Elevating Human Potential, Performance, and Purpose in the Age of AI

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Timothy Toomey, Americas Lead for Accenture LearnVantage at Accenture; Brett Waikart, CEO at Skillfully; Jayney Howson, Chief Learning Officer at ServiceNow; Ryan Stowers, Senior Vice President at Stand Together; and Pamay Bassey, Strategic Advisor at Kraft Heinz Company.The speakers explored how, as AI reshaped work, the true frontier was becoming human potential—our capacity for purpose, creativity, and higher-order performance. They examined how organizations were looking beyond automation to focus on cultivating the human conditions that enabled deeper meaning, stronger contribution, and sustained growth in an AI-enhanced world.This conversation examined both hiring and day-to-day work to explore how companies could design systems that elevated performance while preserving purpose. Panelists discussed how leaders were rethinking talent strategies, learning ecosystems, and workplace design to ensure employees were not simply adapting to AI, but leveraging it to unlock greater creativity, resilience, and fulfillment.At its core, this session focused on how organizations could cultivate environments where human potential remained central even as technology accelerated. By aligning workforce development, leadership, and AI-enabled systems, the conversation highlighted how companies could build cultures that elevated human performance and purpose—ensuring that the future of work was not just more efficient, but more meaningful.