Daily Inspiration: “Live like you ski! Carve a path through constantly changing conditions!”

“Live like you ski! Carve a path through constantly changing conditions!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

There’s a lot going on in this screengrab – it’s from my Notable Keynotes: Lessons in Leadership for our Eventual Post-Pandemic Recovery series. Specifically around my keynote some years back for the Swiss Innovation Forum.

What’s the theme? Skiing obviously! As a late-in-life skier, I’ve taken a tremendous amount of future-oriented innovation and trends insight through the sport, and this show blends together the themes I covered on stage in Zurich, what I learned from throwing myself downhill at the age of 40, and what it means for our future ability to navigate a complex post-Covid economy. There’s a lot going on!

But it’s also another new step in the virtual broadcast studio – what’s real, and what’s fake? It all began when my wife and business partner – she’s been working with me in the home office for 25+ years – suddenly heard the banging of walls and the scraping of stair railings two days ago as I dragged a large chair from the upstairs down to the studio.

What the heck is he up to now, she must have wondered! But it’s not like this is a new thing – in fact, I had a blog post a few years ago that summarizes things:

10 Things to keep in Mind When Loving a Highly Creative Person

And so moments later, she was fully involved in my new project – you simply can’t get in the way of crazy creativity!

What was up? I had a new virtual studio backdrop involving a snow and winter theme that fit the concepts that I would cover in the Swiss Innovation Forum storyline – since the entire show is built around the concept of skiing. And yet, when she had a look at what I had, it was pretty stark with just a chair – it needed some dressing up. Soon, a snowman and a poinsettia were added to the mix, camera angles were adjusted, and a new creativity opportunity was unleashed!

I am getting the sense that I am on the edge of a cliff of opportunity in the studio, now with the ability to combine a virtual concept with physical additions! You might consider some moments of sympathy for my wife going forward. This is going to be epic! She has a new addition to her job description – set designer!

The Swiss Innovation keynote and yesterdays’ show? It’s right here – but I’ll also be posting an entire blog post about it later in the day.