Brilliance Is Everywhere, But We're Still Wasting It

Forbes

2 days ago

The future of work is borderless, where talent, not titles, leads the way.
In a world brimming with talent, why does it feel like only a select few ever get a shot?
Throughout my career, I've felt like an outsider, uninvited to the exclusive clubs, quietly questioning the hierarchy of who gets to "create" and who doesn't. I've sat in rooms where the loudest voices won by default, not by merit. I've seen genius quietly sidelined because it didn't come wrapped in the right resume or accompanied by the right zip code. And I've always been drawn to the underdogs, the ones underestimated, overlooked, and underleveraged. They are often the ones who create the most powerful work. They just need a crack in the system to show what they can do.
One of my favorite underdog stories is that of Whit Hiler, a hungry, self-taught creative in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time, Whit was working as the general manager of a Vespa dealership. He wasn't a Cannes darling. He wasn't a portfolio school graduate. He didn't live in Brooklyn or Venice Beach. But he was bursting with ideas. He applied to agencies across the country, from New York to L.A., but because he wasn't in "the scene," he got the cold shoulder. He was ignored.
Meanwhile, I had just founded Victors & Spoils, the first advertising agency built on crowdsourcing principles. Our mission was simple: open up the creative process to a global talent pool, not just the insiders, but anyone with brilliance, hustle, and heart. Whit joined our crowd. And he changed everything.
We were pursuing Harley-Davidson, a brand rich with story and grit. But instead of playing the traditional pitch game, we did something a little reckless. We sent out a tweet to Harley's CMO, Mark-Hans Richer, letting him know that we weren't pitching, but we were working on his business anyway. If he was curious, he could just give us a call.
Mark-Hans did. We flew to Milwaukee. And we won the account.
But let's be clear: it wasn't the stunt that sealed the deal. It was the brilliant creative from our global crowd, especially Whit's. He came up with world-class ideas that not only resonated with the Harley-Davidson brand but redefined what scrappy, outsider talent could do when given the chance. (You can read about it here.)
That experience solidified something I had always believed: brilliance is abundant. Opportunity is not.
What we witnessed at Victors & Spoils was the early signal of something bigger, the democratization of expertise. For decades, traditional systems relied on closed networks, degrees, and gatekeepers. But platforms, and now technologies, are shifting power from the few to the many. What once required ten years of industry experience can now be prototyped in a weekend. What once required access to an elite institution can now be learned online.
The next major stop on this train? Generative AI.
We're entering a new era where talent and tools converge. Generative AI is leveling the playing field, allowing people with less traditional training or access to legacy institutions to contribute meaningfully and competitively in the global economy. A young designer in Nairobi can use Midjourney and ChatGPT to build a pitch deck that rivals Madison Avenue's best. A product thinker in Bogotá can use AI to prototype solutions faster than most Silicon Valley teams.
Of course, AI isn't a replacement for human creativity or insight. It's an amplifier. And when you pair it with global platforms built to surface and support talent, like Andela, the possibilities explode. Andela is doing something powerful, unlocking access for brilliant minds, many in underserved regions, and surrounding them with the infrastructure of a talent community: mentorship, feedback, learning, and ongoing development. It's not just about discovery. It's about sustained enablement.
We're already seeing this model gain traction across the enterprise world. Fortune 500 companies are increasingly using platforms to tap pre-vetted, globally distributed talent, often filling high-skill roles in days, not months. These are no longer experiments. They're becoming strategy.
This is the future of work. Open. Distributed. Networked. Inclusive. A world where the best idea wins, not the best pedigree. But this future isn't automatic. It takes intention. It takes new models. And it takes leaders willing to question how we find, value, and reward talent. So here's my challenge to every founder, executive, and creative leader: stop hiring only from your own reflection. Start opening the gates. Use the platforms. Embrace the tools. Give the Whit Hilers of the world a shot.
Because when you do, you'll discover what I've known all along. Brilliance is everywhere. All we have to do is stop getting in its way.