Key takeaways from futurist Mike Bechtel’s Recognize Summit keynote—watch the full recording here.

When people hear “futurist,” reactions usually split: some lean in, some brace for overblown hype. Mike Bechtel, Chief Futurist for many Fortune 500 companies, came to Recognize Summit with a different mission: cut through the baloney, demystify what’s new and next, and remind leaders that in an age of AI, people actually matter more, not less.

Here’s a distilled look at his big ideas and the strategies he shared.

1. Technology has always been a tool, not a takeover

Bechtel starts as an anthropologist, not a technologist, sharing these insights:

• Early humans sharpened stones to get dinner faster.
• Sumerians used clay tablets as the original external hard drive.
• Gutenberg’s press was copy–paste before copy–paste.

Each step was a hack to free up human time for higher-order work.

Fast-forward to Steve Jobs’ “bicycle for the mind” and today’s “rocket ship for the mind,” and the pattern’s the same: computing isn’t an alien force. It’s just the latest tool in a two-million-year streak of humans giving themselves leverage.

So the point isn’t brainstorming how to replace humans with tech, it’s finding out how to apply to right tools to the right problems to maximize human work.

2. The pattern behind new tech

Bechtel’s team set out with the World Economic Forum to test a simple idea: maybe the future of tech is more knowable than it feels.

Looking back to the first computers, up through mainframes and PCs and phones, he sees the same three pieces showing up over and over:

• An interface (how humans interact)
• A database (where stuff lives)
• A number-crunching place (where work gets done)

The surface changes, but three deep trends keep repeating:

• Simple wins. Interfaces move from command lines to GUIs to taps to voice to “just show me what I need.”
• Smarter wins. We grow from basic math to analytics to prediction and simulation.
• Abundance wins. Processing and storage keep getting cheaper and more available.

That’s the treasure map leaders can use to separate fads from foundations. If something doesn’t make things simpler, smarter, or more abundant, it probably won’t last.

3. Spatial computing, blockchain, and what’s coming

Bechtel touched on several scary buzzwords and reframed them as evolutions, not revolutions:

• Spatial computing: Toasters on your face today (headsets), decent-looking glasses tomorrow, and eventually interfaces that move beyond screens. The point isn’t the gadget. It’s getting beyond the 16:9 rectangle so people can see information in more natural, useful ways.
• Blockchain and decentralized platforms: Strip away the hype and scams, and you’re left with something simple: cryptographic truth. In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated everything, “chain or it didn’t happen” becomes a powerful way to prove what’s real.
• Quantum and brain–computer interfaces: Still early, still weird, but they’re just new ways to solve hard problems and extend human capability, especially for accessibility and health.

All of these are tools. The real story is how we choose to use them.

4. AI is not a diet pill, it’s a rocket ship.

The loudest narratives around AI tend to be extreme: it’s either saving the world or ending it.

Bechtel’s take is more practical:

• AI isn’t a box on a chart, it’s the entire row: all the ways computers take on tasks we used to do ourselves.
• Today’s systems are not as good as your best people, but better than the rest of your people at a lot of rote knowledge work.
• If organizations only use AI for cost-cutting, they’re treating it like a corporate diet pill. You end up with your 2024 plan, just skinnier.

You can’t shrink your way to greatness.

Used well, AI becomes a way to elevate people, not erase them. It handles repetitive work so humans can spend more time on the pieces that actually differentiate your culture, your customer experience, and your brand.

5. Raising the “Not My Problem” line

One of the most useful metaphors came from a LEGO executive:

• Kids aren’t really there to build a set. They’re there to make memories.
• The problem? Endless hunting for tiny pieces. The time spent searching for the brick is time stolen from the magic of building.

LEGO loves an AI-powered app that scans a pile of bricks and shows you what you can create. It doesn’t replace play. It raises the “Not My Problem” line so people can spend less time on muck and more time on magic.

Translate that to your world:

• Admin, reporting, repetitive approvals, and basic drafting are your tiny bricks.
• AI and automation can clear that path.
• Your humans can spend their cycles on coaching, strategy, recognition, problem-solving, and relationship-building.

The tech isn’t the star. The experience is.

6. Why humans matter more, not less

Bechtel ends with three very human skills that become more valuable in an AI-heavy world:

1. Ingenuity
   
   • Asking better questions
   • Trying unexpected prompts
   • Seeing possibilities others miss
2. Empathy
   
   • Hearing what customers and employees really need
   • Understanding context, nuance, and emotion
   • Designing experiences that feel human, not just efficient
3. Initiative
   
   • Acting without being prompted
   • Seeing a need and stepping in
   • Turning ideas into experiments, and experiments into impact

These three all map closely to what great recognition programs are designed to reinforce. When you spotlight people who show ingenuity, empathy, and initiative, you’re future-proofing your culture.

In Bechtel’s words, that’s just brains, heart, and courage.

7. What people leaders can do right now

You don’t need a futurist title to act on this. You can:

• Audit the “muck”
  
  • Where is your team buried in repetitive, low-value work?
  • Where could AI or automation reasonably raise the “Not My Problem” line?
• Redesign roles around “magic”
  
  • Protect time for coaching, listening, problem-solving, and creative work.
  • Make it explicit that this is the work that matters most.
• Recognize future-facing behaviors
  
  • Call out employees who experiment thoughtfully with new tools.
  • Celebrate those who show empathy and initiative in how they support teammates and customers.
  • Use your recognition platform to tie these behaviors back to your values.
• Stay out of the extremes
  
  • Avoid both panic and blind hype.
  • Ask: does this make things simpler, smarter, or more abundant for our people?

If you want the full set of stories (including drone shows, brain–computer interfaces, and why blockchain might matter more than you think), view the full recording of Mike’s RCGNZ Summit session.