JimCarroll

“Only fools suffer from the sin of complacency!” – #Futurist Jim Carroll

When the Utah League of Cities and Towns Utah League of Cities and Town, they ran this in the brochure copy:

“Jim Carroll’s job is to make people feel uncomfortable …. maybe even a bit confused. Just when you think you’ve got things figured out, Jim probably sees it differently. He has a knack for predicting trends and change, and helping business and government leaders see where things are going, and how they can not only adapt to change, but lead it.”

In most cases, the client runs brochure copy past me before it goes to print, but in this case, for various logistics reasons, I didn’t see it in advance.

When I first read it, I thought to myself, “hmmm, does that sound right?” I thought perhaps it might put a bit of a negative spin on what I do.

Yet the more I thought about it, I realized it was a great description.

When it comes to the future, far too many people can be complacent about the trends that are going to impact them, and avoid the type of creative ideas that they need to pursue in order to keep up with the pace of change.

If you are too comfortable right now with the future, then you probably aren’t thinking hard enough about the trends that are going to impact you. You need to be scared; nervous; prepared to accept that things are going to change, and ready for action.

That’s why you should always remember the comments of Andy Grove of Intel: “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”

So maybe being a little uncomfortable and confused is a good state of mind to be in!

“#BeTheNorth – The world needs more Canada!” – #Futurist Jim Carroll

It’s a fun morning to wake up in Canada.

Toronto, in fact! 

We’re NBA champions!  Go Raptors! 

I’ll admit I didn’t make it to the end of the game. But around midnight, out here in the suburbs, I woke up & could hear the cars honking, people cheering. I knew #WeTheNorth had prevailed in Game 6.

I don’t know if you know, but there were apparently 57 locations across the country with massive ‘Jurassic Parks’ set up so that people could watch the game. They are named after the square outside the main stadium where the Toronto Raptors play. 

Over the last few weeks, Canada has come together in one of those unique ways to cheer on the single Canadian city that they most often dislike. It’s been a pretty wonderful experience. 

In my suburban city of Mississauga, with a population close to 825,000 people, it is estimated that almost 50,000 people showed up to “Jurassic Park West.”

Study the crowds at any of these spontaneous celebrations. You’ll witness one of the most diverse populations of any area in the world outside of New York and London. We’ve got the largest Sri Lankan population outside of Sri Lanka; a massive Indian population; an overwhelming presence of every nation from the Caribbean; a Polish community with delis that would put Poland to shame.

We are wonderfully ethnically diverse, and we mostly all get along. Our current hero is an Indian-Canadian named Nav – known as the SuperFan – who has been to every Raptors game since day 1, 24 years ago. He’s our current representative Canadian!

I often take my Canadian story to the stage at my events on the world stage. 

In a globe racked by hatred, fear & ethnic division, we remain a strong beacon of hope & inspiration to others who cling to the powerful human ideal that we are better together than we are apart.

That’s not to say we don’t have our challenges and problems. We have racists on the fringe; hatred waiting in the wings; intolerance bubbling to the surface. 

We do our best to beat it down.

If you want some inspiration and hope to start your Friday, find the photos of our nation cheering on our #Raptors – that’s Canada!

#WeTheNorth