Posts Tagged ‘Future’
The Future Of Business – Your Profession May Not Exist
It’s entirely possible, that the profession you’re now in, won’t exist or will be dramatically different in the next 5 – 10 years. What you should be learning is, economies, big business, even small business, the financial infrastructure of business doesn’t care how long you’ve been with the company, it doesn’t care if you’re the best at the job, it does care about making money, and you mostly cost them money. Cut backs are almost always in the form of people, rarely have you heard of a business reducing the size of the building or plot of land before they cut back people, it just doesn’t happen, and it’s easier to let people go than to the other cut back ideas.
Many authors have written about the new big being small, because so many people are finding themselves being released all types of jobs, even the long careers that we think are safe and secure. The business world is not compassionate, it’s a bottomline beast, the margins matter, and you’re easier and cheaper to replace.
Soon we will have no choice but to adopt to the new work landscape, and that will be a world with fewer jobs and more self-employed / entrepreneurs. The Industrial Age system is fighting that movement, it wants you to stay where you are and to do as your told.
The biggest challenge with new world order of work, it’s a scary place, the level of risk is higher, but the rewards are also higher if you choose the road less traveled. The reason many don’t step out is because the old system provides you with just the right amount of something called security. That system also has just the right amount structure to make you think no one else could do what you do, you couldn’t be replaced. You must know that’s an untruth. This system we call the Industrial Age is crumbling, and soon we will speak of it as something that didn’t work well for people who were creative, and entrepreneurial in nature.
Your profession, should be you, mastering the best you, providing the best service you can offer, your investment will need to be in you. The term profession now takes on a new meaning doesn’t it, it’s not what you do, it’s who you are, and how you execute who you are. Leaving the Industrial Age behind is hard, but eventually, it will disappear, and you’ll have to figure out how to manage without it. Consider what your profession looks like, and build that.
Something Fell Off The Wagon
Have you ever wondered what happens to things that find their way into the lost & found? What happens to great ideas when they fail to produce desired results? What do you do when what you’ve learned no longer works? Why don’t people start a business? Why do people wish, or hope something better will come along? Why don’t people know what they want? The real question is, what are you looking for, what are you hoping for, and most importantly, what are you waiting for?
There has never been a better time in history for anyone to make the world a better place, to start a business, to make something great happen, to truly see your purpose in life, and yet, we keep holding back. What is it, did you lose something, was it taken from you (most likely yes), or were you told you couldn’t? I’m going to tell you something. Those individuals in your life that tell you it’ll fail, it won’t work, and you can’t do it. They don’t have power over your desire to do something, today….you can just do it, you don’t need permission, you don’t need to ask anyone, you can just do it!
Somewhere along the way we lost sight of our future’s, our desire to do things. I can remember being in high school talking about all the great things I was gonna do after I got out, all the places I was going to go, and how I was going to life out the rest of my life. But somewhere on that journey, that confidence, that desire, that passion, and that drive, was driven out of me. Why? Because I allowed it, not because I didn’t have a choice. But today, that is all in the past, its history, today I can choose, I don’t have to conform to the powers that be, they actually have to keep an eye on me. The tables have turned, and now, you & I have the power to shape our future, to leverage each day, the choice is…more than ever, yours. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, I’m not very good, I did however, choose to start this blog a number of years ago, and I’m writing to you right now!
You might be all fired up and ready to go, but let’s not lose sight of what you already have, and what you must look after, more importantly, making sure you’re being a good citizen that pays their bills, and shows up for work, life doesn’t stop because you’re all excited, and want to focus on your dream. I share this with you because I found myself looking back, wondering what happened, wondering…..something fell off the wagon. What was it, today it’s clear, at the time I was left wondering what was wrong, what was missing.
Many people don’t know what they want to do, many don’t want to leave the comfort of their careers, their jobs, because they are overcome by fear. Fear is powerful, you can’t ignore it, but most of the time, you can over-come it, you might even master it. Fear prevents you from living the abundant life, you never really live until you can move beyond those fears that are strongholds in your life.
What was that something that fell off the wagon? It was my power to choose, I gave up my power to the Industrial Age way of life. I gave my power away so I could feel secure, so I could keep the peace with my family and friends, so I could fit in. That system, that way of life works for some, but it squashes the will of many. If it works for you, then do it well, if it doesn’t….you have a hope and a decision to make, but make smart calculated decisions. Today you have choices most of us didn’t have 20 years ago, today you can do things at much lower levels of risk than 30 years ago. It’s an exciting time to be alive, don’t let your power to choose become something you lost, don’t let it fall off the wagon.
The Future Of Business – Is To Create!
The greatest of creations ever made, were you and I, we’re amazing! We can do things no other creature or animal on earth can do, we can stop before we respond, we can decide how we want to respond to stimuli. We have so many abilities, one of them is the ability to create, we can create incredible solutions to world problems, we can see things through our ability of foresight, the list is endless.
This blog’s tag-line is: Create. Differentiate. Deliver.
These three words sum up what the business of the future will need focus on.
All of us have ideas, we’re spiritual creative beings, we strive to conquer, we survive, we overcome, we’re passionate, we love, and we have a desire to help one another. Mostly, we like to create, we like to build and conquer. The problem many struggle with, fear, and what to create. A good place to start is, what drives you, what energizes you, what you’re true passion is, listen for the voice within. Many search external clues, the true passion is in you, create that. Seth Godin calls it “ART”, the art each one of us carries within but is scared to let out. Mostly because of fear.
It doesn’t matter what you create, what matters is that you do something, let the art in you be heard, seen and found, you will change your world. So create, make something, solve a problem, eventually you will find a way to monetize your creation. Let the world do the marketing for you, you just let the world know where to find your creation.
The fear of failure is a powerful force, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than failing, so create and fail as often as you can. That failing will teach you more than you will ever learn doing nothing. Don’t analyze, just do! Create!
The Future Of Business – Two Camps
Listen To This Post As A Podcast, now available on iTunes:
[podcast]
I recently heard an interview that challenged me, in fact, I would say it changed my life. It changed my attitude towards my work and how I go about doing it. What is my work you ask? I’m a Futurist, a Thought-leader, I help you understand a new business model that forces all of us to leave the Industrial Age way of doing work & business behind. I teach & preach the Open & Free Business Model, where the 90/10 rule is the new equation, you give away 90%, and charge for 10%, it in effect, turns business upside down. More importantly, my work is a freedom message, it’s a mindset, and mindset trumps skill set everytime.
It’s possible you haven’t heard about it, you probably don’t know what it means, and what it stands for, but that alone makes it interesting. How can it possibly help you, how can it generate revenues, and how do you implement the model. Each and everyone of us knows something isn’t working, we’re just to resistant to change it. We must change it, in fact we don’t have a choice anymore. The Open & Free Business Model is a new way to disrupt your industrial age thinking. What’s interesting is, the level of resistance to it, resistance to accepting the truth about business, resistance to admitting the industrial age way of organizing and delivering work is dead, it just doesn’t work anymore!
The Heart Of The Open & Free Business Model
– Do something
– Make something
– Give it away
– Do work that matters
– Connect with people
– Lead people
– Deliver
– Make a difference in the world
Answer the question, how many people are better off because you lived?
The list above doesn’t work by itself, you truly have to change the way you think, unlearn, and learn new ways of getting things done, to disrupt your default patterns. It takes work. The how to(s) are the easy part, changing the way you think is more difficult. The biggest hurdle, the fear of loss, this fear is at the very core of the open & free business model. It’s to become a minimalist to delivering products & services, to simply do something, and you will find your place in a community. These communities are made up of two camps, they decide whether it happens and if it’s useful.
CAMPS
1. You
2. Your Fans
You must learn to embrace and trust both camps.
For the first time in history, you get to decide, you get to do the work you’ve dreamed about, all we need is for you to do it, to do something. The cost of doing nothing, is far greater than the cost of failing, it’s a paradigm shift, only you can “Flick The Switch”!
Your Fans decide whether what you do is useful, whether it’s valuable, they will tell you who they are, and if they will be a true fan.
If any of this resonates with you, then you’ve been convicted, you can no longer ignore the voice inside of you, you have to do something about it. Flick The Switch!
This is the first in a series, to help you understand a new way of thinking, and the Open & Free Business Model, feel free to leave questions in the comments, and lets change the world together.
The Future Of Business – The Secret To Creating Your Preferred Business
We think of the future a lot don’t we, it feels so far away and yet it’s right there, right now, right in front of you. When we were about to escape high school, we had great plans, we talked about all the fun things we were going to do, the great things we were going to accomplish. It was all so exciting and fresh, it was something new, it wasn’t school…..or was it. Some keep going to school, others stop learning, many of you just accepted what happened, we often call it the school of hard knocks. The later is also known as a dream squasher, it tests our strength, our willingness to persist, it reveals the depth of our desire, but most give up to soon.
I am a Baby Boomer, I grew up believing everything would turn out just fine, the industrial age system wouldn’t fail us, so I thought. For the most part everything has turned out fine in my little world, but yet, here I sit suffering in my sadness. My sadness comes from my own disappointments, that I haven’t done more, that I haven’t helped as many people as I thought I would, I feel that I haven’t made the world a better place. I have felt most of my life, judged, not included, and worse yet, I have always felt like an outsider. Sounds like I need counseling doesn’t it? I believe we all go through these emotional states at some point in our lives, we are all very much alike, we just execute differently.
It’s taken many years for me to see the world differently, in fact, it’s taken 55+ years of study, hard knocks, bad decisions, raising a family, holding high level positions, and learning to love the unlovable. I am the sum of all that I have experienced, all that the world has thrown at me, and yet, I still have hope, I still have much to do and to achieve. I was told by my Father, just as you probably were, the world is not a friendly place, it doesn’t care about you, so you have to be in control, take charge of your future. Some of us believed our Fathers, we took it to heart only to find out the world is different. My Fathers world is not my world, in fact, I don’t have control of the world, and never will have, but I do have control over how I respond to it. And that my friends is the secret to a great life, and a great future in business should you chose to.
You see, the future of business needs a world that doesn’t keep score on individuals, and that’s where the rules can be broken, because the world doesn’t care, we just think it does. You see, most think the world will come them, give them what they want, whenever they want it, or at least believe that’s how it should be. If it was, there would be no need for Lotteries, we all eventually would be rich beyond our wildest dreams. Somehow, we have built a world unwilling to wait, unwilling to work, the world now expects, it’s an entitlement theology. We have taken what we already have for granted.
We sell ourselves short far too often, we don’t believe in ourselves enough, we all say we don’t care what other people think, yet we wait to be picked. There it is, the problem becomes obvious. We attach our happiness on things, on whether or not people approve, and if we get picked. We all on some level are waiting to be picked, it’s what happens when you submit a resume, when you play sports, even when you pick your friends. The future of business doesn’t play by this rule, that’s the beauty of it, you get to decide how you will respond to this broken idea of being picked. As Seth Godin says, don’t wait to be picked, pick yourself.
You get to decide your preferred future, your preferred business of the future, chose to respond by picking you first, then your business has a far better chance of making a difference in the world. If you are in business or even have a Blog, we are waiting to be picked, waiting for someone to buy our products / services, waiting to like our blog posts, hoping someone will like what we have to say or offer. It’s a catch 22 isn’t it? How do we escape this seemingly inescapable, vicious circle? The secret is in how you respond to it, you still get to decide, you still get to pick you.
You now have the power to build your preferred future, your preferred business of the future. The question you really want to answer is, is your preferred future or business going to change the world, make it a better place. Forget about being famous or rich, focus on small random acts of kindness, provide service with caring behind it, do something that helps others first before yourself. It’s been said, if you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want. It sounds corny, it sounds and feels uncomfortable, it’s called humility, and that’s always uncomfortable.
Humility is another key to success, it is the heart of small town rules in business, it’s why we build barns for our neighbors.
I’m a little long winded today, but it’s on my heart because so many are struggling. We give away our power to others, hoping we’ll get picked, take your power and us it for good, pick yourself, stop giving it away and create your preferred business of the future. Build a human business.
