The world is grappling with systems of care that are increasingly perceived as broken. From education to healthcare, addiction treatment to the prison system, many feel these essential pillars of society are failing both those they are meant to serve and the professionals who dedicate their lives to them. Paul LeBlanc, former President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), in his insightful book “Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How we can Fix Them,” argues that the relentless pursuit of scale has stripped humanity from these critical systems. However, amidst these challenges, a beacon of hope emerges: Artificial Intelligence (AI). LeBlanc and other forward-thinkers propose that AI, paradoxically, might be the very tool to inject humanity back into these systems, fostering a new era of human flourishing. This raises a crucial question: What The World Needs Now is not just technological advancement, but a strategic re-evaluation of how we can leverage AI to create more compassionate, effective, and human-centered systems of care.
The Crisis in Care Systems: A Lack of Humanity
LeBlanc’s analysis begins with a stark assessment: our systems of care are fundamentally flawed. He points to alarming statistics within higher education as a prime example. A staggering 40% of students who embark on a college degree fail to complete it, leaving them not only without the intended qualification but often burdened by crippling debt, currently exceeding $1.7 trillion nationwide. This system, designed to be an engine of opportunity, instead becomes a source of stress and inequality, favoring those already privileged while often exploiting vulnerable student-athletes. The exorbitant salaries of football coaches compared to educators further highlight a system prioritizing revenue generation over its core educational mission.
These issues are not confined to education. Similar failings plague healthcare, mental health services, and the criminal justice system. These systems, intended to nurture and support, often become impersonal, bureaucratic, and ineffective. The individuals working within these systems, the caregivers themselves, also suffer from burnout and disillusionment, trapped in environments that prioritize efficiency over empathy. This systemic dehumanization leads to poor outcomes despite massive financial investments, raising serious questions about what the world needs now to rectify these deficiencies.
The Human Touch: SNHU’s Model for Scalable Compassion
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) offers a compelling counter-narrative. Under LeBlanc’s leadership, SNHU has become the largest university in the United States by prioritizing a student-centric approach. Their “secret sauce” isn’t a technological marvel, but a deeply human element: dedicated counselors who guide students throughout their entire academic journey. Unlike traditional systems that prioritize standardized processes, SNHU recognizes the inherent unpredictability and individuality of each student. These counselors act as consistent points of contact, fostering understanding, providing personalized encouragement, and navigating systemic hurdles to ensure student success.
This model directly addresses the core problem of scaled systems: their tendency to prioritize predictability and uniformity over individual human needs. SNHU demonstrates that scale and humanity are not mutually exclusive. By strategically embedding human connection at critical touchpoints, they have created a system that “loves its students,” fostering life-changing learning experiences for populations often excluded from traditional higher education. This success underscores what the world needs now: a shift in focus from purely scalable efficiency to scalable empathy.
Replicating Human-Centered Care: Lessons from One Medical
The principles demonstrated by SNHU are applicable beyond education. One Medical, a primary healthcare provider, offers another compelling example. They optimize the time spent with expensive specialists by strategically integrating health counselors into the patient journey. While a physician might offer a diagnosis and treatment plan in a limited consultation, health counselors step in to provide crucial ongoing support. These counselors engage in deeply human conversations to understand a patient’s lifestyle, challenges, and support systems, facilitating the practical implementation of medical advice and driving real behavioral change.
This approach highlights the power of human connection in translating expert knowledge into tangible outcomes. It suggests a model for redesigning various care systems. By strategically deploying well-trained, compassionate individuals to augment the expertise of doctors, lawyers, educators, and other professionals, we can create systems that are both efficient and deeply human. This strategic reallocation of resources, prioritizing human interaction at key points of care, is precisely what the world needs now to transform broken systems.
AI as an Enabler: Flooding Systems with Human Support
LeBlanc’s vision extends to leveraging AI to amplify human capabilities within these systems. He proposes “flooding” struggling systems like K-12 education, mental healthcare, and geriatric care with talented teachers, counselors, clinicians, and social workers. The challenge, however, is often financial and societal – a reluctance to adequately fund and respect these essential human roles.
Here’s where AI presents a transformative opportunity. Drawing on the insights of Carlota Perez, who studies technological revolutions, and labor economist David Autor, LeBlanc suggests AI can be a catalyst for societal reinvention. Autor argues that AI can revitalize middle-skill jobs by augmenting human expertise, much like the rise of nurse practitioners in healthcare. AI can provide decision support, real-time guidance, and automate routine tasks, empowering a wider range of professionals to perform higher-level functions. This democratization of expertise can lead to more affordable and accessible care in crucial sectors like healthcare, education, and legal services.
In essence, AI can handle the demands of predictability and sameness within systems, freeing up human professionals to focus on the uniquely human aspects of care: empathy, connection, and personalized support. This synergy between AI and human compassion is what the world needs now to build truly effective and caring systems at scale.
The Evolving Role of Expertise: Consulting in the Age of AI
The rise of AI also necessitates a re-evaluation of traditional expertise-driven professions, such as management consulting. As complex analysis becomes increasingly automated, the value proposition of consultants is shifting. The traditional leverage model, where junior consultants perform data crunching to support senior experts, is being disrupted.
Instead, the focus is moving towards uniquely human skills: relationship building, trust, and the ability to solve truly complex, “wicked” problems. As David Maister and others have noted, the future of consulting lies in “brains” consulting – tackling novel challenges requiring deep strategic thinking and human intuition – while routine “grey hair” consulting is increasingly handled by AI.
For management consulting, and indeed for all expertise-based professions, what the world needs now is adaptation and evolution. This means embracing AI as a tool to augment human capabilities, focusing on developing uniquely human skills, and redefining business models to thrive in a rapidly changing technological landscape. The opportunity lies in leveraging AI to enhance human connection and deliver more impactful, human-centered solutions.
In conclusion, what the world needs now is a conscious and concerted effort to rehumanize our systems of care. By embracing AI strategically, not as a replacement for human interaction but as a tool to amplify it, we can create systems that are both scalable and compassionate. This requires a fundamental shift in perspective, prioritizing human needs and connections in the design and implementation of our essential social systems. The path forward lies in harnessing the power of technology to foster a more caring, equitable, and human-centered world.
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