Come with Me if You Want to Lead: Human-First, Future-Ready, and Fully Present.

Come with me if you want to teleprompt, speculate, conversate, translate and navigate, into the future. 

It’s been a month since I started wearing, living, and working with the Even Realities G2 smart glasses and companion ring, and the experience has been nothing short of otherworldly. The closest comparison I can make is that unmistakable, first-person heads-up display from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator in James Cameron’s sci-fi classic.

No, I’m not seeing the world through that iconic red-tinted lens of a T1, but I’ve grown remarkably comfortably-one with the subtle, green-glowing text and graphics that now live quietly in my line of sight. It’s not intrusive. It’s not distracting. It’s… integrated.

What I’m experiencing isn’t just technology layered on top of reality. It feels like a seamless extension of it, an augmented professional and human experience where information meets intention in real time.

Wearing the Even Realities G2s, I’m not tracking targets or scanning heat signatures through some cinematic blend of video and lidar. What I am doing feels far more powerful. I’m able to stay fully present in a one-to-one, human-to-human conversation, never breaking eye contact, while time, messages, and just-in-time prompts quietly float at the edge of my awareness, subtly supporting and enhancing the moment.

It’s a kind of quiet superpower. High-tech support without high-tech distraction. A heads-up display that doesn’t pull me away from the moment, but anchors me more deeply in it.

In a world racing toward automation, this is where it gets interesting. This technology isn’t replacing the human interaction. It’s reinforcing it. Almost paradoxically, it allows me to exist in that rare space where high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech aren’t competing forces, but coexisting ones.

For those who know me as a 29-year educator, school leader, technologist-enthusiast, and increasingly active public speaker, the Even Realities G2 represents a natural extension of that identity. Purposefully designed without cameras or audio-reproducing earbuds, this wearable technology aligns seamlessly with the human-centered mantra I’ve come to champion in both my work and what I’m asked to speak about.

Recently, in San Diego at the Administrators Association of San Diego City Schools Spring Conference, I presented to an audience of over 700 principals, assistant principals, instructional coordinators, and central office leaders. For the first time, during a 75-minute keynote on AI and education, my presentation took on a new dimension: a discreet countdown timer sat in the upper-right corner of my field of view, while speaking notes gently floated and scrolled in real time.

Every cue, transition, and reminder was exactly where I needed it, accessible, unobtrusive, and entirely invisible to anyone else in the room. And had this been a traditional tilt-a-head-look-up podium speech, the experience would have evolved even further. The glasses’ embedded microphones would track my pace and position in the script, allowing the text to auto-scroll in sync with my delivery. As I maintained eye contact with the audience, never looking down, the spoken portions would subtly dim, providing a visual cue of where I was, creating the effect of speaking fluidly from memory while remaining fully grounded in the moment. That feature has come in handy days earlier back at school while delivering a speech to students. 

In the absence of cameras and speakers, one might be tempted to view this as a niche or transitional wearable with a limited audience, shelf life, or utility. I see it differently, clearly so (pun intended). This is one of the most consequential “Info-Tech” innovations to date, seamlessly marrying the optical, analog, digital, and AI worlds in service of human intelligence, while keeping the user experience grounded, quite literally, at the cellular level.

While exploring Mission Bay in San Diego on a walking tour, my G2’s optics seamlessly overlaid simple, almost automagic, step-by-step directions and walking maps, enabling completely hands-free navigation as I moved from place to place.

Stepping into an Uber with a Spanish-speaking driver, I felt no hesitation. With the G2’s translate feature activated, our Spanish–English banter flowed effortlessly, interpreted in real time throughout the short ride to a nearby restaurant.

Arriving ten minutes later with a half hour to spare, I wandered through Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, fully immersed in the experience. Keeping my eyes on the sights rather than a screen, I tapped into Even AI to surface nearby shops and must-see stops, all without once reaching for my phone.

Back in the hallways of Staten Island Technical High School, that same experience translates in ways that feel even more meaningful. Moving from classroom to classroom, and office to office, engaging with students and teachers, I’m able to remain fully present in each interaction while subtle prompts, reminders, and context are retrievable at the quiet subtle flick of the smart ring on my index finger. A calendar appointment, a follow-up note from a prior conversation or about an ongoing project, all there when I need it, never interrupting the flow. It doesn’t replace the relationship; it deepens it. It allows me to meet each moment with a level of attentiveness and continuity that, until now, relied heavily on memory or mobile phone alone.

In meetings, classroom visits, and even those quick, unscripted hallway exchanges that often matter most, the G2 quietly supports without ever becoming the center of attention. I’m not looking down at a device, not breaking eye contact to check a screen. I’m listening, responding, connecting. And yet, behind the scenes, I have just enough augmentation to capture a thought, recall or record a detail, or guide and aide a conversation with intention. In a school environment built on human connection, that balance is everything. This isn’t technology inserting itself into the experience, it’s technology stepping back just enough to let the human moment lead, while ensuring I never miss what matters most.

So no, since using the Even Realities G2,  I didn’t step into some cinematic version of The Terminator. No red-tinted lens, no target lock, no mechanical voice calling the shots. And honestly, that’s the point. But in a way, this is the version of that future we actually needed. One where the technology doesn’t dominate the human, it disappears just enough to elevate it. Where presence is preserved, privacy is protected, and connection is uninterrupted. In a world full of screens, cameras, and constant capture, the Even Realities G2 offers something quietly radical, the ability to be more informed without being less human.

If you’re an educator, a leader, or any professional working in spaces where trust, eye contact, and authenticity still matter, this is your green light. Not a warning signal, but an invitation. The future isn’t something you have to look down at, swipe through, or record. It can live right within your line of sight, supporting you while you stay fully locked into the moment that matters most.

Come with me if you want to lead… human-first, future-ready, and fully present.