Meet The Leader

How can technology solutions expand access, equity and opportunity? Barbadian tech entrepreneur and technology expert Donnya Piggot speaks to moderator Doone Roisin of podcast 'Imagine If' about AI and the future of equitable innovation. It's a conversation that explores implicit bias, diverse product teams, reverse mentorship, and the leadership challenge of asking who is missing from the room.

Young Global Leaders: https://www.younggloballeaders.org/home 
Key takeaways:
Build around real user behavior, not a founder's ego or a product that only impresses investors.
Design for inclusion intentionally by bringing people from the margins into the room.
Stay focused in the early market, while making accessibility and belonging part of how the technology works.
This session is part of the Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders theme: AI, technology and human agency and was recorded live in Dubai, 13 October, 2026. To learn more: https://events.weforum.org/en/events/annual-meeting-of-global-future-leaders-2026/home

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This company launched with $600. How it's using data and AI today to boost yields for millions of small-scale farmers
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A conversation on the relationship between sport and leadership, from teamwork and resilience to ambition and responsibility. The session explores how sporting environments shape leaders and what wider society can learn from them — and how sport, at its best, becomes a vehicle for human flourishing, unlocking potential and wellbeing far beyond the field of play. 
Moderator: Mayowa Kuyoro, Partner, McKinsey Nigeria
Guest: Sana Mir, former professional cricket player (and first woman cricketer from Pakistan to be named to the sports hall of fame) and current sports analyst

Recorded at the Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders in Dubai, 12 October, 2026. To learn more, read here: https://events.weforum.org/en/events/annual-meeting-of-global-future-leaders-2026/home

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Hiring managers are struggling to find the talent they need, while job seekers face one of the toughest markets in recent memory. Jonas Prising, Chair and CEO of ManpowerGroup, explains what is driving these pressures—from the economic cycle and geopolitical shifts to major demographic changes.
He also examines AI's growing role in hiring and recruiting. While technology can make the process faster, it does not necessarily make it more accurate. For Prising, human judgment remains essential to recognizing potential, assessing fit and making better hiring decisions.
How cyclical economic shifts, not structural AI-driven changes, are shaping employer confidence

How big demographic shifts could push employers to tap underutilized parts of the global workforce

How AI can increase speed of hiring but not always its accuracy

How Manpower uses AI in hiring and recruiting and what leaders can learn

Prising also discusses ManpowerGroup's recent research on employment trends, the early boss that changed how he leads and his take on whether big predictions for the future will become a reality.  
Subscribe to Meet The Leader for more conversations on AI, hiring, leadership and the future of work.
About this episode:

ManpowerGroup
Manpower: https://www.manpowergroup.com/en 

Report: Great Talent Shortage: https://www.manpowergroup.com/de/news-releases/news/global-talent-shortage-reaches-turning-point-as-ai-skills-claim-top-spot
Report: Q3 2026 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey: https://www.manpowergroup.com/en/insights/report/q3-2026-manpowergroup-employment-outlook-survey 
Book recommendation - True North by Bill George: https://billgeorge.org/book/true-north/ 

World Economic Forum:
Report: Chief People Officer Outlook report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/chief-people-officers-outlook-may-2026/ 
 
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In a fast-moving world, the ability to pause and reflect gives leaders a valuable edge: the clarity to make better decisions, sidestep conflict and know when to pivot or keep going. 
Shogun Mahadumrongkul is the founder of incubator Avant Labs and a three-time ordained Buddhist monk. He believes in leadership informed by mindfulness and compassion. In this conversation, he shares practical lessons from Zen Buddhism and meditation that apply directly to modern leadership, from adopting a "beginner's mind" and managing ego to separating signal from noise.

You'll learn:
How pausing before reacting can improve emotional regulation and conflict management

Why a beginner's mindset can make leaders more adaptable

How mindfulness can help you focus, make clearer decisions and recognize when it's time to change course

Shogun also explores moral leadership, why values matter in the age of AI, and his belief in playing the long-term game rather than chasing short-term gains.
Subscribe to Meet The Leader for more conversations on leadership, decision-making, AI and the ideas changing how we work.

About this episode:
Avant Labs: https://www.avantlabs.tech/

Zenful Institute: https://zenfulinstitute.com/

About Global Shapers:
Global Shapers 2024 -2025 Annual Report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-shapers-community-annual-report-2024-2025/
Read - Blog: What young leaders are telling us about the future: 5 signals from the World Economic Forum's youth summit
https://www.weforum.org/stories/youth/young-leaders-youth-5-signals/
Watch - Entrepreneurship for a New Era | Next Generation Now 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcj5FsdSbU4&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.weforum.org%2F

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In this episode of Meet the Leader, five founders share books that have helped them drive sector-leading innovation and navigate uncertainty — from classics like Isaac Asimov's Foundation series to modern favorites like The Purpose Driven Life and Brotopia. Their recommendations reveal the unique challenges founders face as well as key lessons on resilience, purpose, AI, fundraising and leading through change.
What you'll learn:
The key role books still play for top innovators, even in our AI era

Why a learning mindset matters to shape a tech-driven future.

How digging into purpose helps founders navigate uncertainty

Books referenced in this episode:
Kian Katanforoosh, Founder and CEO Workera
Recommendation: Asimov's Foundation series 
Sam Yang, Founder, Xandar Kardian: 
Recommendation: A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Sarah Fleischer, co-founder, tozero
Recommendation: Hard Things About Hard Things, Marc Andreessen
Emilie Bodoin, CEO and Chairman, Pure Lithium Corporation
Recommendation: Brotopia by Emily Chang
Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Founder, Circle
Recommendation: Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
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