Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation

“The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

That’s the motto of a big thinker I’ve come to admire. Dr. Peter Diamandis is a futurist, entrepreneur and innovation pioneer. He founded the X Prize, the global leader in creating incentivized competitions that drive radical breakthroughs to benefit humanity. He cofounded two universities: International Space University and Silicon Valley-based Singularity University, which trains some of the world’s brightest minds to use exponentially growing technologies to solve grand challenges. He is also a medical doctor, aerospace engineer and best-selling author of Abundance.

Peter Diamandis is one more thing: an optimist. He subtitled his book—which contends that our ability to meet the needs of every man, woman, and child on the planet is just years away—"The Future Is Better Than You Think."

While we are bombarded with negative news pushed from the media (sorry, SRQ!) and pulled through our ubiquitous devices, says Diamandis, we actually live in an “extraordinary time” of unprecedented possibility. Lifespans doubled in the past century, he points out. Childhood mortality dropped tenfold. Costs for food, power and transportation have fallen by factors of 10 to 100. Historically speaking, today’s world is not nearly as violent as we may think. Watch his TED talk or read his book for more examples.

Making much of this possible is technology—especially what Diamandis calls “exponential technologies.” The device you’re reading this on is a million times cheaper and a thousand times faster than the supercomputers of the 1970s. Technology is a resource liberator. Consider that 150 years ago, aluminum—which doesn’t exist as a pure metal—was more valuable than gold or even platinum. But since the technology of electrolysis made it dirt cheap, we throw away aluminum foil like it’s, well, aluminum foil. The same abundance is possible with energy, water and more, insists  Diamandis. “It’s not about being scarce; it’s about accessibility,” he says.

So, how does this apply to our region? Why not ask, how doesn’t it? In Diamandis’ words, the right combination of people, technology and capital can solve any problem. We’ve learned since the Great Recession that our region’s future success depends on our ability to work together, to confront real needs, to measure our progress, and to move toward an innovation economy. We’ve also seen how seemingly intractable social problems remain intractable if we won’t think big, take risks and truly collaborate.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation plans to bring Diamandis to our community early next year to teach and inspire us to do just that. We intend his talk to help us collectively see past traditional thinking and risk aversion so we can create a community culture of innovation. We’ll learn why unlikely partnerships, systemic thinking and tapping our entrepreneurial spirt can make all the difference in our daily efforts to improve our region. Please save the date: February 24, 2015. (And meanwhile…watch his TED Talk or read his book!)

Seth Godin, another entrepreneur and big thinker I admire, recently wrote: “I'm all in favor of self-driving cars and advanced robotics that will change everything. But few of us get to do that for a living. Mostly, we find new ways to do old things, better…. Find something that will touch us, move us, improve us or change us. Then ship.” Does that contradict Diamandis’ moonshot thinking? I don’t think so. We won’t all win an X Prize. But we can—and should—look for new ways to do things better. In leadership, business or the nonprofit sector, at whatever level we work, we can improve lives, even transform them. We can help create a future of abundant opportunity for all. Think about it.

Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation