One year after presenting at YPO’s inaugural Global Business Summit (GBS) in Dubai, we caught up with YPO member and Timber + Partners CEO Tim Gokhman. He says the most valuable outcome wasn’t the pitch moment — standing on stage in front of nearly 1,000 peers and Deal Tank judge Kevin O’Leary, the serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist known from ABC’s “Shark Tank.” It was the conversations that followed.

The questions, challenges and cross-industry perspectives in those conversations prompted a period of strategic refinement. Instead of focusing on a traditional fundraise, Gokhman stepped back to reassess how his firm’s mass timber model could scale.

Why mass timber matters

At the core of Timber + Partners’ vision is the material reshaping building expectations: mass timber. Formed by compressing and bonding layers of sustainably harvested lumber into high-strength structural beams, columns and panels, it offers a lighter footprint and a more efficient alternative to steel and concrete. For Gokhman, it represents more than a new material; it’s a new model for how buildings can be designed and delivered.

The efficiencies extend well beyond sustainability. Mass timber enables faster construction with smaller crews because much of the work happens off-site, where components are produced to exacting specifications. The result is a quicker, quieter installation process that meets modern expectations for speed, predictability and reduced community disruption.

In 2022, Timber + Partners delivered a decisive proof of concept for what mass timber can achieve with Ascent — their 25-story tower in Milwaukee.

The team delivered the superstructure 40% faster than a comparable concrete building, using 78% fewer on-site workers, while achieving a carbon benefit equivalent to removing 2,400 cars from the road for a year. And it takes a mere 23 minutes for the amount of timber used in Ascent to be replenished in North American forests — a staggering statistic that highlights the extraordinary renewability of the material.

In 2024, Ascent became the first U.S. building to earn the LEED v5 Operating Certification — the U.S. Green Building Council’s new gold standard for near-zero carbon performance. The recognition highlights just how far mass timber can elevate a building’s efficiency.

Why it isn’t mainstream yet

Even with proven results, mass timber has not reached wide adoption. “You don’t yet have convergence in this industry,” Gokhman explains. “Every manufacturer has a slightly different system, and unless you’ve spent years studying it, the design work becomes incredibly complex.”

Manufacturers offer different panel dimensions and connection systems, leaving design teams to navigate a maze of incompatible options before a project can move forward. As Gokhman puts it, it’s the construction equivalent of the pre–USB-C world — a tangle of parts that don’t quite match — making the early design phase daunting unless you know exactly what to look for.

Many possible design permutations also make it hard to compare costs with traditional construction, while the limited number of teams experienced in mass timber design and construction adds to the challenge.

What’s next for Timber + Partners?

With Ascent firmly established as a breakthrough project, Gokhman left Dubai with a single imperative: How do you scale this? Mass timber’s advantages are clear, but the model must become faster, simpler and more repeatable to unlock nationwide adoption. Gokhman has been refining Timber + Partners’ path — guided in part by the conversations and feedback since his YPO Deal Tank pitch and by the need to make the concept repeatable across diverse U.S. regions and project types.

Mass timber isn’t just a material shift; it’s a new model for how buildings can be delivered. ”
— Tim Gokhman, CEO, Timber + Partners share

A key turning point came during the YPO Real Estate Program at Harvard, where Gokhman saw a clearer path to scale. Student housing offered something the luxury residential market could not: consistency. University projects share similar unit mixes, floor plates and program needs, creating a natural opportunity for standardization. That realization sparked the next phase of Timber + Partners’ work — a new mass timber prototype specifically engineered for student housing, now in active development.

“We’re looking at how to build on what we learned from Ascent,” he says. “Can we make it faster? Can we make it even more precise?” Early models suggest yes. The team believes future buildings could drop from roughly five and a half days per floor to as little as three and a half — a shift that would significantly reshape project timelines. They are also exploring other technologies, including prefabricated exterior systems — with potential partnerships from other YPO member-run companies — to further streamline installation and reduce on-site labor needs.

How YPO is accelerating that journey

The impact of YPO didn’t end when Gokhman stepped off the stage in Dubai. Conversations that followed his Deal Tank pitch sparked a wave of interest — from members intrigued by the opportunity to peers offering invaluable strategic feedback, introductions and firsthand insight into how to scale new building technologies.

“People wanted to understand where this could go,” he says. “Some were interested in projects, others in the company, and others just wanted to help us think through the model.”

Even though Timber + Partners ultimately pursued a joint venture (rather than a traditional fundraise) for its “Ascent 2.0” project, these discussions sharpened the company’s strategy and clarified where the strongest opportunities for repeatability truly lay.

Through YPO channels, members reached out offering guidance, making introductions and even expressing interest in advisory roles as the company explores new verticals. “Without YPO,” Gokhman says, “I don’t think I’d be doing this.”

Looking ahead to GBS 2026

YPO’s 2025 GBS just wrapped in Los Angeles, and YPO members will next gather in November for the 2026 Global Business Summit in Istanbul. Gokhman’s experience in Dubai underscores the value of stepping forward — not just to pitch an idea, but to test it in front of a peer group wired for curiosity, challenge and support.

“There is no better community to throw a new idea at than YPO,” he says. “These are incredibly smart and savvy people who give thoughtful, constructive feedback.”

His advice to future participants is clear: Understand your audience, refine your investment thesis, and treat the stage as both a spotlight and a sounding board.

GBS 2026 in Istanbul is open for registration. YPO members can learn more and register here.>

Recognized on the 2025 TIME100 Climate List and as a 2025 Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst, YPO member Samir Ibrahim is calling for a fundamental shift in how the world approaches climate innovation. As CEO and Co-Founder of SunCulture, Africa’s largest provider of solar irrigation systems, Ibrahim proves real climate progress doesn’t depend on the next big idea, but on scaling what is already working.

“Too much time and capital are still spent chasing new ideas, while proven climate solutions remain underfunded,” Ibrahim says in his Time100 interview. “In the year ahead, governments and investors must focus on scaling technologies that already work and are delivering measurable impact. The climate can’t wait for perfect; we need progress now.”
 
Ibrahim believes deeply that purpose and profitability are mutually reinforcing. And he has the track record to prove it.

Delivering social and environmental impact

For over a decade, SunCulture has been building what many investors didn’t think was possible: a profitable, scalable model that helps smallholder farmers grow more food, increase income, build resilience and decarbonize, all at the same time.

SunCulture helps these farmers access reliable water and clean energy and grow more food with climate technology, carbon financing and a digital marketplace. The company was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer and recognized as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

Ibrahim’s journey of climate entrepreneurship didn’t begin with a single revelatory moment but instead with a series of nudges. Growing up in an immigrant, Ismaili Muslim community, service and entrepreneurship were woven into the fabric of everyday life.

“My dad ran a dry cleaners. My uncles did, too,” Ibrahim explains. “I was always told by my parents I had the responsibility to use my opportunities to help those who didn’t have any.”

We have all of the tools necessary and required to solve all of the climate problems today, and it now takes deployment. ”
— Samir Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of SunCulture share

Creating a social business seemed inevitable. “It was constant nudging in the direction of doing well by doing good throughout my life and of where the world is going that ended up coming together into what now is SunCulture,” he says.

Layer in a growing global climate crisis, food price increases, climate migration, the Arab Spring and a research report on climate change, renewable energy and agriculture, and Ibrahim’s purpose began to crystallize.

The realization was stark. “Agriculture currently contributes one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions,” he explains. Climate impacts – droughts, floods, soil degradation – are making food harder to grow. And in many regions, food insecurity fuels migration and instability.

“There’s no silver bullet to solve this collective group of problems,” Ibrahim says. “But if we could, we want to find a place where there are a lot of people who are affected by the problem – smallholder farmers – and a place where there’s a lot of renewable resources – water and sun.”

The ideal starting place was sub-Saharan Africa. Not only do two-thirds of the population live in smallholder farming households, but the region holds the majority of the world’s unused arable land and significant accessible groundwater.

Ibrahim’s insight: Take existing technology, traditional irrigation or diesel and petrol pumps; decarbonize it by making it solar; and deploy it in this resource-rich and under-resourced environment.

“Our mission was to figure out how to decouple food growth from greenhouse gas emissions as a way to reduce climate migration and grow more food,” he says. The company has developed a financing and distribution model that removes affordability barriers and built the physical and digital infrastructure to move products to the smallholder farmers. 

Executing at scale

What differentiates SunCulture is its commitment to execution. “Progress from climate innovation only comes from execution,” Ibrahim emphasizes. “We have all the tools necessary and required to solve all the climate problems today, and it now takes deployment. One of the biggest challenges is a coordination failure.”

He points out a surprising calculation: With roughly USD250 million, it would be possible to make Kenya, a country with a population 50 million, entirely food secure. And with USD13 billion, the equivalent of a single FIFA World Cup budget, the world could eliminate global hunger.

“Capital is available; solutions are available,” he insists.

Execution has driven SunCulture’s growth. The company is now bundling solar irrigation systems with health and weather insurance, agriculture input financing, and credit extended to farmers at the start of their journey with SunCulture to help with cash flow.

Ibrahim first borrowed USD200,000 from various family members to start selling to farmers to generate revenue to invest in more inventory. “By the time we went out to raise equity, we had all these years of trying it out, where we had some execution,” he explains. Their first equity raise was USD700,000, even though solar irrigation for smallholder farmers had not scaled anywhere in the world.

The key to driving funding: They brought potential investors to Kenya to witness firsthand the business and its impact. He recounts one investor who insisted on testing the numbers himself by asking the farmer to mark a square meter, counting the onions and then driving to the market to check onion prices.

Don’t fall in love with new ideas; fall in love with solving the problem. ”
— Samir Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of SunCulture share

“From a business perspective, the unit economics had to make sense for a farmer and for us,” Ibrahim says. “It took investors coming to Kenya and literally counting onions to believe that.”

One of the biggest challenges for SunCulture has been affordability. “Smallholder farmers who make less than USD1,000 don’t have disposable income,” he says. “Essentially we embedded our own fintech platform into the business so we can lend to our customers.” The company not only created a credit scoring algorithm, a credit team, and retail locations, but it also launched a carbon business to subsidize the cost of products and services.

SunCulture now has 70% market share. At this stage, scaling is primarily an operations challenge. “Can we execute fast enough to meet the needs of our customers?” Ibrahim asks. “And can we get the right people in the right place at the right time in order to execute and scale?”

In scaling the business, he has found inspiration from fellow YPO members. “It helps me continue to build this business, drive the business, and when times are hard, look to other people to see what they’re doing,” he explains.

Turning good ideas into solutions

Ibrahim attributes much of SunCulture’s success to building the right partnerships at the right stage. The company recently invested in iPOS, a point-of-sale company that works with 10% of all agrodealers in Kenya, to help smallholders purchase necessary agricultural products such as seeds, fertilizers, tanks, shovels and buckets.

“Partnerships with companies who have also been able to solve problems for farmers have become really important,” Ibrahim explains. “In the future, as we start to grow from a customer segment perspective and to serve farmers that are bigger than one to three acres, partnerships with larger irrigation companies will become critical for us.”

But by far the most important partnership has been the people that SunCulture hires. “A team relationship is a partnership,” Ibrahim insists. “All the money can go away, everything can go away, but if the relationship goes away, that’s the thing that collapses a business.”

For SunCulture, it is easy to maintain alignment between purpose and profit. “The official vision statement is to build a world where people can take control of their environments in rewarding and sustainable ways,” he says.

Staying close to the customer, balancing intuition with data, and building teams capable of execution is the best way to turn good ideas into real-world outcomes.

Ibrahim’s advice to other CEOs on balancing innovation with global challenges is refreshingly direct. “Don’t fall in love with new ideas; fall in love with solving the problem,” he says. “Innovation without execution is just expensive brainstorming.”

What captured the attention of YPO’s global CEO community in 2025? From embracing new tech, navigating geopolitical uncertainty, finding purpose, and prioritizing well-being, our most popular CEO Insights stories reflect where leaders invested their energy in 2025, and where they are headed in 2026. 

Leveraging Disruptive Tech: AI Takes Center Stage 

In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) moved from hype to execution. Key AI Insights from EDGE focuses on practical application, while member stories including Irina Arsenes’ people-first approach and guidance on building your AI roadmap help CEOs turn AI into a real competitive advantage. 

Solving the World’s Biggest Problems — And Building Great Businesses 

YPO challenges leaders to see global problems as business opportunities. Why Solving the World’s Biggest Problem Is Your Next Big Opportunity featuring Paulo Batista’s Aliquest Group reframes impact as a strategic driver. Batista found funding at the inaugural Global Business Summit, which is also the place where seeds of cross-continental deals, including the AROB–CODINGSCAPE partnership, were planted.   

The CEO’s Guide to Health, Happiness and Longevity 

Amid rising demands on CEOs, health and longevity emerged as essential leadership priorities. The CEO’s Guide to Health, Happiness, and Longevity offers a timely reminder that sustainable performance starts with personal well-being. 

Navigating a Fractured World: Geopolitics Moves to the Boardroom 

Geopolitical uncertainty was a defining theme of 2025, and YPO leaders leaned in. At EDGE in Barcelona, discussions on global leadership and geopolitics focused on leading during global instability. Continued conversations at GBS reinforced that geopolitical awareness is now a core leadership skill.

How YPO’s 2025 Global Impact Winner is Transforming the Energy Industry 

Each year, YPO honors members creating meaningful change through the Global Impact Award, and this profile on Nooshin Behroyan of Paxon Energy exemplifies leadership with purpose. Alongside fellow honorees Geetha Murali and Yariv Cohen, these stories highlight the many ways YPO members drive progress where it matters most. 

The Buy-In Crisis — and the Leadership Reset It Requires 

Employee engagement hit a tipping point. The Buy-In Crisis: Why Now is the Time to Get Employees on Board explores why old motivation models no longer work and what leaders need to do to rebuild trust, alignment and commitment.

Ahead of Its Time: YPO’s First Network 

Ahead of Its Time revisits the origins of Black YPO, YPO’s first network, and the leaders who built community and opportunity when it was most needed. That early vision still informs YPO’s approach to connection and inclusion today. 

When Olatomiwa Williams was a teenager in Lagos, Nigeria, she overheard two men speaking about computer science, predicting it would change the world. That brief encounter made a lasting impact on her career trajectory.

“I remember thinking, I need to be super good at math so I can study computer science,” she says. “That conversation opened my mind to what technology could do.”

Now, as Chief Growth & AI Officer for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa, Williams is at the forefront of digital transformation, leading with vision and empathy. 

And through her Uzemi Technology Empowerment Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in leadership positions across the technology industry, she’s ensuring that other women in tech don’t have to rely on a chance conversation to find their own successful path toward leadership. 

Climbing the ladder, breaking the mold

Williams’s path wasn’t always linear. After finishing secondary school, she couldn’t immediately gain admission to study computer science at a university. Undeterred, she enrolled at a polytechnic school to pursue her dream another way. And at an early internship, she approached a visiting IT specialist and requested that he help her learn more about computers.

“I was super determined, and I’m grateful I was,” she says. “It took me longer, but I got there.”

Later, when Williams joined Dimension Data (now known as NTT DATA), she worked on large-scale IT projects including migration efforts for Microsoft systems. One of her managers saw her potential and urged her to specialize. She started earning certifications in Microsoft technologies, expanding her expertise and working directly with Microsoft teams. She was then recruited to join the company, eventually rising to become the first woman to serve as country manager for Microsoft Nigeria, and the first Nigerian employee to rise internally to the position. 

I told myself that when I get to a position of influence, I will do whatever I can to make it easier for other women. ”
— Olatomiwa Williams, Chief Growth & AI Officer for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa share

“Being the first female meant I had to make sure I did the right thing,” she says. “It wasn’t just about me. It was about inspiring other women to see what’s possible.”

She’s led through economic headwinds and rapid currency devaluation, all while keeping her teams motivated, her customers engaged and her own curiosity satiated. When cloud solutions were still in their infancy, she was one of the first in the region to volunteer to dive in, eventually selling one of the first cloud solutions to customers.

“I always really want to be at the forefront of what is new, what is happening,” she says. “And that’s helped me gain more visibility and support from mentors and leaders within the organization.”

AI for good

Now 15 years later, Williams is one of Microsoft’s most influential leaders in the region. In her role as Chief Growth & AI Officer for the Middle East and Africa, she’s focused on helping organizations embrace technology responsibly and sustainably. 

She doesn’t view artificial intelligence as a way to replace human capability, rather as a tool to amplify it. And she’s most excited about its impact in driving inclusion and development in Africa. 

“AI is such a powerful tool; it has the potential to transform how we live, how we work and how we solve some of the biggest challenges on the continent,” she says. She’s been privy to AI innovations that are helping farmers predict crop yields, doctors detect diseases earlier and small businesses reach new customers, 

“But we have to make sure it’s done in a responsible way, with privacy, fairness and ethics at the center,” she cautions. “My role is to help organizations across the region adopt AI responsibly, to unlock growth and also to make sure no one is left behind.”

Mentorship in motion 

Her advocacy in AI mirrors her commitment to supporting other women in tech. She’s long been a mentor to women within Microsoft, and in 2023, she founded Uzemi to help women in Africa develop digital and leadership skills that can better enable them to take their place in the tech economy.

“I didn’t have many women to look up to in technology when I started; it absolutely was a male-dominated field, and I had to navigate a lot of the challenges on my own,” she says. “So I told myself that when I get to a position of influence, I will do whatever I can to make it easier for other women.”

Through Uzemi, women gain access to mentorship, training and community — the technical and soft skills that can transform potential into leadership. Aspiring women in tech can engage in programs such as the six-month Uzemi Accelerator, as well as the annual Uzemi Leadership Summit in Nigeria, which brings together industry leaders, government officials and aspiring tech professionals for peer-learning, networking and growth.

Empowering others isn’t just an act of generosity for Williams; it’s an investment in innovation.

“We’ve had women who came in with no background in technology and now they are working in tech companies or starting their own businesses,” she says.

Shaping tomorrow, today

Williams’ goal as a leader is to create environments where people feel empowered to challenge norms and innovate without fear. It’s all about unlocking potential.

“I believe people can do more if they’re given the right opportunity, if they’re empowered, if they’re supported,” she says. “But I don’t ask my team to do what I’m not willing to do myself. I roll up my sleeves, get involved when needed, and make sure I’m always available for support.”

My role is to help organizations across the region adopt AI responsibly, to unlock growth and also to make sure no one is left behind. ”
— Olatomiwa Williams, Chief Growth & AI Officer for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa share

This belief system has earned her loyalty and results. “When people feel valued, they go above and beyond,” she adds.

Looking ahead, Williams is focused on shaping a future where innovation and inclusion go hand in hand; where technology serves humanity and leadership means lifting others. 

“I want my legacy to be that I used my voice, my influence and my position to empower others — especially women — to achieve their full potential; that I helped drive digital transformation in Africa in a way that’s inclusive and sustainable; and that I inspired the next generation to know that, no matter where you start, your dreams are valid.”

It sounds simple enough: Do good. Make a profit. Live your legacy. 

But for YPO’s Social Impact Network, that credo drives an ambitious mission: to confront humanity’s toughest challenges head-on.

“We put our stake in the ground: Eradicate global poverty,” says Jean-Louis Guillou, a YPO member, chair of the network and Co-Founder of Exponential Coaching International.

That declaration demands more than talk. As one network member puts it: “Dialogue without action is like air without oxygen — it’s noise.” And neither the YPO Social Impact Network nor the 800 million people living in extreme poverty have time for noise.

Turning vision into action

In October, the YPO network partnered with the Council of Global Change and Frontier Technology Labs to champion a United Nations roundtable with 48 global changemakers, from World Bank executives to members of the Nobel family to heads of nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Their goal? To create a framework to end poverty through data sovereignty, ensuring technology, innovation and financial inclusion evolve together. 

Guillou explains data sovereignty as “the inalienable right of every citizen of this planet to own and monetize their data as they see fit. If we keep allowing the major corporations of the world to own the data, we risk a new era of neocolonialism — even more pronounced than before.”

The roundtable origin story

This U.N. roundtable evolved from a setback. When the YPO Social Impact Network’s (SIN) annual event in September failed to be viable, the network pivoted. Instead of going smaller, it went far bolder. The network leaders decided to think outside the box — do something that pushed beyond their comfort zone, Guillou says.

Guillou connected with David X. Sanchez, the U.N. Secretary General of the Council of Global Change, and together, they conceived a new idea: a roundtable that would unite global visionaries to confront poverty through the lens of the digital divide.

YPO showed the U.N. and World Bank that the private sector can be part of the solution. ”
— Sarah Boulos, Founder and CEO of the Society of the Performing Arts in Nigeria share

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers new possibilities to help. “We wanted to focus on artificial intelligence for good — not as a technology conversation, but as a question of impact: How can we harness AI to make a positive difference in people’s lives around the world?” Guillou says. 

At first, Sarah Boulos — YPO SIN board member and Founder and CEO of the Society of the Performing Arts in Nigeria — admits she was skeptical of the roundtable. “I didn’t want another talk,” she says. “But we changed the narrative. Everything was orchestrated for impact. The room was filled with servant leaders who listened, committed and acted.”

“YPO showed the U.N. and World Bank that the private sector can be part of the solution,” says Boulos, one of the event organizers.  

Finding common ground

Over three hours of dynamic, robust discussion, the roundtable members tackled complex issues surrounding poverty, the digital divide and the urgency of equitable innovation. Yet for YPO member Adrian Wall, who moderated the event, the most powerful outcome was alignment among the diverse groups.

“Sovereignty and inclusion aren’t opposing forces — they actually reinforce each other,” says Wall, the Founder of Digital Sovereignty Alliance. “Participants agreed that private-sector innovation, trusted data frameworks and government participation must complement — not compete with — each other.” 

The roundtable also agreed on two nonnegotiables: Trust and education must be at the center of their solutions. 

“Financial inclusion without financial literacy is a bridge to nowhere. It’s access without empowerment,” Wall says. “And if individuals and nations can’t trust the digital rails that move data and money, then inclusion and literacy both stall. When sovereignty, inclusion and literacy advance together — that’s when you get real empowerment.”

Making the commitment

The roundtable outcome was historic. Every participant signed a memo of understanding (MOU) to codify their commitment to data sovereignty and pledge to work together beyond borders, and they did this on the same day of the meeting — which is almost unheard of at the U.N. “It happened because of YPO’s culture of trust, collaboration and action,” Guillou says.

The group also took its first tangible step toward building the data sovereignty framework by creating task forces so that members can pilot real-world projects, addressing specific challenges outlined by the group, says DeEtta Jones, YPO SIN Engagement Officer and Founder and CEO of CultureRoad.

“One of the most exciting things we heard from the World Bank is that they’re eager to work with mid-sized businesses — like those led by YPO members — to help them scale. That’s a direct outcome of YPO being at the table,” Jones, a third organizer of the event, says.

Another commitment emerged from Emery Rubagenga, a YPO member and Executive Chairman at Horus Power & Telecom Solutions — Smart Africa, an initiative that started in 2014 to lead the digitization of Africa. In November, Guillou will travel to Africa with members of the World Bank to formalize the collaboration with an MOU and begin to develop additional frameworks across the continent.

Why YPO matters

The bottom line is that the work is just beginning, but all the stakeholders agree that business leaders must remain central at every stage. 

“Business leaders think about sustainability and scalability,” Wall says. “They ask how every dollar put in can generate more value for the customer. That mindset ensures that impact initiatives are also viable long term.”

Guillou says without YPO there would have been no roundtable, no framework, no MOU. “Everyone was working in their silos,” he says. “We [YPO members] broke down the silos.”

Reflecting on the biggest takeaway, Guillou says he still gets goosebumps. “It was incredible to see how many people care, especially our fellow YPO members. They give a damn,” he says. “Some people flew in for mere hours to attend the roundtable. For those of us in YPO, it’s not just about profit. We want to make a difference using our success, networks and know-how. This roundtable just gave me a new ‘aha’ moment about what’s possible when you’re a YPO member.”

As the YPO Social Impact Network moves forward, Guillou says its focus must change. He’s no longer interested in one-off learning events. Instead, he says, the network needs to focus on leading collaborative projects that have massive tangible, measurable impact potential. 

“Otherwise, it doesn’t count,” he says. 

It’s just more noise.

When financier and philanthropist Michael Milken took the stage before a room of eager global chief executives at YPO’s Global Business Summit in Los Angeles, he began with a deceptively simple premise: There are five forces shaping the future. They are, in his words, “human capital, financial markets and entrepreneurs, disintermediation, demographics and the American dream.” He then made the case that all five are intertwined — and that leaders who focus on developing human potential will create the most enduring value.

The birth of an idea

Milken traced the origins of his philosophy back to 1965, when Los Angeles was on fire during the Watts riots. Then a Berkeley student home for the summer, he met a young man who told him his father couldn’t get a loan to build his business because of the color of his skin. That moment, Milken says, reshaped his life and inspired him to write a formula for prosperity: financial capital multiplied by human, social and real assets.

“Financial capital serves as a multiplier on human capital,” he says. “But without education, opportunity and health — the true assets — capital alone cannot create prosperity.”

Human capital as the true engine of growth

Milken describes human and social capital as the world’s largest assets, worth an estimated USD1,500 trillion to USD2,000 trillion in the U.S. alone, compared to USD50 trillion in financial assets. He points to examples like Singapore, which transformed itself from a small island nation to one of the richest countries in the world by betting on education and talent rather than natural resources.

“No one confuses Jamaica and Singapore today,” he says. “Singapore invested in people.”

Leadership, talent and the power of one person

Milken underscores how leadership and vision can transform organizations, contrasting Sony, once a dominant player, with Apple — a company on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997 until Steve Jobs returned. “It takes more than 20 Sonys to make one Apple today,” Milken notes. “The difference was one person.”

For leaders, the message was clear: the most important investments aren’t on the balance sheet. “The only industry that counts people as assets is professional sports,” he quips, “but every business depends on human talent.”

Education, immigration and health: The building blocks

How do you grow human capital? Milken offers three answers: education, immigration and health.

He emphasizes the transformative power of early education, referencing Nobel laureate James Heckman’s research showing that investments in children aged 0–6 yield the highest returns. He also highlighted America’s historic reliance on immigration to fuel innovation, noting that more than half of scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley were born outside the U.S.

“The movement of people is the largest transfer of value in the world,” he says. “Everywhere, the story of prosperity is the story of talent moving to where opportunity exists.”

Health, Milken adds, has driven more than half of global economic growth over the past two centuries. Advances in public health and medical research have added 40 years to life expectancy in just over a century. “Four million years of evolution gave us 31 years of life expectancy,” Milken told the audience of business leaders. “In the last 125, we added 40 more.”

The movement of people is the largest transfer of value in the world. Everywhere, the story of prosperity is the story of talent moving to where opportunity exists. ”
— Michael Milken, Financier and Philanthropist share

Disintermediation: Every industry, every leader

From finance to media to medicine, Milken warns that no business is immune from disintermediation — the cutting out of middlemen. He points to Netflix and Blockbuster as the textbook case: when Blockbuster passed on buying Netflix for USD50 million, they misread the future. “They thought the most valuable real estate was physical,” Milken says. “It turned out to be digital.”

He also cites the transformation of health care, where sequencing a human genome that once cost USD3 billion now takes a few hours and less than USD150. “AI isn’t coming,” he says. “It’s here — and it’s more accurate at diagnosis than doctors.”

Demographics: The new global divide

Milken’s tone shifts when discussing demographics. He paints a world split between aging nations and youthful regions. Japan and China are shrinking, while Sub-Saharan Africa and India are surging. “There are more children born in Nigeria each year than in all of Europe,” he notes. “If we don’t create opportunities there, nothing else will matter.”

Immigration, he argues, will remain essential for countries like the U.S., where birth rates are below replacement. “Without immigration,” Milken warns, “the U.S. would lose 15 to 20% of its population by the end of the century.”

The American dream reimagined

Milken closed on a personal note. The American Dream, he says, is not about wealth but mobility — the belief that anyone can rise through effort and ability. But he cautioned that belief has waned in parts of the developed world.

“Freedom remains essential to the American Dream. But only 16% of people now equate that dream with becoming wealthy. For many, it’s about purpose — coaching your daughter’s soccer team or creating opportunity for others.”

But rather than turn to nostalgia, Milken ended with optimism. “What made America unique wasn’t just opportunity,” he says, smiling. “It was that you didn’t just have one chance — you had many.”

As the applause rose and the room of chief executives rose to their feet, the message Milken left them with transcends markets: The future belongs to those who invest in people, not just portfolios.

At YPO’s Global Business Summit, Alex Rodriguez spoke with unusual openness about reinvention — shaped by early hardship, public scrutiny and the long work of rebuilding. He described his journey from food-stamp beginnings to baseball fame to a suspension that forced him to rethink who he wanted to be. Today, as an investor and NBA/WNBA team owner, he frames leadership in simple terms: It isn’t the fall that defines you, but how you respond to it.

Own your failures

Rodriguez does not avoid the subject that reshaped his life — his suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. Instead, he addresses the issue head-on, describing it as it as the catalyst for the deepest work of his life. A year away from the game forced him into therapy, where he began, in his words, to “rewire” how he thought about responsibility, empathy and leadership.

Rebuilding trust meant being direct. In those early years, he began every meeting by addressing the suspension others avoided. He also called a dozen long-time supporters to acknowledge his mistakes personally. Several later said it made the partnership stronger.

The lesson, Rodriguez says, is simple: Leadership shows up when things are difficult. “When things are great, you can take a step back and let your team get all the credit,” he tells the audience. “But when things are bad, that’s when leadership stands up.”

Lead with generosity

Much of Rodriguez’s leadership playbook centers on relationships — not the transactional kind, but long-term alliances built on consistency and care. Before every meeting, he studies the person he’s about to face — their goals, challenges and what they’re trying to achieve. His first question is often: “How can I help you win?”

He shares two principles that shape his approach to partnership. The first is the “10 touches” rule. Leaders create 10 meaningful interactions before asking for anything. A coffee, a book, an introduction — small gestures that build trust long before any transaction is put on the table.

The second is the “90% rule.” If a deal is worth 10 dollars, he takes nine and lets the partner keep the rest, a gesture that builds trust across their network. Over time, he argues, that approach delivers more value than any single negotiation. “Integrity never takes a holiday,” he says. When stakes rise, values matter even more.

Keep swinging

Rodriguez speaks openly about failure, calling it the foundation of his success.

“I have a Ph.D. in failure,” he jokes, “and a master’s in getting back up.” It’s a line he often uses to describe a career defined not only by his 14 All-Star selections but also by the fifth-highest strikeout total in Major League Baseball history. For him, the contrast is not a contradiction but a credential. Resilience, he argues, is built through repetition — by showing up, learning and swinging again.

Integrity never takes a holiday. ”
— Alex Rodriguez, Chair and CEO, A-Rod Corp, Co-Chair, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx share

That mindset now fuels his business life. He studies for five to six hours a day and treats learning as a lifelong discipline. When things go wrong — whether in business or in his personal life — he returns to the same principle: “You’re going to fall, you’re going to fail … but you have to keep getting back up.”

Shape the next chapter

Rodriguez’s journey is not a straight line from baseball to boardroom. It’s a story of reinvention — built on accountability, generosity and the willingness to rise after every fall. For him, resilience comes from showing up, learning from each miss and refusing to let a setback define the next moment. His reminder to YPO leaders was simple: Your next chapter starts with your next choice.

At the YPO Global Business Summit in November, YPO members from around the world gathered for a lively fireside chat with Ashton Kutcher — entrepreneur, tech investor, producer and actor who has quietly built one of the most successful venture portfolios in Silicon Valley.

What followed was a candid conversation on risk, reinvention and building companies for a future that hasn’t arrived yet — but is coming fast.

Kutcher’s journey from a small-town Iowa upbringing to backing tech giants like Airbnb, Uber and OpenAI wasn’t driven by celebrity access — it was driven by work ethic and a relentless curiosity.

“I’ve always been trained to work from 9 to 5 — or more like 9 to midnight,” he tells a packed room of global chief executives with a smile, recalling how he used to sit in his modeling agency’s waiting room all day in New York, hoping for auditions. “I treated it like a job. I showed up every day because I didn’t know any other way.”

That same grit followed him onto the set of That ’70s Show, where he found himself bored between scenes. Instead of coasting, he started learning how the cameras worked, asking questions of the crew, and eventually launching his own production company. From there, his obsession with storytelling turned toward startups — especially those that, like him, were quietly preparing for what came next.

Betting early — and often — on the future

Kutcher’s venture firm, Sound Ventures, has made headline-worthy investments in companies like Square, Skype and Duolingo. But his strategy isn’t just about spotting trends — it’s about spotting people.

“I don’t just want a great founder,” he says. “I want someone I’d work for. Someone who shows up before everyone else and leads by example.”

That includes humility. Kutcher described how one founder was cut from his firm’s consideration because of how they treated the receptionist. “You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat the people around them. That’s nonnegotiable.”

When it comes to early-stage investments, Kutcher says he looks for “founders who have done the work.” One pair he nearly backed had spent six months working as housekeepers before launching their on-demand cleaning startup. “That kind of empathy and domain knowledge — that’s what makes someone worth betting on.”

Culture of disagreement

Inside Sound Ventures, Kutcher champions what he calls an “idea meritocracy.” Investment decisions aren’t made lightly — they’re debated, challenged and recorded.

“The hardest thing isn’t making a decision,” he says. “It’s creating a culture where someone on payroll feels safe enough to boldly disagree with you.”

To ensure those disagreements are genuine and not performative, Sound Ventures tracks who took what position during each investment committee (IC) meeting. “We want people to speak up because they believe it, not just to play devil’s advocate.”

Humility in missed calls

Kutcher was open about the deals he almost missed — like Uber. “When Travis (Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder) first pitched me, it was all about black cars and Lincoln Continentals. The unit economics didn’t make sense,” he admits. But when UberX was introduced — turning drivers into inventory — he knew it was the game-changer.

What allowed him to change his mind? “Ideological flexibility,” he says, referencing Adam Grant’s “Think Again.” Kutcher summarizes, “Conditions change. The best investors adapt.”

The AI moment

Kutcher lit up when talking about artificial intelligence (AI) — a space his firm leaned into early and aggressively. “This is the platform shift,” he says. “And this is the worst AI is ever going to be. It’s only going to get better.”

Sound Ventures took a foundational approach, investing across leading large language model (LLM) and infrastructure players like OpenAI, Anthropic, Stability and Inflection. Now, they’re building a second layer — targeting applications the big players won’t touch due to liability, data privacy or lack of incentive.

The hardest thing isn’t making a decision, it’s creating a culture where someone on payroll feels safe enough to boldly disagree with you. ”
— Ashton Kutcher, Entrepreneur, Tech Investor, Producer and Actor share

From customer relationship management (CRM) tools that auto-prioritize your to-do list to cybersecurity layers that govern how teams use AI responsibly, Kutcher describes a future where “everyone will have the greatest tutor, coach or assistant — right in their pocket.”

And his advice to young people (and business leaders) was crystal clear: Automate yourself before someone else does. “Learn how to use these tools to amplify your work. If you refuse, you’re not just behind — you’re replaceable.”

Building for a happier future

At the heart of Kutcher’s vision is a personal mission: to build a future he wants to live in. That means investing in companies solving for material science, energy innovation and sustainable manufacturing — not just convenience tech.

“We’re going to face real questions in the next decade — like do you cool humans or do you cool computers?” he says, referencing the coming energy crunch driven by AI’s massive demand. “We need breakthrough thinking in energy, metals, materials — and it’s coming.”

He envisions a post-knowledge economy where traits like empathy, purpose and creativity become more economically valuable. “If intelligence gets commoditized, then humanity has to show up in other ways.”

Kutcher closed the session with the same grounded clarity he brought to the rest of the chat: “Be curious. Be humble. Build the thing you wish existed. And never be afraid to ask, ‘What am I not understanding here?’”

For global business leaders navigating a rapidly shifting world, that’s a playbook worth remembering.

Speaking to a packed room of chief executives at YPO’s Global Business Summit in Los Angeles, movie-star-turned-entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds pitched a different kind of script — one that shows how he used collaboration, creativity and humor to turn “Deadpool” into a franchise, Aviation Gin into a massive success and Wrexham into a global brand.

The real differentiator in business, he says, is emotional intelligence. “When people believe in you, everything else follows,” he told the nearly 1,000 YPO members assembled. Reynolds’ playbook fuses empathy with accountability while making real human connections because, he says, he believes emotional investment always outlasts financial investment.

In a conversation that felt part business master class and part Hollywood adventure story, Reynolds offered his leadership philosophy and challenged traditional notions of control and scale — urging leaders to blend storytelling with strategy, lead with humility and build trust through direct human contact.

Lessons he’s learned

Ryan Reynolds told the room that some of his most important business lessons didn’t come from boardrooms; they came from film sets. When making “Deadpool,” he learned that innovation often hides inside constraints. Each time the studio cut his budget, he looked at it as an opportunity instead of a setback, and the film got stronger. Constraints pushed him to invent the iconic “12 bullets” sequence in the first “Deadpool.”
 
“Every dollar they took away forced me to replace spectacle with character,” he says.
 
As an owner of Aviation Gin and co-founder of Maximum Effort, Reynolds says running companies refined the same instincts. He discovered that success depends less on marketing spend than on relationships — being accessible, accountable and genuinely curious.

“If you want people to believe in you, don’t hide behind reps — call them yourself,” he urges.

In that same vein, he framed leadership not as authority, but as a process of continuous learning and shared accountability.
 

“The best leaders say, ‘I don’t know,’ but they have integrity and a willingness to learn,” he says. Along his journey, he’s said those words more than once. And that direct, honest communication accelerated trust and success in his multiple businesses.

Creating the joy

Great companies, like great films, work when people feel something. For chief executives, Reynolds says, that means cultivating connection — with employees, customers and investors — around purpose and shared joy.

“Joy and togetherness are scarce resources today,” he says.

But joy is the “one thing” that will bring people back over and over again — to movies, to businesses, to sporting events, Reynolds adds.

The best leaders say, ‘I don’t know,’ but they have integrity and a willingness to learn. ”
— Ryan Reynolds, Founder, Maximum Effort; Entrepreneur, Film Producer, Actor share

“Every time I go to the stadium to watch a Wrexham game. I certainly don’t know everybody’s name at the stadium. There’s 13,000 people there. But I do know that that guy’s a Labourer, that guy’s a Tory, and they go through the gate, putting their arms around each other and wearing the same shirt. They start singing the same filthy, filthy song. And I think that’s beautiful. That’s what I would like to see more of.”

And that’s what Reynolds hopes to keep creating with every new film and every new business venture — a lasting sense of joy — both for himself and his audience.

How AI Enables Leaders to See Further, Decide Faster and Strengthen Strategic Focus 

At YPO’s Global Business Summit, Geoff Woods, founder of AI Leadership and author of “The AI-Driven Leader,” began with a thought-provoking assertion: The greatest threat to your business wasn’t from a competitor. It’s from how you think.  

Woods encourages chief executives to view artificial intelligence (AI) as more than a tool, and rather as a means to broaden perspective, refine judgment and push boundaries. He claims AI is transformative only when it enables leaders to see and think beyond their own abilities. 

Let AI reveal what you can’t see 

Most CEOs, Woods argues, only use AI for surface-level tasks — drafting emails, summarizing documents or speeding up other routine work. Useful certainly, but far from the deeper value it can offer. AI truly proves its worth when it enables leaders to notice things they might otherwise miss. 

To do that, Woods introduces CRIT, a simple framework built around four steps: context, role, interview, task. Rather than asking AI for answers, chief executives can define a problem by assigning an AI to interview them. By redirecting questions to the leader, AI can reveal overlooked assumptions and blind spots in traditional decision making. 

To illustrate this, Woods shares the example of a manufacturing CEO facing bankruptcy after the board refused to restructure debt. Using CRIT, he assigned an AI with the persona of an investment banker. By applying this insight, to ask more targeted questions, the AI uncovered key details the CEO had missed, leading to new strategies that helped with the restructuring process. For Woods, it was a clear example of how AI becomes a thinking partner — one that reveals what leaders can’t always see on their own. 

Ask bigger questions, set bigger goals 

Woods also challenges chief executives to reconsider how they set goals. He observed that leaders often choose targets and select objectives that are already familiar, restricting the scope of their thinking and limiting potential opportunities. AI becomes useful here not for forecasting but for expanding perspective. 

Woods shares how this shift reshaped his own approach. A long-term vision that once aimed for 25X growth over a decade became far more ambitious after running it through CRIT. The goal wasn’t to chase an unrealistic number but to challenge conventional thinking and unearth new strategic possibilities. For chief executives, he argues, bigger questions paved the way for better decisions. 

Bring teams into alignment faster 

Woods also shows how AI can quickly align leadership teams. During a session involving 40 executives, every leader responded to identical strategic questions within a collaborative AI workspace. Instead of long meetings, AI pulled their thinking together in minutes, revealing the themes, tensions and gaps that usually take days to surface.  

The greatest threat to your business isn’t from a competitor. It’s from how you think. ”
— Geoff Woods share

The result was a clear, company-wide strategy shaped by the collective judgment of the team. For Woods, it showed how AI can cut through the noise of decision making and give leaders the clarity they need to move forward with confidence. 

Empower people to deliver more value 

Woods closes by reminding YPO members that AI’s impact grows when everyone uses it, not just the leadership team. He shared the example of how his executive assistant uses AI to map her responsibilities, isolate the work that created real value and redesign her role around it.  

For Woods, it shows how AI can raise the performance of an entire organization when people are encouraged to use it with purpose.