LIVE/LOVE INNOVATION
a simple update from ILN Coaching & Consulting
Vol. 12, Issue 6

We are almost three months past Dignified Futures - a much-needed gathering of people who care deeply and think big. Those days were future-forward and hopeful, and I am still elevated from it. However, national discourse is chipping away at that elevation at a disturbing speed. In a recent gathering of futurists (and those of us who want to be), we discussed the ease in imagining dystopian visions.

For many of us, we are living in one right now. While turning our vision to utopias as a counterpoint is a must, perhaps confronting the dystopian near-future will rally more people to confront the horror that is likely to unfold. That is why I am featuring Jason Tester’s recent work, “One Big Beautiful Aftermath.” It's dystopian, it’s relevant to our present, and it's a powerful call to action.

Chris McCarthy, Founder
Strategy or innovation advising? Book time here.

🔮 One Big Beautiful Aftermath
Jason Tester is a futurist and colleague. A few days ago, he emailed me his current project…and well, it might have broken me. It's powerful and horrible. It projects us just a couple of years out to show the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on the people it will most negatively impact. I hope you’ll read and share it too.

Read it here: https://www.bigbeautifulaftermath.org/

💡Project 100 Continues to Ramp Up
2024’s focus was on building the stakeholder group and creating the early childhood development system map.  2025 is all about adoption, adaptation, and creation of interventions.  The community now has several implementations, several projects working out what its intervention might be, and dozens of projects being evaluated. One of our efforts is getting thousands of health prodcuts into the community monthly. Things like Narcan, fentanyl strips, and hygiene products. Multiple areas of the system map now have “gentle” positive pressures due to these projects. System metrics coming soon!

🧙The Hobbit's Mental Health Challenge
Tasked with creating a one-day exploration of systems, futures, and design on a non-controversial topic.  Amy Heymans and I half-joked,  “How about a fantasy scenario?” And then realized, perhaps that’s not a bad idea. A fantasy scenario would ensure that real issues didn’t get in the way of learning. And so, eh-hem, the challenge we landed on was the mental health of the Hobbits in the Shire (!!!).  We created, assisted by AI, logical and realistic scenarios to learn from, and included the ability to interview one of four hobbits directly for design research.  It was powerful and eye-opening to see how effective this was; real enough to learn from and playful enough to make the day-long workshop feel lighter. Another unexpected AI use case. Precious…..

Need innovation guidance or training?
Book time here to explore.

🛜 Awesome Sessions to Amp Up Your Knowledge
Sept 12  @ 9 AM PDT
Futures Backward Part 2 with futurist Hillary Carey.

Oct 1 @ 12 PM PDT
Late Ideation/Early Implementation Gap in HCD with Liz Chen, The Better Lab’s Design Wednesday Series.  Register here.

2026
Design for Dignity 2026 is in the earliest stages of planning. Wait for it….. 😁

⚡️Sparks: (Sometimes) Cool Stuff
📬You’ve Got Mail:  I had no idea.  Over 100k Americans are still using AOL dial-up service in 2025, but that is coming to an end on Sept 30. I remember loading that CD-ROM that seemed to be included in every magazine at the time to boot up a hopeful, but painfully slow connection. RIP AOL dial-up. 

🌗Uranus’ New Moon.  At just 6 miles in diameter, NASA just announced it found the 29th moon of Uranus.

🍎Bellybuttons and Apples.  Ok, for math nerds…or those who are just fascinated by the beauty of it all. This visual is am exploration of the Golden Ratio. Enjoy!