Daily Inspiration: “World-class innovators possess a daring need for speed, disrupting themselves before they are disrupted!” – 

“World-class innovators possess a daring need for speed, disrupting themselves before they are disrupted!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Thought leadership! That’s what drew the attention of Hitachi-Vantara for a major client conference they were organizing in Scottsdale, Arizona on this day in 2018.  A leading global hi-tech firm, they were one of the dozens who, over the years, arranged to bring me in to open these events with a message about the future, trends, and disruptive innovation.

While this was a solo, one-off event, many hi-tech companies would also arrange to bring me in for a series of events (AKA ‘roadshows’) in different cities as a key part of their overall messaging. Often this would involve their own messaging on new product launches, strategies, or other initiatives. What would draw their attention was the tight link between what I was observing in terms of disruptive trends, and their own strategies as a partner to global 1000 organizations.

Customer and client events? I’ve done for them for Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, Intel, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor, Oracle … gosh, I’ve been at this for so long that my first official ‘road show’ was for Digital Equipment – DEC! – on a 7-city cross country roadshow in Canada in 1995. Can you say Vax? (It’s a different type!) I even have the original thank you letter!

I’m now noticing a trend in which organizations are realizing that is the vast disruption of Covid, they need up update their strategies for their clients, and the idea of road-show and client events is coming back, both in virtual and hybrid forms. If you aren’t in front of your customers with your strategy, you are nothing but noise!

For this particular event, the theme that caught their imagination was my “What Do World Class Innovators Do That Others Don’t Do?” topic. It was an original strategy structure that I designed for the global professional services firm Deloitte. Aware that the world was changing faster than ever before, they asked me to crystallize my thinking into a concise overview of what differentiated such organizations.

The result was a wonderful custom video project that they released, and which still draws significant attention on my Web site to this day.

Are you really accomplishing great things in the era of acceleration – when the future belongs to those who are fast? Or are you a bit performer, a marginal success, failing to rise to your potential? A short time ago, before I went on stage as the opening keynote speaker for the massive Microsoft FutureNow event, I filmed – in one take – a clip that outlined what it is that ‘world-class innovators do that others don’t do.’

Give it a watch! And ask yourself – are you keeping up, or falling behind?