Ahmad Mansur: What Brings You Most Alive?

Last year, we decided to launch a series of short video blogs on our superheroes: friends, colleagues, and clients whom we admire, who are doing heroic work in their own little corner of the world, whether it be as humble as aspiring to be a great mom or as audacious as trying to change global consciousness.

We’ve been asking friends and colleagues, “What brings you most alive?”

Our first video clip is with Ahmad Mansur, a good friend and an emerging voice on leadership, innovation, and the economic growth of regions, cities, and communities. When I first met Ahmad over five years ago, I was struck by the complexity and impact of his work. He seemed to have figured out how to bring together local communities, colleges, business, and government together to create programs that would create more fulfilled people (because they had good jobs), happier companies (because they could find skilled employees), richer communities, and a stronger government. He wasn’t just talking about change, he was creating environments in which it was really happening. It has been a pleasure learning from him over the years about his place-based change initiatives that focus on real issues in real communities and that lead to new jobs, new stories, and new realities.