Continuing in our Leadership in Unconventional Times series, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla is joined by Dr. Peter Williams.

Estonia, the little country that packs a punch, is celebrated in tech circles for giving birth to unicorns like Skype, Wise and Bolt (and, more recently, customer experience platform Glia and ID verification company Veriff).

Why are so many successful startups emerging from a small pocket of Europe? And can the unicorn paddock keep growing?

The Taiwanese government spares no effort to promote new tech trends in sports to help people live a longer and healthier life.

The City of Kyiv’s IT Department has reconfigured its city apps to provide citizens with a range of services, including finding bomb shelters and medicines, to a quality of life despite the threat of bombardment and terror. In this episode, city leaders join together to discuss this extraordinary approach. 

Intelligent Communities focus their efforts on change for the better in an increasingly challenging, digital modern world. But what happens when times go from challenging to troubled or even outright catastrophic? What sort of leadership is required to guide and strengthen your community no matter what the times may bring?

I wrote my last post, “Why Are We Falling Apart?” in response to a heartfelt editorial by David Brooks of The New York Times. Confronting today’s epidemic of inhumane behavior in America – reckless driving, unrest in schools, fights on airliners, hate crimes and murders – he asked, “What the hell is going on?” His plaintive and honest answer was “I don’t know.”

In my post, I explained why I thought we have been falling apart – not just recently but gradually for the past 40 years, and not just in the United States but in fellow industrialized nations around the world.

But understanding reasons is only gets us so far. What matters is what we can do about it.

The pandemic revealed the essential role of broadband today. It also exposed as never before the dire consequences of the digital divide and the explosive impact of social media in spreading misinformation, fear and outrage. Panelists discuss what the pandemic has taught them about making broadband access more equitable and managing its downsides.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” – General Sun Tzu

Good Friday (April 15, 2022) – Sun Tzu is one general that Vladimir Putin evidently didn’t consult.

Luck has hit the Russians like a dry sponge the past six weeks. That is, they have been struck lightly by it and seem oblivious to the nails driven into the hands and feet of their soulmates across the border. But in the wake of this war on cities – this crucifixion of cities like Mariupol, Kharkiv and Volnovakha – those of us who smugly thought we knew anything about the dark side of human nature have also found ourselves on the wrong end of our intelligence. We need to now reconsider much about our own “security” and what it really means. “War will surprise you,” another general, Dwight Eisenhower, said. He was wise to note it with such Zen precision. Because it will try your soul if you even are watching it through social media combat.

Leaders of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg and the Carter Center in Atlanta share lessons about how parties locked in conflicts can find a path to reconciliation and a new future.

When I first saw the Grand Canyon many years ago, I asked myself the question that every visitor asks. How did this great big, amazingly beautiful hole in the ground get here?

The answer is a story that defies intuition. The Colorado River snakes through the region and lies now at the bottom of the immense canyon. Like all rivers, it carries small bits of stone that chip away at the riversides and river bottom, one tiny spec at a time. Keep that up for a few centuries, and the river slowly deepens its channel.