Your future? Watch this clip, filmed in the home studio yesterday!
Archives for June 2020
Daily Inspiration: “The simple fact? Your life is now at risk when there are a bunch of Flintstones around!”
“The simple fact? Your life is now at risk when there are a bunch of Flintstones around!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Check the photo carefully!
Over time, I’ve learned how to carefully address political controversy from the stage; I’m now learning how to do so in my home studio. Idea in mind, I found a wonderful graphic artist on Upwork who could update one of the photos I’d often use in my keynotes where I would talk about the modern day leadership dilemma of our time : how do you accelerate into the world of the Jetsons when there are a bunch of Flintstones around?
It’s long been a challenge – read the blog post – but the consequences of this dilemma are now deadly, as people who choose to live in their own make believe world of yesterday become a new type of deadly Fred Flintstone, wandering about spewing death from their breath. Think about that fact!
The photo? It’s from this small short film I did in the home office yesterday. It’s a fun little piece that captures the energy of my stage keynotes in the contents of my home studio, with the humour and storytelling I’ve developed to build a compelling story on stage. I keep working my studio craft, forcing myself to learn how to ‘build’ better steps, more engaging stories, harnessing the energy of my mind.
And yet, while the picture and picture might be funny, the real life consequences of this idiocy are real.
Who could have ever predicted that a desire to stay healthy would become such a crazy flashpoint in society? And yet here we are, a new reality set within this old battle between the inevitability of the future vs. those who want to preserve the past. The old battle now has real new consequences.
We all watch this realty play out not just on the world stage, but in the actions, behaviours and opinions of people who are around us. In my own case, I’ve been witnessing situations with a crazy desire to ‘return to normal’ when there is no such thing anymore. There seems to be some ill-fated desire with people stating that it is time ‘to go back to where we were’ – and its not just a bizarre sentiment that bears no logic, but a decision that now comes with real life risks.
Here’s an interesting fact about the future now unfolding around us – some people are now coming to judge the moral and ethical values of the people they know and meet, based on whether those people choose to spew potentially deadly venom from their breath, or not. I can honestly say I never predicted that as a trend!
Fascinating times. Here’s what I know though – In the race to the future, the logic of science always wins! I think the life expectancy of Fred Flintstone, being implanted in an era of ignorance and stupidity, was dramatically shortened. And that’s a trend we can probably predict with certainty going forward. But George, bearing a degree of intelligence, did everything he could to avoid hanging out with George.
Reflections : On Being a Happy Father On this Day!
Today is a Father’s Day of staggering joy – found in the accomplishments of my sons as they see success from all the hard work they’ve put in towards following the passion of their purpose. It seems they were just babies – they are now grown men launching into a future of unlimited opportunity and certain success! I am too overjoyed for words, but I will try.
It’s beyond thrilling to know that Willie will start a new position tomorrow for a construction engijneering/project management firm as “UAV Division Manager.” After demo flights, numerous meetings and discussions, and a lot of back and forth, the company has asked him to essentially come in and establish a drone division that the organization can use as a platform for growth. Essentially, a startup within an established firm, taking the concepts of his small company onto a larger launchpad. Willie has worked tremendously hard to build up his drone company, really wanting to carve out a path in this explosive new industry. His efforts were so significant that it drew the attention of this organization who were determined that his vision of the future would ‘take flight,’ so to speak! The chance of a lifetime! On the side? Willie has inherited my love for exploring all-things-geek, his most recent project being a ‘smart garden.’ Ask him the moisture level in his back garden, and he’ll pull out his phone and tell you!
And Tom! He just received his Certified Financial Planner designation almost 3 years to the nose after graduating university and immediately starting on a career path in the wealth management industry. Most people in the industry take 5 or 10 years to get this globally recognized designation; his determination compressed that to the bare minimum. “Driven” does not begin to describe him. The last 3 years have seen a flood of exams, studying, courses, and .. and in the midst of this, achieving success with a 70.3 Ironman event, a few half-marathons and so much more. It is a marvel to watch him in action as he counsels elderly and young clients in assessing their futures, strategizing their actions and thinking through their goals. Knowing that he has found his life path by helping others manage their own is a wonderful treasure. Small point – given his inherent drive to succeed, I had decided I would let him win most golf matches so as to not deflate him. (-;
Working behind the scenes with incredible determination, incomparable love, and astonishing self-sacrifice is my wife of 31 years, Christa. She essentially tossed away a career on a trajectory towards opportunity to focus on our family, giving up everything to help with the success of my own initiatives and the growth and focus on my sons. Incomparable love is defined in the outcome of such dedication.
In spite of the challenging conditions in which we find ourselves in todays’ pandemic oriented world, there couldn’t be a more astonishing impactful focus on joy and hope to be found.
I am a happy father on this day!
Interactive Leadership Topics for Your Post-Pandemic World: Battle Tested Strategies Delivered from a World Class Studio!
Right now, you need insight on your world redefined for the next 10 years; leadership strategies to deal with your new ambiguity, volatility, complexity and uncertainty; and battle tested strategies and action plans to get you there.
This video outlines the 3 interactive virtual talks I will be delivering to global organizations eager to move forward. In previous downturns, organizations like Disney, Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, Yum! Brands and Nestle brought me in for this insight.
And the video itself will give you insight on what happens when you line up world class insight with a world class virtual broadcast studio.
So watch it and move forward.
Or don’t. Crawl back into your zone of uncertainty and hide.
Here are the 3 virtual talks you need RIGHT NOW.
https://jimcarroll.com/keynote_topics/our-world-in-2030-the-post-pandemic-trends-that-will-redefine-your-future/
Daily Inspiration: “Innovate! Learn to release the handful of creative lightning stuck inside your head!”
“Innovate! Learn to release the handful of creative lightning stuck inside your head!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
I was out for an early round of golf one morning, and managed to find myself first out of the starters block.18 holes in but 2 hours and 4 minutes! A runaway rabbit!
Since I was on my own, I fired up my favourite online music source, Radio Paradise – it’s a fascinating, eclectic odd mix of all kinds of different music. And while coming up hole #16, the song Long Way Home by Norah Jones came on.
I was already deep in thought during my round about the taping I was going to do that afternoon in my home broadcast studio – as I sometimes will comment to people, I sometimes get lost in the thoughts rolling around in my head. I’ve been trying to come up with more creative ‘set design,’ tighter, more focused messages, innovative concepts in delivery. My stage is but 6×10, and I’ve got to learn to squeeze a lot of big creative insight into but a small creative box.
And then came the line in the song:
Got a handful of lightening….
That’s it!
I stopped, grabbed my phone, and quickly typed in the phrase. Yet what is often said and what I hear is often very, very different – my wife would tell you that with certainty – because I swear I heard the phrase ‘handful of creative lightning.’ When I looked up the song later, there was no ‘creative’ to be found.
It was one of those phrases that I thought captured the essence of innovation … and creativity.
Creativity? At some moment in time, we all have it – some with music, others with art, many more with writing or their ability to tinker with mechanical tools and do something magical. Creativity is one of the greatest gifts that we might be imbued with, and yet it is often hard to find, impossible to generate, blazing fast in how it might come out of nowhere, and frustrating when it disappears.
Worse yet, when it does suddenly come out of no where, it can be difficult to release it, grab it, keep it, remember it.
In other words, it can often get stuck inside your head.
But when it makes it’s fleeting appearance, it’s magical!
And that’s why, if you ever see me on a golf course suddenly stopping in the middle of the 16th hole, typing madly into my phone, it’s because I am, for but a moment, releasing a small bit of the magic creative lightning that often seems to be stuck inside my head.
Daily Inspiration: “….we are now surrounded by those who are ‘massively, irrationally delusional!’”
“Simply ‘reopen the economy’ and get things ‘back to normal?’ Clearly, we are now surrounded by those who are ‘massively, irrationally delusional!’” – Futurist Jim Carroll
I always thought the movie “Idiocracy” was a fictional piece of Hollywood imagination. I never knew it was actually a documentary, produced far ahead of its place in time.
It’s beyond fascinating what is happening in the US right now. Back in 2017, I wrote a long blog post. I guess I need to update it. There are a few more items that need to go on the list.
It’s pretty obvious that in the US – and in other parts of the world – there are decisions that it is better to be reckless than to be cautious, impractical vs.logical, wishful vs realistic.
The result? The reality TV show that was once the world’s most respected country is becoming a bit of a joke. And it is becoming really, really difficult to watch – because people are dying.
And yet, this purposeful avoidance of the reality of science is not just happening at a national leadership level. It’s widespread: situations where people are being forced to return to work, in conditions that aer clearly unsafe or in which such a return is clearly unnecessary; leadership who displays an immature impatience to ‘return to work’ and get back to what it was like ‘before’ when we know we aren’t going back there for a long, long time; decisions made on a belief that all will ‘be fine’ by the fall of 2020 or the spring of 2021.
As a futurist, it is an ongoing fascination to watch the irrational delusion that surrounds me. As a husband, a parent, a friend – it is terrifying.
When history is written years from now on the response of leaders, nations and economies to the global pandemic, it’s pretty clear what we’ll see. Because we are seeing the results of it right now.
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