Daily Inspiration: “Transformation is the new innovation!”

“Transformation is the new innovation!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

The speed of change is such that it is now no longer an innovation story – it’s one of transformation!

That was the message I picked up during a phone call with Jeffrey Phillips yesterday. He’s one of the smartest boots-on-the-ground innovation minds that I know, and is the midst of a bit of a career transition.

I open up a lot of minds with my keynotes on the future and change – Jeff excels at turning those observations into reality. Check him out:

https://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/author/jeffrey-phillips/

The discussion confirmed what I’d been thinking for quite some time but had not yet been able to clarify – in a world of massive disruption, innovation is no longer enough. Massive transformation is the only path forward for most organizations, because the changes that are occurring through digital technology are simply too significant.

And so with that, from this morning on, I’m no longer a “Futurist, Trends & Innovation Expert.”

I’m now a “Futurist, Trends and Digital Transformation Expert”.

It’s a subtle but important change. Let me explain why.

To start, check the graph in the photo above – I’m doing a poll of the audience, and have asked them if they are ready for our faster future. No one is. Every single audience responds this way.

Later, in two other polls, they’ll admit that their industry won’t be recognizable within 10 years because of technological disruption, and later on, that they don’t know what to do to deal with that reality!

That’s a bit of a problem, isn’t it!

Clearly, people in every industry are ill-prepared for the disruption that is occurring around them.

What’s with the digital part? Take a look at my ’25 Drivers of Disruption”

https://disruption.jimcarroll.com

Trend 2 and 3? These are the most important trends of our time. Most of my keynotes involve these as the most significant trends that are disrupting (and destroying) their entire future.

2. Every company becomes a software company.

From healthcare to insurance, home appliances to automotive, manufacturing to packaging, retail to sports & fitness, energy to agriculture: every industry is seeing massive change as it becomes enabled, challenged and transformed by technology and connectivity.

From precision agriculture to self-driving cars, smart clothing to connected microwaves, remote medical monitoring devices to active packaging — every company in every industry is becoming a computer company, with software and technology at its heart and soul. This changes everything!

3. Moore’s law defines the speed of change for every industry.

It’s the rule that defines that the processing power of a computer chip constantly increases while the cost collapses at an exponential rate — and that speed of change is coming to drive the speed of innovation in every single industry as we all become tech companies.

Companies are having to innovate and transform at a pace never seen before.

There are two things that are clear:

• innovation is no longer enough. You can’t tinker around the edges and survive. Only massive transformation will matter
• my clients have been asking me to deliver that on stage, and that’s why I’ve been doing. I might as well align my reality to my brand!