Are You A Possibility Thinker?
What I love about going to a futurist conference, or sitting down with other Futurists and innovators is, you will never hear them say your nuts, that’s crazy, or it will never work! There is nothing more energizing than an open mind, a willingness to be taken far from the comfort zone, where would we be if there were no Futurists or innovators?
I can only speak for myself but, have you ever shared an out of the box idea with someone, and they just stare at you with a blank expression? It happens all the time in my community, and I’m older than most of the people I share with in most cases. I mean you would think at 53 years of age I would never talk about the extinction of paper money, the end of the cash register as we know it, that giving your product or service away for free will make you more money than charging for it, or sharing Ray Kurzweil’s singularity vision. It amazes me the masses don’t know what’s happening to them through all these advancements in Technology. If they did pay attention, I’m not convinced technology would advance as quickly as it is. We are far too eager to accept new technologies without seriously considering what the consequences might be.
Now, if you are a futurist or innovator, you have probably felt or thought the same thing at some point in your studies. My focus is on The Future of Business, or commerce. Much of what we know today is leaving us far more quickly than anticipated, but we are struggling to let go of the past. The Gen C kids, under 20 demographic, and the generations to follow, will re-write the rules and laws of business to the point most of us won’t recognize it. I’m convinced they’ll shake their heads when they hear us talk about the future, chuckling under their breath, waiting for us to move on.
Imagine what we would learn if we could get inside their heads, how they view the world, and how they would organize work after we are dead and gone. We would tell them they were nuts, crazy and it will never work, I certain of it.
I would rather we put some future thought into or day-to-day lives, I don’t mean planning your 2 week vacation, we already give that too much attention. I’m talking about how we will learn, how we will work, how we will consume, and how we will provide goods and services. Start spending time around the Gen C demographic and ask them what they see, get around those who are Futurists and Innovators, you will find you have to unlearn much of what you know.
I challenge you to never say the words, your nuts, your crazy, and it will never work. If you are someone who does, you are holding back our future, you are part of the problem and not part of the solution. We have much to do from an energy perspective, the coming water shortage, and possibly a food shortage. In the next 20 – 30 years, we may find ourselves killing others for what we throw away today.
I challenge you to open your mind, to think possibility thinking, creating the impossible, and above all, value the innovators and futurists of today, as they the looking glass of your future.
Which one are you? A possibility thinker, or a person who says it will never fly, it will never work.
Missing The Bigger Picture – Are You Paying Attention?
I recently had a couple of close friends tell me they didn’t get my blog, they felt it was dribble and wasn’t useful to business people. I was kind of taken by surprise, and yet I wasn’t all that shocked either, mostly because people don’t get me at the best of times. I even felt a little sad and I think I felt sorry for them. Once I picked myself up off the floor and got past the sting, they got me to thinking.
When I started blogging, I spent most of my time talking about nanotechnology, shortly there after I started thinking about the bigger picture of how technology is and will impact society 5, 10, 15, 30 years down the road. How will business look in the next 3 – 5 years, helping business and individuals to create ideas to adopt the future of business. Showing you some trends and the paradigm shift that is taking place, after all, the industrial age is dead right.
I tried to explain to my friends what my blog was about, and they said, “OK, fine but it doesn’t give me answers for today”. I said, ” I’m not giving you answers, my goal and job is to make you think for yourself, to think of your own answers”. I merely want people to think for themselves, but it appears my friends want the answer handed to them on a silver platter. Which means, they are not paying attention to the bigger picture, they are only putting out fires rather than looking ahead. Is that you?
If you don’t pay attention to what’s coming, how and why are you in business? Every business is built on the very fact that there is and will be a future, if that’s true, why are you building a business? As I told my friends, my blog is trying to give you a glimpse of what’s to come, and hopefully, it helps get the creative juices flowing so you will be ready. If you are paying attention. If not, I see dead businesses.
There is much to be learned here on this blog, if you are paying attention. Are you starting to get my message yet?
I have to tell you, after a couple of hours sharing what it is my blog & I do, I wondered how difficult it was for you and others to understand what I’ve been sharing for the past number of years. I’m going to make it simple for you.
START PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BIGGER PICTURE!
Lift your head up and look down the road, start asking questions, start educating yourself because no one is going to do it for you. If I seem a little testy, it’s because I care, I want good things for you, but you have to play your role in this game called life & business.
If you were reading my blog and paying attention, you would know that there are another 3 billion people coming online in the next 2 -3 years, that 60% of all commerce will be done online, and that the industrial age is dead, no really it’s dead. You would also know, that there is an ROI in social media, that the world has gone crazy with being social and mobile, what does all this mean to you and your business? I have only mentioned a few things that should concern you, you should be worried about how this activity will impact your business, and for that matter your day-to-day life.
There, I feel better now. I hope you find at least one thing you can take away from this blog that helps, if not, ask me a question and lets talk about it. Afterall, I’m here to help, I want to help you figure out how to address the changes we are going through right now. It’s painful for some of you, it’s painful for me too.
Happy Blogging and pay attention to what’s going on around you, the world is watching, and the world needs you to be ready.
What If Your FaceBook Profile Was a Book?
I was surfing about and came across this great video on Cristian D. Cano’s marketing blog, I just had post this video here on my blog, well, because I had to have it in my database : )
Having said that, Gary Vaynerchuk once said, everything we put on the Internet becomes our legacy, and that’s exactly what the question implies. If everything you put out there was turned into a book, would it be a best seller and how would people view you, not to mention, grand kids and so on.
Food for thought, but what would your FaceBook book be like?
The Future Of Business – Twitter And FaceBook Credits
The Internet has changed how we view our world, it has changed how we spend our time and our money, and it has most definitely changed the way we do business. The future of business is getting more and more sci-fi, it’s hard to compute (no pun intended), but we are headed to a world we used to watch in movies.
Get ready for Facebook‘s virtual currency, Facebook Credits, will become the official coin of the realm beginning July 1, 2011. Imagine that, being able to purchase products and services with Twitter and FaceBook Credits, next you will be able to pay your mortgage with those credits. I’m all for that. In fact, in November 2010 The Dallas Mavericks Basketball team offered Free FaceBook Credits for Twitter Followers. Soon you and I will be able to make direct deposits to our bank accounts without ever having to go there, you will do it on your mobile device anytime, anywhere. Payroll direct deposit is archaic compared to the swipe technology of today. You will also make most of your purchase with this swipe technology on your smart-phone, it is predict 60% of all commerce will be done in this fashion.
The real future of business will be Virtual Reality and Hologram technology, but that technology is still developing, we will shop in our homes and never have to go out into the masses of people. Imagine being able to try on clothes without ever actually having to try on clothes, say what! Social Networks will handle all the market research, the data will be staggering, there’s a business to start, organize all that data and sell it back to the business sector. eMarketer has a similar model, they are a great resource but, you better have some coin to get the real valuable data. As Gerd Leonhard of The Futures Agency says, Data is the New Oil.
We are moving to a place where you can’t hide, you can’t lie, and you can’t have a bad product or service if you want to survive in this new business landscape. The world is becoming more and more mobile and social, that’s a hot tip for you right there.
So how do you succeed in the future of business? At a high level it’s simple really, grow bigger ears, get very mobile and social, and above all else, engage with the people formerly known as consumers, it’s not business as usual kids, pay attention. The business landscape is getting more open & free, that’s the business model, Open & Free. It’s an access first society, people want access more than they ever want to be sold and forced to pay upfront. Figure out how to give people access, and you will find the revenue follows, the toll booth is no longer at the front gate, it should be almost invisible and seamless.
Would you make purchase with Twitter and FaceBook Credits?
Vancouver’s First World Futurist Society Conference July 8th – 10th, 2011
To my knowledge this is a first for Vancouver, I am very excited about this major conference on two fronts, this is the first time it will be held in Vancouver, and I have been invited to speak on The Future Of Business – The Open & Free Business Model! Imagine, over 1,000 futurists under one roof for almost a week in beautiful downtown Vancouver, I wonder if there will be enough counselling for all of us? <grin>
The future is on everyone’s mind, we all want to look into the crystal ball and see how things will turn out 20, 30 , 40 years down the road, but that’s not what the World Futurist Society Members do. Futurists are not about telling you your future, they study what most of the world doesn’t pay attention to. This Society investigates how social, economic and technological developments are shaping the future, that’s very different, and refreshing.
Checkout the World Futurist Society’s FaceBook Page and be sure to follow them on Twitter, you’ll love what they share and make available to you on their website too.
If you can attend this conference, do it. Imagine the brain power you will tap into, ideas will flow, your creative juices will overwhelm you, and you will hear about amazing concepts yet to be developed. All because you were around quality people that devote their lives to one reality, that “Tomorrow is built today”, come join us.
Moving from Vision to Action
WHEN: Friday evening, July 8, 2011, through Sunday, July 10, 2011. Preconference courses on Thursday and Friday, July 7 and 8, and Professional Members’ Forum on Monday, July 11.
WHERE: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, Vancouver, BC, Canada
WHO: Approximately 1,000 futurists from around the world.
WHAT: The WorldFuture 2011 program will feature big-picture thinking and practical visions from a diverse array of participants in a variety of disciplines.
TOPICS: Technology, education, health, business issues, families, communities, work trends, social change, the environment and resources, globalization, education, governance, futures methodologies, and much more.
SPECIAL EVENTS: Preconference courses, tours, meet-the-author sessions, career counseling, tabletop exhibits, and more activities are planned.
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES: A complimentary welcoming reception, two keynote luncheons, group business meetings, reserved networking areas throughout the meeting, and more.
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