Daily Inspiration: “Your ‘olden days’ are happening right now – and they will be with you sooner than you think!”

Remember your first mobile phone? How ancient and out of date it now seems? How about your car? Does your dashboard from that 2014 model look positively silly in todays’ era of hi-tech computerized cars?

We are already surrounded by things from the olden days that were just cutting edge and modern as little as a few years ago. The arrival of things into the olden days is happening faster than ever before as time accelerates.

I’ll often tell the story on stage of ‘things from the olden days.’ Its based on observations I had of my young sons as they grew up in a world of instant obsolescence. 35mm film, CD’s, fax machines – suddenly, all these things that were a part of my lives were things to them that were from ancient times. I soon gave up keeping a list as we entered an era of the transience of technology.

It’s not just ‘stuff’ that is rapidly entering the era of the olden days. It’s strategy, structure, skills, capabilities.

One of the most important roles for any executive today is ensuring that the organization is strategically positioned to deal with relentless, ongoing change – and making sure you don’t have a strategy from the olden days.

Everyone is faced with rapidly evolving business models, new and unique customer demands, heightened competition, rapid product development and even faster product obsolescence, and increasing career specialization, not to mention dramatic rates of knowledge growth.

It is important to be cognizant of the potential impact of all of these trends, in order to clearly assess how an organization should be responding to change – & make sure you don’t let them fall behind into something from the ‘olden days.’

It is important that you don’t become complacent about the rate of change that envelopes us today. That’s why it can be very useful to have a barometer that helps to measure the rate of change.

Such as things from the olden days!