Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership – “Be the spark that ignites the flame of change!”

“Be the spark that ignites the flame of change!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Most people have a problem.

In fact, most people know that they aren’t quite ready for all the change that they are faced with in their future, yet know that everything they are involved with – their business model, skills, product or services, knowledge – will be significantly different. With that being the case, they also know that they aren’t very good at innovative ways of dealing with this dilemma because they know they’ve got a bunch of innovation excuses in the way!

That’s the conclusion I’ve come to with some 15 years’ worth of very specific insight offered up by the audience members in my keynote presentations. This means that most people are crying out for someone to give them a pathway them out of this ‘change wilderness‘ – they are looking for someone to lead the way. They are looking for someone who can ignite the flames of innovation to move forward through this change dilemma – they need a spark to get them going.

That spark could be you.

What’s the backstory here? For 15 years now, most of my keynotes have included several live polling questions – people respond using their smartphones. It’s a pretty cool system, with the results coming in live on the screen as I talk the audience through the questions and technology, providing the high degree of interactivity demanded by today’s audience. It also allows me to gauge the mood and attitude of the audience in real-time.

In addition to some highly customized questions, there are usually four key questions built into every keynote – and I keep getting the same consistent answer from every single audience, regardless of industry.

First, how well are they dealing with the ‘fast future?’ Not very well at all!

Even so, they know that everything around them is going to undergo some pretty dramatic change.

With that being the case, they also know they aren’t very good at this whole innovation thing.

Why is that the case? Because they are surrounded by or find themselves using all the regular excuses!

Did I mention that almost every single organization has provided the same consistent answer for every single question for the last 15 years? With some years involving upwards of 60 to 80 events, we’re talking close to 1,000 presentations!

People want someone to lead them out of the innovation wilderness, and want a guiding light to lead the way.

Be the spark that lights that flame!