So, we did a thing at home.
Leadership Keynotes: Hot Topics for 2023!
Here’s what clients have been asking for as they align to this new era of volatility and challenge.
Keynote Case Study: Black & Veatch — Connected Transformation in Infrastructure
At Black & Veatch’s first in-person global leadership meeting since Covid, Jim Carroll challenged senior leaders to think beyond incrementalism. The session focused on how infrastructure, energy, water, telecom, roads and bridges are becoming more connected, more digital and more strategically complex.
The Challenge: Legacy infrastructure assumptions are being disrupted by connectivity, new materials, AI and the need for faster modernization.
The Keynote: “CEO Transformation Leadership Meeting.”
The Message: Transformation now means connected infrastructure, new construction methods, better materials and leadership capable of moving beyond yesterday’s assumptions.
Six Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure
- Smart Infrastructure. Sensors, software and connectivity are turning assets into intelligent systems.
- AI and Automation. Intelligence and automation are changing how projects are designed, built and managed.
- Advanced Materials. New materials are improving performance, resilience and sustainability.
- Water Resilience. Data-driven approaches are reshaping how water systems are planned and operated.
- Energy Transition. Renewables, storage and grid modernization are redefining infrastructure investment.
- Digital Twins. Virtual models allow teams to simulate, monitor and optimize complex assets.
The Black & Veatch session framed infrastructure transformation as an immediate leadership issue. The future belongs to organizations that build faster insight into physical systems.
Explore more keynote case studies.
Daily Inspiration: Innovation – “Fight your fear, not your future!”
“Fight your fear, not your future!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
2020 was a pretty fearful year, wasn’t it? My Daily Inspiration that Hallowe’en wasn’t terribly inspirational!
In any event, let’s focus on fear!
When it comes to the future, you might fail. Things might not go well. There will be things you will regret. Unanticipated detours. Sudden surprises. Twists and turns that will challenge your path. Setbacks and slams. Defeat, frustration, loss, collapse. Pretty depressing stuff!
But if you focus on those things, your fear of the future will hold you back, because you will start to fight for your future. The fight-flight-freeze response kicks into high gear – our genetics has wired us for inaction in the face of the unknown. That’s why you need to fight your fear of what comes next – because you can choose to fail, or you can choose to try to win. Concentrate too much on the former, and you might not spend enough time on the latter.
The problem with fear is that it is a barrier to your future.
Fear of new ideas can stall your progress.
Fear of the unknown can cost you opportunities.
Fear of the unknown can cause you to misfocus on the wrong stuff.
Fear of uncertainty can cause you to waste time trying to chase certainty.
Fear of making a mistake will make you take fewer risks which can be a bad thing from an innovation perspective.
Fear of making the wrong decision can accelerate your aggressive indecision.
Fear of change can cause you to become stuck in a rut.
As I will often say on stage, “people fear that which they do not know.”
All of these things will put you into a mindset where you are fighting the future rather than trying to align to what it presents with potential. And the thing about fighting the future is that the future always wins.
That’s why it’s important to try to abandon your fear, and focus on the future, not fight it. Spend more time trying to figure out where you are going in order to bandish fear through clarity. Understand the trends that provide peril and potential in order to reduce your worry and concern. Invest in trends insight so that you can better understand why you need not fear what comes next.
Fear is your foe, not the future!
Oh, and here’s a happy clown.
Happy Halloween!
Daily Inspiration: Leadership – “Momentum matters more than motivation!”
“Momentum matters more than motivation!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
It’s a heck of a thing for a guy who sends out a Daily Inspiration that perhaps we should spend less time on motivational fluff, and more time on simply moving forward. But it’s my post, so why not! Because it’s true! A stalled force achieves no goal. A static object sees no success. An inert object gains no wins. Someone who is stuck will never see accomplishments. It’s better to be moving forward than to be standing still!
I will often address this issue on stage, such as in this short clip from a keynote in London UK a few weeks back:
Motivational speakers can play an important role, but they won’t necessarily get you into the future fast. I’ve addressed this here some time back in a previous post:
“The message from a motivational speaker is like Chinese food – after an hour, you’ve lost your inspiration. But my futurist insight will excite your imagination for a lifetime!”
As an aside, one of the most challenging things for me is when people ask me what I do for a living.
“I’m a speaker” I explain.
“Oh, a motivational speaker?”
“Not really.”
I then try to delicately explain what it is a futurist does….. Which, from one perspective, is working hard to push people into action so they can get to where they are going in better shape than they might otherwise be – by understanding what it is going to be like when they get there! That’s why I’m big on momentum and action. Here’s what you should be thinking in terms of action steps each and every day – challenge yourself through momentum and avoid inaction:
- move forward: adopt the mindset that you aren’t going to fix the problems of the future by doing what you’ve done in the past.
- be realistic and don’t wait for the big win: stop looking for home runs because they can set you back: set goals that can be met and move towards them
- step up your game: is your risk culture inappropriate for a fast-paced economy, or is it holding you back?
- always accelerate: find and avoid the stall points
- avoid “momentum failure“: that’s what happens when the momentum that is necessary to innovate is clear, but nothing happens because a decision cannot be made.
- chase action: avoid stalling
- avoid aggressive indecision: make decisions and get going!
- stop seeking clarity: be prepared to move with fuzzy insight
- pause less: recognize waiting won’t work
- challenge your speed: check your velocity – are you moving fast enough?
- look around: are your competitors moving faster than you?
- reboot yourself: if you’ve crashed, do a reset and start again
- check your speed: after all, as I have long explained, the future belongs to those who are fast!
I’m not disparaging the need for a motivational message – being inspired each & every day is a critical part of how people move forward in a complex world. Heck, here I am with my morning coffee putting together this ‘daily inspirational quote.’ But having said that, over a 29-year time span I’ve been to a lot of conferences & have seen a LOT of motivational speakers. Some are great – but some carry the same, tired, canned message. It’s warmed over, repurposed, the same old. In an hour, you’ve forgotten what the message was all about.
But my key message is simple.
Get moving.
Because the future is going to happen in the very next moment.
It’s yours to own!
Do it now!
Video: “If you aren’t thinking big enough, your future is going to be pretty small!”
If you aren’t thinking big enough, your future is going to be pretty small.
Also, it means you aren’t doing things right!
I am always stunned by how many people don’t get it.
On stage, Kansas City, Sept 2022
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