This week’s guests are Crissie McMullan and Jason Wiener. Together these two launched AI Realists, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping communities shape AI policies. AI Realists is producing events and conducting outreach across Montana.In this conversation, Crissie and Jason share their paths to AI and how they have been both inspired and worried by the technology. They talk about how people tend to feel helpless when it comes to AI reform and speak at length about how their focus currently is on how state governments can play a role.

This week’s guest is Tana Burke, founder and CEO of Sky Cycle, a Montana-made startup seeking to insert wellness and exercise into the airport experience. Tana launched Sky Cycle in 2022 and the product is now ready for takeoff.In this conversation, Tana talks about taking Sky Cycle from concept to reality and the various partnerships she forged to make it happen. She breaks down the airport business and helps us understand how and why airports are increasing their investments in traveller wellness.

Today is the July edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. Today’s topic is gratitude, inspired by an experience Bryce had during a speaking engagement a few weeks ago.In this conversation, Bryce outlines economic progress, particularly in Montana, despite how bad the economy can seem. The two get into the differences between zero-sum and positive-sum thinking, and the necessity of human-to-human interaction when cultivating civic virtue.

This week’s guests are Ria Overholt and Steve Gaskill who talk with Justin about Missoula Villages, a neighbor-powered network that brings older citizens together through events, activities and a help exchange. Networks like Missoula Villages are springing up across the country and fill an important unmet need for support and community.In this conversation, Ria explains the concept behind Missoula Villages, which in large part aims to keep people connected as they age. Steve talks about the science behind social connections and the benefit of having a community for tackling seemingly small tasks when they start to become bigger, like changing a lightbulb or doing yard work.

This week’s guest is Bridger Pierce, president of Warm Springs Productions. Warm Springs is a full service production house focused on television series. Warm Springs commenced operations in 2008 and has produced content for the History Channel, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and many other prominent outlets.Bridger talks about growing up in Manhattan, Montana and working for a stint in D.C. He explains Warm Springs’s start in hunting shows to its expansion into creating content for major outlets and dabbling in religious and history-based productions. And, he talks about working with talents like Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid, and how the key to building trust is finding a topic the stars are passionate about.

This week’s guest is Vu Le, a prominent and irreverent voice in nonprofit leadership. Vu recently published his first book, Reimagining Nonprofit and Philanthropy, and has been posting weekly at his blog, Nonprofit AF, for many years. Vu recently visited Montana to speak about nonprofits and philanthropy.In this episode, Vu describes nonprofits as air - something people don’t appreciate until they’re gone. He discusses the differences between nonprofits and for-profits, gets into the scruples over overhead and the ways in which nonprofits can be reimagined.

This week is the June edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. And this month, the theme is population decline.People around the world are having fewer babies and it’s being framed as a bit of a crisis. The question Justin ha…

This week’s guests are David Spear and Julie Cajune of A VOICE: Art, Vision and Outreach in Community Education. This nonprofit organization’s mission is to foster individual, group, community and cultural expression through art, outreach and education. A VOICE has served the Flathead Nation for 20 years.In this conversation, David talks about how he made it from New York to Polson, and how he built trust with students on the Flathead Nation. David explains some of the specific projects students have worked on, and how art - like sports - can serve as a bridge for success. Justin asks both David and Julie about their plans for the future.