Renaissance.
Our keynote speaker Robert Feeney used it in Nashville. Attendees used it unprompted in their feedback. And the more I've sat with it, the more I believe it isn't just an accurate description of where ISPI stands right now, it's the right frame for where we're going.
I did not choose it because it sounds impressive. I chose it because it is honest. A Renaissance is not an invention. It is a rediscovery. It is what happens when a community looks at what it already possesses and makes the deliberate choice to put it fully to work.
That is exactly where ISPI stands right now.
Why a Renaissance? Why Now?
The energy in Nashville was hard to miss. Approximately 167 practitioners were in the room. About 35 more joined virtually. People were not just sitting in sessions - they were talking in the hallways. Staying late. Leaning in.
What I felt in Nashville was a profession rediscovering its identity. We know who we are. We know what we do that no one else does.
The question is whether we're willing to act like it.
This is not a vague aspiration. The ISPI Renaissance is a strategic framework for 2026-2027, built on four forces, each tied to real priorities and real work already in progress.
The First Force: Revival
The historical Renaissance began with scholars returning to the classical texts. Not because the past was better, but because the foundational thinking was more relevant, not less, in a rapidly changing world.
ISPI's Revival is the same kind of move.
The methodology is not a legacy concept. It is the most rigorous framework we have for evaluating anything new including AI. Systems thinking, evidence-based practice, human performance technology these are not relics. They are our differentiator. In a market saturated with fleeting management trends, holding the line on PI standards is not a conservative choice. It is a radical one.
Revival means we invest in that foundation with the seriousness it deserves.
The Second Force: Breakthrough
Most organizations right now are adopting AI without asking a single critical question about whether it actually improves human performance. They are chasing the trend.
ISPI has something no other organization has: the AI4PI framework. That means we get to lead this conversation, not follow it.
In Nashville, we officially launched AI4PI. The AI Performance Advisor and Coach are live at ispi.org. The AI Learning Lab ran live at the conference. The AI4PI Journey is now live on ISPI Pathways. And a University of West Florida pilot currently has 12 students using the Journey as core curriculum: the first academic integration of its kind.
Then there is the CAIT. The Certified AI Performance Technologist credential was pre-launched in China in November, and went to full global launch in Q1 of this year. Importantly, the CAIT and CPT are designed to work together. The CAIT counts as one qualifying project toward the CPT. We are not building two separate tracks. We are building one coherent professional standard with a modern entry point. (If you have not looked at the CAIT yet, now is a good time - there is a 50% introductory discount through December 31, 2026.)
The question driving all of it is the right one: Is this actually improving performance? What is the evidence? That question is what makes us different. And it is exactly what needs to be at the center of the AI conversation.
The Third Force: Exploration
ISPI has always been a global organization in name. Exploration means becoming one in practice.
In Nashville, we signed a landmark collaboration agreement with Sinotrac in China: live, on stage. We welcomed new chapters in Switzerland and Africa. Practitioners from every corner of the world were in that room. That is not a coincidence. That is a direction.
Performance improvement is a universal discipline. It belongs to practitioners in Johannesburg, Beijing, Geneva, Buenos Aires, and everywhere in between. The future of this field will be written on every continent. We intend to be part of writing it.
The Fourth Force: Patronage
The historical Renaissance did not sustain itself. It required the Medici family and others who believed in the work enough to invest in it. Without the patronage model, the Renaissance does not last.
The same is true here.
Great ideas require a stable platform. The Patronage force is about building the financial and operational infrastructure that makes the other three forces sustainable for decades, not just for this board term. That means diversifying revenue so we are not dependent on any single event or income stream. It means building formal partnerships with corporate and academic institutions that co-invest in the future of this field. It means a certification ecosystem, like the CAIT, that generates its own growth capital and reinvests it into the society. And it means financial practices that are transparent, disciplined, and worthy of member trust.
We are building something that should outlast every single person in this organization. That deserves to be resourced like it.
This Does Not Belong to the Board
Here is the part that matters most to me.
This Renaissance does not belong to the board. It does not belong to the president. It belongs to every member who believes that performance improvement, done with rigor and evidence, makes a real difference in people's lives.
I'm not here to manage pillars. I'm here to lead a Renaissance.
These four forces will show up in everything we do this year: our publications, our programming, our certifications, our partnerships, and in our 2027 Annual Conference in New Orleans, a city that knows what renaissance looks like.
The Renaissance is already underway. I am glad to be in it with you.
Are you building for today's trends, or are you building a framework that will outlast you?
Lynne MacBain, EdD, CPT, CAIT is President of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and CEO of PivotPoint Strategies.