Keynote : Zurich Insurance – Post-Pandemic Trends, Lucerne, Switzerland

Our World in 2030: The Post-Pandemic Trends That Redefine Your Future

All of us know that the ultimate impact of the global pandemic has been an acceleration of the many disruptive trends that were already well underway pre-Covid. Clearly, the global pandemic has changed the axis of our universe – what was disruptive before is now potentially massively transformative. But how can we best align to this new and complex future? Futurist Jim Carroll will take us on a voyage of 3 key issues – exactly how the pandemic shifted the future; what impact has it had on the timing of that future; and what unique new risk management issues might we now be facing going forward as a result?

The first big issue involves an ‘acceleration of the acceleration gap.’ Pre-pandemic, organizations were already dealing with a world of business model disruption, the acceleration of technology, the faster evolution of key skills, and other critical issues – and had to work hard to close the gap and keep up. Now, in the harsh light of our new world, one thing is clear – the future is even more complex than it was before, and even faster. In that context, a simple fact has emerged – there is a massive and growing gap between the speed of change and the ability of organizations to keep up. Bridging this gap is critical to future success – and the significance of your inability to bridge the gap is even bigger than it was before.

Second, the timing of the arrival of the future has shifted in fundamentally different ways as a result of the global pandemic. Getting the timing right has become an increasingly important part of aligning to disruptive trends and opportunities. The future today is guided by certain truisms – it happens slowly, but then, all at once; is suddenly shifted with a reality that volatility has become a new normal, and trends that once seemed far-fetched can suddenly take on a new significance in the light of new acceleration.

Third, the acceleration of trends and volatility with the timing of their arrival has led to new issues to think about when it comes to managing complex new forms of accelerated risk. Whether driven by hyper-connectivity, rapid innovation, the more rapid adoption of new business models, or faster technological evolution, it’s pretty clear we will continue to witness the rapid emergence of new forms of risk amidst increasingly complex business market turmoil.

All of this is happening as we head into a world that almost certainly involves new economic volatility and an economic recession. History has taught us that organizations that avoid the trap of aggressive indecision that is driven by economic uncertainty are those that thrive with an inevitable upturn. Jim will share with us the powerful lessons that come from focusing on the future despite lingering economic uncertainty.