Four families on a cul-de-sac. Four different schools. They can't even carpool.

That tiny scene, from Tracey Beal, founder and CEO of School Connect, is the whole problem in miniature. We dissolved the village around our schools one personal choice at a time. And it turns out it wasn't just a community thing. It was the infrastructure for everything downstream: engineers, builders, innovators, problem-solvers, every role we'll need more of in an AI-disrupted economy.

In this conversation, Eric Rodriguez and Tracey unpack a counter-narrative the innovation world is overdue for: the future of innovation doesn't begin with smarter technology. It begins with humans who will sit at a table together: businesses, faith, government, nonprofits, parents, kids, and decide what their school, their pipeline, their community is going to be.

You'll hear how 200 engineers show up for 600 seventh graders, why iterative leadership beats heroic leadership every time, and the leadership story most education conversations refuse to tell: that AI doesn't reduce the need for a village. It raises it.

If you're building anything that depends on people, this one's for you. I send a short note each week where I sit with these ideas a little longer, get it here.

Connect with the work of School Connect: https://schoolconnectaz.org/