate the social media environment where signalling has become public and constant Framed this way, the topic becomes about refining a leader’s ability to communicate value with honesty, confidence, and emotional intelligence. https://lnkd.in/eB3uvBPq

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I was honored to be a guest on the CEO Wisdom podcast this week. Charles and I explored timely issues in #technology, #culture and #mentalhealth. We discussed: 1️⃣ How to use the SuperBetter Mindset for #mentoring. SuperBetter's gameful methodology is a natural framework for #coaching that builds resilience and fosters a culture of safety, support and accountability. 2️⃣ Advances in #AI technology will make the mental health crisis among youth and young adults worse, not better. 3️⃣ The world needs scalable, evidence-based innovations that proactively empower youth (and adults!) with #CognitiveResilience, and an understanding of how technology is used to influence brains and beliefs in ways that serve the interests of others. The combination of awareness and a resilience mindset is the winning formula for empowerment in the digital age. 4️⃣ Hybrid Intelligence combines the strengths of natural intelligence and artificial intelligence to achieve better outcomes than either could alone, and with fewer negative consequences to human mental health and wellbeing. 5️⃣ SuperBetter’s approach of #GamefulDesign is different than #gamification. Gamification adds game techniques to non-game settings (e.g. badges, points, leaderboards). Gameful Design brings the psychological strengths naturally displayed in game play to real life. 6️⃣ Pendulum Theory is a model suggesting that culture reliably shifts from a ‘Me’ to a ‘We’ orientation in a predictable 80 year cycle. Historically, the 10 years before and after the peak of the ‘We’ is a time of division and tribalism (my tribe is ok, your tribe is not ok). 2023 marked the peak of the ‘We’. If the model holds, culture will continue to be divided for several more years, and start becoming less polarized as we approach 2033. 7️⃣ SuperBetter is mindset intervention. The easy-to-teach SuperBetter Mindset is a mental framework that uses the psychology of game play to overcome obstacles and achieve epic wins in all of life. Five published studies show its benefits for improving resilience, mental health, self-efficacy and recovery. 8️⃣ We partner with organizations globally to solve customer pain points in the #education, #healthcare, #sports, learning & development, and #cybersecurity industries. The SuperBetter Mindset can be used in training programs, curriculums and tech-enabled solutions. Find a link to the podcast in the comments.

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The latest iteration of “if you have a brain, you have bias®” Why Boards need to lead using Incisive Leadership 🌟 Inspired. Energized. Grateful. A protocol for human connection. The Inclusive Governance Summit at Santa Clara University brought together leaders and changemakers to explore how governance can operate with integrity, courage, and build from intersectional and intergenerational frameworks. A special thank you to the Black Corporate Board Readiness (BCBR) program for championing this vital work and preparing board-ready leaders whose perspectives will strengthen organizations everywhere. One theme that echoed throughout the summit: incisive is the new inclusion. It’s not enough to talk about diversity—we must step back from the constant deluge of gaslighting “news,” pause to see beyond the noise, and ask sharper questions. Only then can boards cut through bias and make decisions that increase trust and accountability. This challenge is even more urgent in an American landscape where 30 of 50 states passed DEI-related legislation by the end of 2024. Boards cannot afford to rely on generic approaches. They need nuanced tactical steps that embrace change while staying true to their company values. That means balancing compliance with courage, translating commitments into action, and ensuring the company values are not just aspirational, but operational. And in today’s landscape, that includes technology. Boards of every size must identify, define, and deploy an AI governance strategy. Without it, we risk embedding bias into our systems and falling short of the very inclusion we seek to advance. Especially critical is the work of addressing algorithmic bias, biased data sets, and the limitations of LLMs, alongside existing institutional biases. These three areas share the same word—bias—but the differences between them are profound. Recognizing those distinctions, and planning strategically for each, is what separates boards that are reactive from those that are proactive. At Percipio Company, we believe that if you have a brain, you have bias®. With awareness and action, leaders can move from bias to belonging®, ensuring governance isn’t just representative, but also incisive, responsible, and future-ready. ✨ Deep gratitude to the organizers, the BCBR program, and all who are advancing this dialogue. The ripple effects extend far beyond the summit.

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🧠🌀 Is Our Thinking in Decline? What About Our Children’s Development? AI is transformative and can boost productivity immensely—but at what cost to our ability to think? I recently read the first 41 pages of an Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan study titled: 📘 “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task” The study explores how using AI for tasks like writing can lead to cognitive offloading—where we begin to lean on the AI to do our thinking. That may feel efficient, but it comes with tradeoffs. Here’s what the researchers observed: ✅ People using ChatGPT wrote better essays—at first ✅ They felt more confident in their output ❌ But they became worse at detecting flaws ❌ And in follow-up writing (without AI), they underperformed compared to those who hadn’t used AI at all They call this phenomenon cognitive debt—a buildup of lost skill and diminished awareness. Like technical debt, it isn’t obvious right away. But the long-term cost is real. This has serious implications for adults—but it raises even deeper concerns about children. Adults—especially those who didn’t receive a strong foundation in subjects like physics or math—often learn logic through life: trial, error, and feedback. But for children, critical thinking develops through effort: Solving unfamiliar problems Revising arguments Grappling with the unknown If children begin outsourcing that process too early—using AI to answer questions, write responses, or complete assignments—when will they develop the capacity to think independently at all? I’m not arguing against AI. Far from it—I believe it can be deeply transformative. But I also believe in sequencing. Let’s build the foundation first: Teach reasoning Cultivate curiosity Strengthen internal problem-solving Then—and only then—bring in AI, not as a substitute, but as an amplifier. Used at the right stage, AI can: Expand our creative range Offload routine tasks Help us tackle deeper questions But if it comes before those foundations are laid, it risks weakening the very faculties it should be strengthening. 📘 I’ll be writing more about this—perhaps a full article or even a short series. 💬 I’m curious: Have you noticed changes in your own thinking—or your child’s—since using AI tools like ChatGPT? And what do you think is the right time to introduce them into learning environments? 🔍 AI Disclosure I’ve personally read the first 41 pages of the paper—the section that lays out the core methodology and findings. For the remainder of the 206-page document, I used Adobe AI and GPT-based tools to help summarize tables and supporting data. I’ll be finishing the full paper soon before writing my long-form piece. The views here reflect my own understanding, not just a regurgitation of AI output. That’s how I choose to use AI—for support, not substitution. Credit: Thanks to Tyler Preston Price for pointing out this paper to me.

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