Eagles,

This week, I’m writing to you from the Black Hills, where I had one of those experiences that stays with you long after the moment is over.

I visited both the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore for the first time.

And I’m still trying to find the words.

At Crazy Horse, I was blessed to hear a beautiful Lakota speaker, to listen to a Lakota lullaby, and to witness a medicine dance demonstration. The speaker was Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre, the author of the children’s book Thunder’s Hair.

Her message was deeply human. It was honest, grounded, and impossible to hear without feeling the weight of history... not in an abstract way, but in the way truth lands when it is spoken by someone whose people lived it. There was sorrow in it, yes. But there was also dignity. Strength. Memory. Humanity.

Then I stood before Mount Rushmore.

And that was emotional too, but in a very different way. Majestic. American. Monumental. A symbol of vision, ambition, and nationhood.

To hold both experiences in the same day required something of me.

It required contrast. It required humility. It required listening.
It required a willingness not to flatten the moment into something simplistic.

And that is exactly why this year’s Eagle Summit theme feels so right: Human by Design. That's our theme this year. Because in the age of AI, the real question is not just what technology can do. It is whether we will remain thoughtful enough, grounded enough, discerning enough, and human enough to hold complexity without surrendering our souls.

Dr. Tom Hill taught that success is measured across six areas of life — spiritual, physical, relationship, emotional, professional, and financial. AI is now touching every one of them. But standing in the Black Hills reminded me that the deepest leadership questions are still profoundly human:

How do we honor truth?
How do we hold pain and greatness in the same landscape?
How do we stay rooted in values while navigating a rapidly changing world?
How do we become more human, not less, in a time that makes it easy to outsource attention, memory, discernment, and even relationship?

That is why Eagle Summit 67 matters.

We are not gathering to marvel at AI. We are gathering to ask better questions about what it means to lead, discern, build, protect, relate, and live well in this moment.

And after hearing Jessie speak, it struck me how fitting it would be to invite voices like hers into that conversation. Voices that remind us that progress without humanity is hollow. Voices that call us back to memory, identity, truth, and soul.

I told her I would follow up. I hope she says yes.

Because if this year is about being Human by Design, then we need conversations that are not just intelligent — but wise.

IMPLEMENTATION

Here’s the takeaway I’m carrying with me: When the world gets louder, faster, and more artificial, do not lose your willingness to sit with what is real.

Make time for places and people that stretch your understanding.
Listen to voices that don’t simply confirm what you already think.
Stand in rooms — and landscapes — that remind you truth is often bigger than a headline, a slogan, or a tool.
Humanity is not preserved by accident. It is preserved by intention. How can we be more intentional individually and as a group?

REFLECTION

Where in your life are you being invited to hold more complexity with more grace?

And what would it look like for you to lead, not just efficiently or intelligently, but humanly?

Save the Date: Eagle Summit 67

October 1–3, 2026
Undivided Experience Center | Chesterfield, MO
Attendance limited to 75

Human by Design: Lead with Wisdom, Courage, and Discernment in the Age of AI

This is not a beginner’s AI event. It is not a prompting workshop. And it is not a room for spectators. This is where serious leaders will come to explore the full implications of AI across life, leadership, security, wealth, relationships, ethics, discernment, and the future of human responsibility.

If you are ready to move from curiosity to clarity, from awareness to action, and from passive observation to high-level leadership — this is the room.

With excitement!!!!
Sandy Wardenburg Waggett
T.H.E. Impact Network
Eagle Summit Host

Dr. Tom Hill says:
“One idea, well executed, can change your life. One person who believes in you can change it forever.”

RSVP FOR PRE-SALE TICKET ACCESS