JimCarroll

“Forget your past! Clear your cache!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

The barrier that exists with many a successful future comes from focusing on where you’ve been, rather than on where you are going. Your biggest problem is that you don’t remember what we told you about your future. Hit the ‘clear cache’ button, OK?

I was reminded of this fact over the weekend while reading about the upcoming car summit – there is a massive shortage of computer chips, and it is having a dramatic impact on automakers. Consider this headline from the Washington Post: “White House to hold another semiconductor summit with industry leaders as chip shortage worsens. (If the supply pinch drags on, the economic impact is likely to grow, as auto factories remain idle, affecting auto suppliers, dealers, and other sectors.)

D’oh – it’s not like we didn’t tell you that the industry was shifting, that cars were becoming computers, hi-tech rolling platforms of intelligent connectivity on wheels. Electric is the new energy, programming is the new skill set, and connectivity is the new horsepower. Just take a look at my automotive trends section: https://automotive.jimcarroll.com.

But it’s not just the auto industry; every industry is becoming a software-driven industry, a high-tech product platform, and your ability to align to this reality defines your future. Over on VentureBeat, they’ve covered this aspect in an article last week: Global chip shortage affects more than cars.

It’s not like we didn’t tell you that your future was technology-based; how can you find yourself in a situation in which you don’t have an adequate pipeline? Heck, way back in 2000, in my book Lightbulbs to Yottabits, I warned that every industry was becoming a technology industry, driven by connectivity, computers, and code. I carried this theme into my disruptive talk – and wrote it into blog posts such as The Reality of Disruption: (24 Reasons Why Your Company Might Die Before You Get Old). Check points 1, 2, and 3…..

There’s a reason you had me in to visit you at Mercedes Benz, Chrysler, Volvo, Magna International … all of these leadership talks included a clear overview of your hi-tech future.

It’s not like you didn’t know this was coming – so why didn’t you do what you needed to do?

I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s a simple memory error.

So clear your cache.

There’s still time to change the road you’re on.

“There are two types of people in the world right now: those who have to make complex decisions about the pandemic, & armchair scientists. (I’m happy to be neither!)” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Here in Ontario, Canada where I live, we have entered into another ‘stay-at-home’ order. Nothing much changes for me in my reality though – my world has become very small!

Our challenge has been lack of vaccine supply – we have learned a thing or two about globalization and our friends; the stunning exponentiation of variants; and the common attitudes of neglect and complacency that are to be found in every country. The positive news is that our vaccination efforts are finally accelerating, and this should be our last significant bump in the road.

I try not to immerse myself in all the twists and turns of our voyage, but am mostly unsuccessful – and so the other day was watching the press conference where our government was making this latest announcement.

And the same thought ran through my mind, as it has for all those political leaders who actually seem to have some sanity – I would not want to be one of them them.

The process of trying to make decisions in the context of what has gone on during the last year is a thankless task.

(The others? We will know forever they have the stain of shame of blood on their hands.)

And yet, predictably, within hours, along came the naysayers, the armchairs scientist who know better; those who seem to have more expertise than the experts. Individuals who, in the last year, despite a previous history in driving a truck or installing kitchen cabinets,  have sudden newfound expertise in epidemiology, mRNA genomic science, contact tracing, and big data system management! I wish we could bottle up the knowledge factory that has made them such experts so fast! It is awesome!

And I am happy to be neither.

I do not envy many politicians for their jobs. I might not have a lot of respect for some of the decisions they have made – particularly as of late in my home province – but I cannot imagine it to be easy. I am happy to not be one. It is a complex and thankless task.

And on the other hand, I am, oh so tired, of all the cranks, the whiners, folks who know better. I am happy I have avoided becoming a pitiful, sad little human, screaming at my TV, cursing my outrage through Twitter. I cannot imagine the darkness that has invaded the soul of these people as they fuel their outrage into some ill-founded belief that they could do better.

Our future can’t come soon enough.

 “Life is often built upon a series of difficult lessons scripted into a complex path of eventual success!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Or putting it another way – success comes from a series of painful lessons built upon accumulated failure punctured by brief moments of brilliant success. With that concept in mind, golf must be starting soon! It is! Despite going into another stay-at-home order here in Ontario, Canada, as the number of variant cases spike and ICU’s are overwhelmed, they have determined our ability to social distance during a round makes us worthy of continuance. Yay!

Onwards. The genesis for todays’ quote comes from my good friend Nichols Ingel – he’s one of a few individuals whose story I explore in my upcoming book on ‘reinvention.’ A few weeks ago, he made this comment on his Facebook feed:

We can learn from yesterday and plan for tomorrow, but all we can affect is today, just today.

That hit home because it captures the powerlessness that many of us might feel when confronted by the complexities of an uncertain future. From that, I rewrote it to my liking:

“What you learned yesterday will guide your plan tomorrow – but you need to act today!”

I actually built my quote around the idea – and started writing this blog post. But my version seemed trite, predictable.

But as I wrote about Nicks’ journey moments ago, I observed that “his life is built upon a series of life lessons scripted into a complex path of eventual success.”

As they say, Bingo! We have a winner!

I went back and revised my thinking.

The idea fit my mood this morning as I reflected upon all the work I’ve put into the last year while working hard to build out my virtual studio. Yesterday, I cut a short video that showed the dozens of different stage sets I’ve used while exploring my capabilities in this new world.

Yup, that’s a lot of difficult lessons right there. Maybe leading to eventual success, although to be honest, it doesn’t feel terribly successful right now. The world seems to have determined that it will soon be back to normal, and it’s 2019 all over again. I certainly have different views. That’s a whole other story!

But there you have it – this morning was a complex voyage but with worthy results!