Neil Diamond interpreter, prophecies, AI (yes, again), dating, Hirayasumi, and reading Viktor Frankl with my grandmother.
1
That’s right, a movie about a Neil Diamond interpreter (different from impersonator) is top of the list. You all know how much I like an uplifting film and all the better if it’s got some toe-tapping music in it. Song Sung Blue has all that plus, and this is a big plus, realistic depictions of how people live – their jobs, homes, families and the complications of just trying to get along in life.
But the reason it is on this list is for the Marines’ acronym, SMEAC. If, like me, you haven’t been in the Marines, SMEAC stands for “situation,” “mission,” “execution,” “administration” and “command.” Mike (the “interpreter” of Neil Diamond played by Hugh Jackman) explains to his step-daughter that “It’s a way to break down a problem real simple”. They then have a brief, but sweet, back and forth to tackle what is bothering her starting with Mike asking “so, what’s the situation?”, her responding with “I’m knocked up”, and ending with “that just leaves command. So, who do you want to be in charge of this, you know, helping you?”.
This is where I pause my replay of the movie and reflect on something that has been on my mind: well-intentioned leaders abdicating their responsibility in the name of being relational, facilitative, or consultative in their leadership style. None of these awesome leadership styles are contradictory to or exclusive of also exercising appropriate and wise command. By command, I don’t mean being some sort of autocratic order giving control freak. I mean courageously providing clarity in why the organization exists, where it is going, how it will get there (values and effective process) and expectations for roles, tasks, and results. Without this type of command, organizations and the people in them, are left floundering and wishing that someone would just step up, be accountable, take responsibility, and to paraphrase Mike, you know, help them out so they can navigate the situation, embrace the mission, and execute the work with confidence and success.
2
Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI, by Carissa Véliz, 2026
Including this book in the list isn’t a recommendation so much as a pointer to the importance of healthy skepticism in a democratic society. Whether it’s algorithms, futurists, oracles, or your Aunt who claims high accuracy in predicting pregnancies, divorces, and tomato yields, we need to step back and ask, to quote Carissa Véliz, “who benefits from this?”.
Throw in the growth of prediction markets and the dangerous influence of some particularly bad actors, I would argue, a bit differently from Véliz, for the urgent need to take action on increasing our society’s AI literacy, social media savviness, and mis/disinformation filters to navigate what is already here – a vast world of unaccountable and incredible information, manipulative prophecies, and nefarious influencers.
A bit more on prediction markets (yes, I do indeed find them annoying and concerning):
- Why Canada Shouldn’t Embrace Prediction Markets, According to a Researcher Who Ran One, Insights at UBC Sauder, February 19, 2026.
- Prediction Markets as a Public Health Threat: Scientific framing, gambling-like design, and regulatory gaps create risks of a new behavioral addiction and democratic manipulation, Science, Nizan Geslevich Packin and Sharon Rabinovitz, April 16, 2026.
- Prediction Markets are Surging – Here’s What You Need to Know, Stanford Law School,, Melissa De Witte, April 30, 2026.
- The Dangerous Power of Prediction Markets, New York Times, Kyla Scanlon, January 23, 2026.
3
Supplement to my How We Talk About AI post.
AI is here and it is moving fast. Yet, so many of my good-hearted friends and colleagues and the organizational leaders I work with, are still not ponying up to the conversations that we need to have. Conversations that are rooted in reality, possibility, and strategic actions that benefit organizations, the people who work in them, and the communities they serve. Conversations about the importance of human creativity and connection, critical thinking, the future of work, and infrastructure and economic initiatives (including data centres which can be built better than what is commonly believed or done) that benefit democracy, humanity, and the world (the one and only earth) we inhabit.
If you read one thing today about AI, make it this essay, An Inconvenient Truth About AI, from Rutger Bregman.
My point is not, absolutely not, that we have to let AI rip. My point is that abandoning the field is not the same as stopping the technology. This is the left’s version of climate denial. Refusing to engage seriously, on the assumption that if we just shout no loudly enough, the future will go away. It won’t.
AND
There’s one thing I can’t emphasize enough: democratic, liberal and humanitarian values are wonderful, but they are worthless if you don’t have the strength to back them up. And in this new world, compute is the new power. So no more NIMBY-ism. We need massive investments and fast permitting of data centers to keep up, or we’ll be digitally colonized. Anyone who’s not at the table will be on the menu.
Other recent AI news that has caught my attention:
- Pope Leo has Delivered a Clarion Call on AI, The Globe and Mail, Michael W. Higgins, May 26, 2026.
- Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All. No matter how or what you think about AI, if you lead an organization, you will need to figure out where your organization sits in this strategy and how to navigate this potential tsunami of change.
- Billions Spent and Hypothetical Returns: the AI boom explained with six charts, The Guardian, Dan Milmo and Aisha Down. Graphics by Ana Lucía González Paz, June 7, 2026.
- We Need to Stop AI Developing Without Humans, Says Anthropic Co-founder, BBC News, Faisal Islam and Kali Hays, June 4, 2026.
4
Extras
- Hirayasumi is a short-form Japanese show based on a manga by the same name. It reminds me a bit of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot in that it is inviting us into Hiroto Ikuta’s world of kindness, generosity, and simplicity and giving us a chance to see and leave our shared cynicism and self-importance at the door. It’s like a postcard to the world with the classic message “wish you were here”. The good news is that “here” is wherever we are, we just need to choose how we are here.
- A quick rundown on what George Patrick Richard Benson calls the technical dating recession. Why read this? Because you need a break from the other technical recession and if you haven’t yet run across George and his writing, it’s time to do so.
- I think a lot about happiness, what it is, what it isn’t, and why it seems to be a diminishing quality in the lives of many Canadians. With much curiosity I read this New York Times interview, Want to ‘Optimize’ Your Happiness? This Happiness Expert Says: Don’t, with Dr. Laurie Santos, a cognitive scientist, podcaster and professor. My favourite line from the interview is “If you look at people who are taking action to fix structural problems, it’s the people who have the highest positive emotion.” Based on my years of experience as a coach, I emphatically agree with this. So courageous leaders, I’ll ask again, how are you doing?
- I ran across a copy of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning at a used bookstore and realized that it’s one of those books that I always meant to read, so now I’m reading it. I feel like I’m reading it with my grandmother. She was, as she was nicknamed, a Spitfire of a gal. When I was a kid she worked Monday through Friday cleaning the old folks home around the corner, kept a huge garden, played bingo every Wednesday evening, knitted baby sweaters for the church bazaar and gazillions of toques for the Downtown Eastside mission, worked in the church kitchen most Saturdays for weddings and other events, drank Rye and Ginger at weekly family gatherings and card games, and regularly quoted Viktor Frankl along with Rachel Carson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Papal Encyclicals (often with disagreement and she had particular long-held grudges regarding Vatican ll), Marx (even more disagreement), and an astounding number of English and Irish poets as though she had just recently had a cup of tea with the whole lot of them. Beyond catching up with my grandmother’s reading list, I feel like my reading of this iconic book is way overdue as I reflect on leadership, purpose, and my recent post on leadership books where I point out that “baby, there’s no shortcuts, tricks or magical thinking”.
Thank you for inviting me into your inbox and your day.
Babs
You can find out more about how I work with executives, managers, and organizations who are ready to lead with more courage, clarity, and care, in their work and in themselves at the Courageous Leaders Project.
If you are curious about how we might work together, email me at [email protected].
Photo by Makarios Tang on Unsplash