Archives for June 2018

“I’d love to tell you what I really think, but I work hard to bite my tongue!” – #Futurist Jim Carroll

When a client books me, they engage me for a particular topic, storyline, theme, issue or direction.  They don’t bring me in for my political views. Obviously, when you are on stage in front of a few thousand people, it can be pretty difficult to hold yourself back from what you are really thinking.

The other day, at an event in Canada, I had a rant while on stage. I won’t post it. I don’t regret doing it. I said what I think needed to be said.

There were some folks in the room who obviously didn’t take kindly to what I had to say.  No problem – indeed, their mindset is that in this world of today, the jobs of 1950 will come back tomorrow.

I beg to disagree – my view is that the future usually happens. It’s kind of a thing.

I save my rants for private time. I’ll start golfing next week with a good friend who is now off for the summer. We won’t make it to the first green before he lets a good rant go, and I’ll rant right back. In private, not on stage.
It’s a complicated world.

“History judges harshly the results of shared incompetence!” – Futurist  Jim Carroll

The past is littered with the wreckage of organizations that have a focus on building a collaborative culture, but who don’t address the root cause of their real problems. The result is that they end up simply sharing stupid ideas faster!

To get ahead in the faster future, organizations need to align themselves to the trends of tomorrow, which are being developed today, rather than the past glories of yesterday. Incompetence comes from an inordinate belief that the past is a pathway to the future.

Incompetence also comes from a belief that someone else will fix their problems – ‘it is someone else’s fault’, goes that line of thinking. Or, it originates in an unfair playing field – so if someone changes the rules, it will be better. Or the worse case scenario – a misplaced sense of superiority.

There’s a lot of hubris out there right now in some sectors of the global economy. History teaches us how it will turn out. Hubris is never a great thing.

The photo is from a manufacturing conference I spoke at in Chicago recently. I outlined the world of 21st century manufacturing, and the opportunities that result. I can guarantee you that 1/3 of the audience probably wasn’t listening. They are part of the clan that thinks the future is found in where they were in 1950. They were sharing their incompetence live, in real time, in the room.