JimCarroll

“It’s time to capitalize on the speed achieved – because what comes next is even faster!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Later this afternoon, I’ll be doing a ‘town hall’ talk for medical, administrative and executive staff of a major hospital / healthcare group, with a view to taking them for a brief moment into the future. Subsequent to that, I will spend some time with the Board of Directors to walk them through scenarios as trends as they commence a long term strategic planning process.

I must say, it’s certainly nice to be back at this type of thing!

First up in my ‘slide deck’ which is now a ‘stage set?’ Clearly, an emotional and unequivocal shoutout to all of them in the room. As a Canadian, we often take abuse from other countries for the structure of our healthcare system, but we know we won’t lose our home if we go in for care; and our Covid-19 response has been far better than most. We are all indebted to every single person in this remarkable industry, and I will emphatically make that point.

With that said, as we still find ourselves in the murky waters of the pandemic tsunami, we need to be thinking about how to capitalize on the remarkable things that have been learned in the last six months. The healthcare industry has, like many, moved at a speed which is simply remarkable, which I think is one of the longest lasting transformative trends of the last period of time.

Hospitals talked about virtual services as something they might explore in the future – and suddenly, they had to do it. The medical world talked about the opportunities of ‘medical Twitter’ and fast moving online collaborative networks – and then had to do something about it. The healthcare industry knew that patient disinformation was becoming a significant issue – but suddenly found itself having to confront one of the most tragic eras of disbelief in human history.

All of these trends – and many more – happened at a speed which is simply blinding. In this industry and in many industries, it might not hurt to take a breath, pause for a moment, and think about what we have learned, and how this can provide us a path to progress in the future.

I’m looking forward to the day!

“Leadership failures? To their credit, they’ve been consistent in exceeding our increasingly lowered expectations!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Some days, the quotes just write themselves. I’ve got others in an email folder, and will often browse them in the morning while setting some context for the day. Today, this one, which I saved way back on January 2, seemed particularly apt today.

To their credit, they’ve been consistent with meeting my lowered expectations.

It needed just a little bit of tweaking. And then magically, I found the photo in a recent video which fit the mood – both my own, and many rational people around the world today.

Aside from my political commentary, I have seen a lot of incompetent leaders in a lot of companies through my 25 years on stage. Often, my guidance on how to innovate, how to align to disruptive trends, or what to do to align to a faster future, are based on precisely opposite actions to what I’ve seen with these sorry excuses for leadership.

I am amazed that in this day and age, companies and people still buy into the myth of leadership infallibility. But as they say, ‘here we are.’

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear your mask.