The always pleasant Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, continues to break out in the U.S. as a major force of the future and open-mindedness. The subject of an award-winning 2009 One+ profile (back when he was CEO of Creative Commons; currently the chairman of that enlightened group), Ito has made some impressive appearances in the media this month.

In the latest issue of Fast Company, Ito is included as a top disrupter, a bold thinker, in the business world. He's named "The Über Consultant" with the tagline "Fight for flexibility."

This week, Ito penned an editorial for The New York Times, "In An Open-Source Society, Innovating by the Seat of Our Pants" (for the record, not his headline), explaining how the Internet is a philosophy rather than a technology and is altering not only creativity but the way we think about creativity.

I don't mean to continue harping on the virtues and philosophies of Ito, but I can't help it. Each time I see his name leading a story and each time I read a tweet from @Joi, I wonder how his thought bubbles could aid the meeting and event industry... We need more thinkers like him.

Simply put, you need to pay attention to Joi Ito.

Image (CC) Mizuka