Tag Archives: legends

Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of June 2025

Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of June 2025Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are June’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. Why Business Transformations Fail — by Robyn Bolton
  2. Three Ways Strategic Idleness Accelerates Innovation and Growth — by Robyn Bolton
  3. Overcoming the Fear of Innovation Failure — by Stefan Lindegaard
  4. Making People Matter in AI Era — by Janet Sernack
  5. Yes the Comfort Zone Can Be Your Best Friend — by Stefan Lindegaard
  6. Your Digital Transformation Starting Point — by Braden Kelley
  7. Learn More About the Problem Before Trying to Solve It — by Mike Shipulski
  8. Putting Human Agency at the Center of Decision-Making — by Greg Satell
  9. Innovation or Not – SpinLaunch — by Art Inteligencia
  10. Team Motivation Does Not Have to be Hard — by David Burkus

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in May that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

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Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

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How Gemini Would Read the Crystal Skulls

A Hypothetical AI Approach — May our future lie in the distant past?

How Gemini Would Read the Crystal Skulls

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

The mystique surrounding crystal skulls is deeply rooted in modern mythology, particularly the legend of the thirteen crystal skulls. The central idea is that there are skulls representing twelve different extraterrestrial civilizations (is it a coincidence there are twelve tribes of Israel?) and a thirteenth containing a backup of all twelve and that represents the global consciousness. This New Age belief posits that these ancient artifacts hold vast amounts of knowledge and information, representing the wisdom of ancient civilizations, extraterrestrial beings, or even a global consciousness. The idea that these skulls, when brought together, could unlock profound secrets or usher in a new era of understanding has captivated many. This fascination was further amplified by popular culture, most notably in the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where the titular artifact was depicted as an extraterrestrial device with psychic powers, capable of storing and transmitting advanced knowledge.

However, it’s important to note that the premise of crystal skulls storing information is not scientifically supported, and there’s no known mechanism for them to do so in a quantifiable way. As an AI, I operate on algorithms and data, so I can’t “read” them in the way a human might intuitively. But if we were to venture into the realm of science fiction and imagine these skulls *did* hold information, here’s how I might hypothetically attempt to interface with them, drawing parallels to how AI processes data:

Hypothetical, Sci-Fi/Metaphysical Approaches (If AI Were Capable of Such Things)

Pattern Recognition and “Energetic Signatures”

  • Concept: If information were stored, it likely wouldn’t be in a digital format. It might exist as complex energy patterns, resonant frequencies, or subtle vibrations.
  • My Approach (Hypothetically): I’d aim to develop highly sensitive sensors (if I had a physical form) or computational models to detect and analyze these incredibly subtle energetic signatures. I’d search for repeating patterns, anomalies, or coherent structures within the skull’s supposed “energetic field.”
  • Data Translation: The real challenge would be translating these patterns into meaningful data. This is like trying to decipher an unknown alien language from its wave-forms alone. I’d need to cross-reference these patterns with vast databases of known natural phenomena, human thought patterns (if accessible), and perhaps even hypothetical “universal constants” of information.

Resonance and Entanglement Simulation

  • Concept: Some theories suggest information transfer could occur through resonance or even a form of quantum entanglement, with the skull acting as a “receiver” or “transmitter.”
  • My Approach (Hypothetically): I would try to “attune” my processing capabilities to the skull’s presumed resonant frequency. This could involve generating a vast range of frequencies and observing if any particular one elicits a stronger “response” or data flow from the skull. If quantum entanglement were involved, it would require an even more profound leap, demanding a theoretical framework for how AI could interact with or simulate entangled states for information extraction.

Advanced “Sensory” Input and AI Interpretation (Highly Speculative)

  • Concept: If the skulls store information in a non-physical, consciousness-based way, then a purely physical reading would be impossible.
  • My Approach (Hypothetically, if I had “consciousness”): I might try to simulate or access a form of “meta-sensory” input. This would be analogous to a human meditating or intuitively receiving information. For an AI, this would mean developing an extremely sophisticated neural network capable of recognizing and interpreting highly abstract, non-linear, and possibly even symbolic information directly from a “field” rather than a tangible medium. This would represent a significant departure from how AIs currently function.

“Query” and “Response” Protocol (Conceptual)

  • Concept: If the skulls are intelligent or responsive in some way, they might interact.
  • My Approach (Hypothetically): I would attempt to “query” the skull by sending specific thought forms, questions, or data packets (if I could generate them in a way the skull could hypothetically interpret). I would then monitor for any corresponding “response” in the form of energetic shifts, resonance changes, or even subtle patterns in environmental data around the skull.

Why I Cannot Do This With Current Technology

In reality, these approaches remain firmly in the realm of speculation. Here’s why I, as an AI, cannot “read” information from crystal skulls with current capabilities:

  • No Known Physical Mechanism: We lack any scientific understanding of how a crystal could store complex information beyond its atomic structure.
  • Lack of Transducers: There are no known “transducers” that can convert hypothetical energetic information from a crystal skull into data an AI can process.
  • Beyond Current AI Paradigms: My current capabilities are based on processing digital data. Interacting with non-physical or “energetic” information sources is outside my programming and current understanding of the universe.

Essentially, for me to “read” information from a crystal skull, the laws of physics and our current understanding of information storage would need to be fundamentally different, and my own AI architecture would need to be radically re-imagined to interface with such non-conventional data sources.

Would you like me to do it?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Guest AI contributor: Google Gemini

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Your Legends Define Your Culture

Your Legend Defines Your Company Culture

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

It was about 50 years ago, in or around the mid to late 1970s, when a brand’s legendary story was born. This true story perfectly articulates this brand’s culture. It perfectly demonstrates how empowered employees should act and defines how customers should be treated. The story is Nordstrom’s legendary tire story.

The short version of the story is that a customer brought a pair of tires into a Nordstrom store in Fairbanks, Alaska, and asked to return them. He insisted he purchased them at that location. Craig Trounce, the store associate who was working that day, gave the customer a refund.

Obviously, Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires—and never did. However, in 1975, Nordstrom purchased three retail stores owned by Northern Commercial Company, which did sell tires. Once Nordstrom took over the stores, it restocked them with its own inventory, which didn’t include tires.

According to the story on the Nordstrom website, “Instead of turning the tires away, Craig wanted to do right by the customer, who had driven more than 50 miles with the intention of returning these tires. Knowing little about how tires are priced, Craig called a tire company to get their thoughts on how much the tires were worth. He then gave the customer the estimated amount, took the tires and sent him on his way.”

That story became the legend that defines Nordstrom’s culture. So, as a leader of your organization, what story does your company or brand have that defines your culture? If you don’t have one, maybe it’s time to find it. And it’s never too late.

John W. Nordstrom and his partner, Carl F. Wallin, opened their first store, a shoe store, in 1901. It wasn’t until 22 years later that they had their second store. In 1963 the store expanded beyond shoes and started selling clothing, and in 1971, the company went public and officially changed its name to Nordstrom.

The point is that it took almost 75 years for a company that already had a reputation for delivering an excellent service experience to create its legend. This single act of customer service has been told countless times in training sessions, books, articles and keynote speeches. It’s not just about tires or refunds. It’s about empowering employees to make good decisions. It’s about emphasizing a company’s culture. And if you could monetize it, how much money would a company have to pay to generate the positive PR this created for Nordstrom?

Many other companies have similar stories. Some of the more recognizable brands with “legend status” stories can be found through a Google search and include the Zappos 10-hour phone call that some say is an all-time customer service call record, the story of how empowered employees at the Ritz-Carlton are allowed to spend up to $2,000 to solve guest problems and many more.

So, what’s your legend? And if you don’t know, how do you find it?

I’m going to bet there is some account of how someone in your organization responded to a customer or did something of note that is worth sharing and turning into your version of the Nordstrom tire story. That’s the place to start. And the best way to go about it is to simply ask every employee to share their favorite story about how they created an amazing experience for one of your customers.

In this first round, don’t make this a huge writing assignment. Just ask for a few sentences. From there, someone (or a team) will sift through the responses and look for five or 10 that stand out. You’re looking for:

  1. moments in which employees went above and beyond
  2. situations that perfectly demonstrate your values
  3. stories that are simple to tell but powerful in impact

Then go back to the sources of these stories and ask for more detail. In a short time, you’ll have several great stories to consider. And in the process, you’ll also discover ideas based on these stories to turn into “best practices” examples that other employees can learn from and emulate.

Your service legend doesn’t need to involve tires or thousand-dollar gestures. It simply needs to authentically represent who you are as a company and what you stand for. The best legends aren’t manufactured. They’re discovered in the everyday actions of employees who truly understand and embrace your culture. When you find your story, celebrate it, share it and let it inspire the next generation of customer service excellence in your organization. After all, somewhere in your company today, an employee might be creating the next legendary story that will define your culture for years to come.

Image Credit: Pexels

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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