Futurist Keynote Speaker Jim Carroll: Disruptive Trend & Innovation Expert

Futurist Keynote Speaker,  Author, Innovation Expert. 

DAILY
MOTIVATIONAL
INSIGHT
FROM
JIM
JIM’s
HIGHLIGHTS
FOLLOW ME

Archives for February 2020

Daily Inspiration: “A key rule to live by? When tomorrow is happening today, the future won’t wait for you to jump on board!”

by

“A key rule to live by? When tomorrow is happening today, the future won’t wait for you to jump on board! ” – Futurist Jim Carroll

A picture from my keynote in Las Vegas two weeks ago for the American Truck Dealers Association.

One of my key messages? Far too many people and companies have missed out on the trends imposed by our disruptive future because they’ve waited too long to make the decisions that really matter.

The result is that they miss out on opportunity, fall further behind, which makes it even more difficult to catch up with major trends.

A cumulative series of steps like this lead to an ever increasing downward spiral, making the challenge all that much more intense over time.

Don’t defer small decisions – move forward!

Never slow down – keep going!

Don’t be driven by indecision – it’s better to do something instead of doing nothing!

Because progress will come in fits and starts – the road to success is always uneven!

Covid-19? Moving Meetings Online? I’m Ready to Go – Are You?

by

When the world changes fast – you move fast as well! You also anticipate the future and be ready for your clients – before they know they’re ready.

So with that in mind, let’s talk about your upcoming online event. I’m your guy! I’m pleased to announce the availability of my online video keynotes and customized video leadership meeting presentations.

What’s up? We all know that there are dramatic changes occurring in the global economy at blinding speed with Covid-19 – and so while we don’t know exactly where we are going, we know we are making a great time! It’s pretty clear that we are seeing a fast and dramatic pullback in corporate, association, and customer events. This came out from @WSJ moments ago.

Here’s the thing – companies still need to implement strategies, get in front of customers, enhance and build knowledge. It’s probably pretty likely that they’ll be doing this online, with technology, for a bit of time.

I’m ready – are you?

I’m hitting the ground running, ramping up my home production studio to meet this new demand quickly, and am pleased to say that I’m already ready to offer several key services to my global client base and speaker bureau partners:

  • live Web broadcast video keynotes, with interactive Q&A, interactive polling and verbal discussion, from my home studio. Audience members can participate via PollEverywhere polls, making this a truly interactive experience, as well as submit questions directly for immediate response from my home studio
  • customized video production – targeted message videos of 5 to 30 minutes, suitable for internal distribution, on the key leadership issues, innovation opportunities and disruptive ideas that you need to keep your workforce engaged with. These are similar to the pre-event videos that I have been filming for clients for quite some time

Ready to explore? Give me a call!

Freeze, innovate or panic? Innovation strategies for RIGHT NOW!

by

Given the rapid pace of global economic developments with Covad-19, organizations are faced with a pretty stark choice!

What I’ve learned over 25 years is that it is our ability to keep focused on the future in the face of massive uncertainty is that our ability to move forward defines our success.

With that in mind, you can:

  1. Freeze: do nothing
  2. Panic: make rash decisions on structure, markets, investments.
  3. Innovate: respond to rapid market change through innovation, particularly with respect to strategies, structure, capabilities, markets, products, activities

The first choice won’t serve you well. Inaction is not a good choice, because markets, customers behaviour, cost inputs and just about everything else will change even faster now, and so you need to change faster.

The second choice might seem to be the only response given the velocity of events as they occur, and it will be an unfortunate reality for some as this new era of volatility unfolds. But for others, panic will truly get you nowhere.

Option 3 — continuous innovation — remains the only thing to focus on. You need to work hard to align your current strategies with fast paced economic events.

Why? History bears this out – here’s a clip where I’m referencing a very powerful study!

Daily Inspiration: “Those assumptions you’ve made about your future? You need to shred them faster!”

by

“Those assumptions you’ve made about your future? You need to shred them faster!” – #Futurist Jim Carroll

Change happens faster than ever before.

That’s why I use the phrase “the era of acceleration” when I’m up on stage.

And the assumptions that you make as to what might come next might now be your biggest challenge. Be prepared to change them!

As I wrote into a previous quote: “Your blind belief in your certainty about how the world around you is going to unfold is what will often get you in trouble. Because, in a world of volatility, relentless & constant change, that will often be a fateful mistake!”

Take an assumption inventory – and challenge each one. Examine them through a new microscope and a different lens, because you might discover that a completely different future might actually unfold.

The issue of future assumptions was actually trend #14 of my series “Insight 2020: Leadership Strategies for the Era of Acceleration”

https://insight2020.jimcarroll.com

What did I write?

“Assumptions are the ideas that blind us to the reality that the future is bigger than we think! A belief that tomorrow will be much like today is one of the worst mistakes that a leader can make today – in the era of acceleration, everything we know about what might come next is fundamentally challenged.

We are heading into a world of 24-hour farming rather than doing it only when the sun is up! A retail world in which most products come to us, rather than us having to go get them. The end of the era of oil and one of renewable, distributed energy and battery supremacy. Healthcare systems in which we Increasingly fix people before they become sick rather than afterward. Construction processes are based in factories, not job sites.

We can assume one future and yet an entirely different future unfolds. That’s why you should challenge your assumptions!”

Good words to live by given the fast pace of dramatic change all around us today!

Revisiting the 7 Stages of Economic Grief: When Do You Innovate?

by

Back in 2009, Business Week ran an article, “10 Worst Innovation Mistakes in a Recession.”

At the time, I was busy with a number of global companies helping them to focus on strategies to accelerate through the downturn. With that in mind, I wrote in the comments section of their article: “It’s easy to point out mistakes. It can be harder to indicate what you should be doing.” I then wrote an article, “10 Things You Need to Do to innovate in a Recession.” It’s shared below.

Here’s the thing: as the Covad-19 crisis spreads and economic volatility rears its ugly head, you are probably starting to go through what I call “The 7 Stages of Economic Grief.” I used this screen a lot from late 2008 to 2012….

I was busy pointing out that innovation winners are those who concentrate – early on in an economic downturn – to prepare for the upturn. I’ve got a lot of written and video guidance that I will be sharing in the coming days.

The fact is, I’ve been out speaking to organizations about trends, the future, innovation and creativity for 25 years. Often this has involved rapidly adjusting my theme to one of “how you can innovate during a recession” – I nailed it on stage after the 2001 dot.com collapse, and again with the global economic meltdown of 2008.

And so as enter a new era of volatility, what should leaders be thinking about?

Staying out in front!

Over those years, I’ve had the opportunity of seeing first hand quite a few very innovative strategies from CEO’s and others in a wide variety of events, and I keep modifying my message at rapid speed to incorporate a vast variety of ideas. In that context, here’s a video clip I was spinning on stage, moments after I was introduced by David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands – KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut – as I opened their global leadership conference a few weeks before in Las Vegas, March 2009!

Stay in front! While volatility rocks our world, winners pursue the future while uncertainty reigns!

10 Things You Need to Do To Innovate in a Recession
Futurist Jim Carroll, April 2009

So I just took a few minutes to post a comment to the Business Week site, and I’ll post my quick thoughts here too. Here’s a list of 10 off the top of my head:

1. Focus your team — relentlessly — on growth. I keynoted a global organization in Las Vegas in February. The CEO got on stage before me — and spoke about the recession for one minute. He then spent 19 minutes speaking to the growth opportunities that the organization could pursue. That’s what everyone needs to do right now. There are growth opportunities in every industry. Focus on them!

2. Respond faster. When I keynoted a food industry summit in New York, we spoke of the need to respond faster to the fact that consumer preferences were changing more rapidly than ever before. More people eating at home, sensitive to dollars, looking for food-comfort. Reformulate new brand and product options faster. Just do it. Don’t study — do.

3. Invest in the brand. Brands can become weaker in a recession, particularly as consumers scramble for value. Decide where you want to reposition your product/brand, and act fast to do it rather than studying it to death.

4. Mix it up. Don’t assume that worked before the recession will work now. Try out a lot of ideas, particularly around value. “I’m experimenting rapidly with price points and product mix.”

5. Invest in experience. Lots of your staff will be down in the dumps, and are spinning their wheels. Get a message out that NOW is the time to invest in experience. Try things out, to build up the collective experience of your team.

6. Kill off the innovation killers. Reframe your team, so that they are thinking “what a great idea,” rather than viewing with suspicion any new ideas. Remember — everyone is worried about being laid off, and paranoia sucks the life out of innovation faster than anything else.

7. Collaborate within the industry. When I keynoted the American Nursery and Landscape Association recently, I stood in awe of the blog they were running that was offering practical, on the ground, easy to implement ideas that retailers could put into their stores NOW.

8. Seek ideas. Go knowledge farming once a day, looking for ideas on customer service, operations, IT strategies, and just about anything else. There’s a flood of ideas out there — now’s a great time to chase them down and do things.

9. Partner up. Sure, resources are scarcer during a recession. That’s why you can speed up innovation with anything — from advertising, to customer service, business model implementation, IT strategy, opportunities for operational excellence or just about anything else — by seeking partners to help you out. That will help you achieve key goals faster.

10. Get over it. Lots of organizations are still stuck in the anger and denial phase of the Seven Steps of Economic Grief. Make a decision to get into the acceptance stage, and move on. This will recession will pass, just like every other one.

There are dozens more…..

Daily Inspiration: “You’ll never know when you’ve reached rock bottom – until you’re back on top looking down!”

by

“You’ll never know when you’ve reached rock bottom – until you’re back on top looking down!” – #Futurist Jim Carroll

I can’t decide if my quote today is about the stock market and economy, or is a recipe and pathway for personal growth.

So let’s make it about both!

Obviously, we are in new territory when it comes to our 11-year bull market – volatility reigns, fear is driving decisions, and uncertainty rules every agenda. The hardest thing is to know when we’ve reached the bottom of the downturn – when we had the big economic meltdown in October 2008, we didn’t really hit rock bottom until March 2009.

Much uncertainty is going to drive the global business agenda for quite some time – hence, the quote.

So what do you do if you don’t know if we are anywhere near the bottom of a business cycle? Focus on the future!

Coincidentally, March 2009 found me in Las Vegas with my largest ever audience from two global companies, speaking about the future and innovation – one group had 7,500 people in the room.

The CEO of each organization wanted me to help people understand that they needed to focus on the future, not the present, NOW.

Lesson? Don’t wait to hit the bottom before you start thinking about the top!

From a personal perspective?

It’s pretty certain that you’ll face quite a few career setbacks throughout your lifetime: layoffs, reorganizations, downsizing, and more. It’s how you roll with the punches and pick yourself up that will define your future.

And obviously, you’ll go through waves of personal turmoil and anguish. Life is a roller coaster ride that takes us from the peaks of exhilaration to the depths of despair, often without knowing what is coming after the next climb.

The key? Your ability to recover from the lows is what will define your opportunity to experience the highs!

 

GET IN TOUCH

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE FAST features the best of the insight from Jim Carroll’s blog, in which he
covers issues related to creativity, innovation and future trends.

VIEW OTHER BOOKS