“If you aren’t paying attention, the business model disruption that surrounds you might quickly turn into business model destruction!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Keynote: “Aligning to Velocity: Key Trends and Strategies for the Era of Acceleration”
This October, I’ll keynote the MacKay CEO Forum 2017 Edge Summit in Vancouver, with about 500 CEO’s in the room. I’ll take a look at what happens when accelerating technology trends result in every company become a technology company.
I just wrote up a new keynote topic description, modified from a few of my other topic outlines.
Aligning to Velocity: Key Trends and Strategies for the Era of Acceleration
We have a new vocabulary! Self-driving cars, 3d printing, crowdfunding, the sharing economy, blockchains, personal drones, swarm-bots, smart dust, vertical farms, the Internet of Things, cognitive computing, smart factories, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, quantum computing, intelligent farms, smart clothing! What seemed to be science fiction just a few short years ago has become a reality today, as time compresses and the future accelerates.
Take a voyage with Futurist Jim Carroll into the world of tomorrow, today, as he outlines the key trends, technologies, ideas and initiatives that are transforming our world around us at hypersonic speed. A world in which the speed of change impacting every company and every industry is increasingly driven by the speed of technology and Silicon Valley hyper-innovation. One that demands faster innovation, agile response, flexible strategies, and most important, the ability to ‘think big, start small, scale fast.’
For the last 25 years, Jim Carroll has been speaking to and advising some of the worlds largest organizations on the trends that will impact them. With a client list that ranges from NASA to Disney, the Swiss Innovation Forum to the National Australia Bank, Johnson and Johnson to Godiva Chocolates, Jim has had a front row seat to the massive change being encountered in industries worldwide, and deep insight into the leadership mindset of organizations as they adapt to the era of acceleration.
In just a few short years, it will the year 2025, and the world of tomorrow will be your reality of today. Are you ready for what comes next?
Daily Inspiration: “There’s more to you than you think there is!”
“There’s more to you than you think there is!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
‘’ I was doing a stage/sound check in Las Vegas, and the AV guys were doing some testing of their video setup. The opportunity for a fun little shot was too big to pass up! The next morning, I spoke to 2,000 people about self-driving cars, business model disruption and more.’’
Article: “In the New World of 21st Century Manufacturing: Are You George Jetson or Fred Flintstone?”
The folks at the Precision Metalforming Association were putting together their 75th anniversary issue of Metalforming magazine, and wanted to share with their readers that it’s better to align yourself to the trends of the future rather than the opportunities of the past.
And they found me! We had a long interview, which appeared in their July publication. Parts are reprinted below.
I do A LOT of manufacturing keynotes. The reality is, tomorrows’ manufacturing is unlike that of today.
You can choose to adopt to the future, or wish you were in the past. So — are you George, or Fred?
2017 and Beyond by Brad Kuvin
A futurist and expert in trends and innovation examines what he refers to as the “modern-day leadership dilemma”–heading toward the Jetsons when you have a bunch of Flintstones around!
Futurist Jim Carroll noted in a blog post earlier this year that “while the majority of my audience appreciates a whirlwind ride into the future, there are others who just wish the future would go away… Leaders today must steer their organizations into a fast-paced future—through the shoals of disruption, the emergence of new competitors, technology, automation and other challenges—while understanding that there is a core group that will do little to embrace that change. It’s the Flintstones and the Jetsons, in one workplace!”
Carroll has been providing his insights and speaking to organizations about the future for more than 25 years.MetalForming asked him to help us commemorate PMA’s 75 anniversary by sharing his manufacturing outlook over the next 5 to 10 years, and explaining why it’s critical that we embrace and address the change that’s coming.
At the crux is the increasing need, he says, to react more quickly than ever to changing/evolving customer preferences, and the shortening of product lifecycles. Manufacturers must be driven to react quickly to new demands and requirements. In the shop this plays out as more tooling adjustments and changeovers, more flexible scheduling and the ability to react to a slew of design changes.
Upside-Down Innovation
This represents a complete turnaround from how manufacturers currently think about doing things, Carroll says. And, the impact ripples through the supply chain. Suppliers must, for example, become rapid prototypers, and master the iterative design process.
“We used to be able to design a product, build a model, test it and then launch production,” Carroll says. “Now it’s design, test, redesign, test, redesign, etc…an iterative process that, thanks to disruptive technologies such as additive manufacturing, allow suppliers to efficiently optimize product designs and, ultimately, provide better-performing products.”
For suppliers living in this world of upside-down innovation, “it’s critical, looking toward the future, to become unstuck from the reactive mode,” Carroll notes. “Instead, suppliers must become active partners with their customers in this iterative design and rapid-prototyping cycle. Be more active and less reactive, and look for opportunities to innovate.”
Carroll’s above-referenced blog postnotes that “there remain folks who just refuse to participate in the inevitability of the future, and that can be a significant leadership, strategic challenge…Many people today feel that the world is moving way too fast for them, and that the pace of change is overwhelming.”
In a recent poll of seminar attendees, Carroll found that many organizations do in fact feel overwhelmed by change, and that many executives believe that they don’t really need to do anything to deal with it.
“In other words,” Carroll says, “they believe that the future can be safely ignored. I use the ‘Jetsons-meets-the-Flintstones’ concept as a joke, but it’s not—this is a real and substantive leadership issue. As a CEO or senior executive, how are you going to align a fast-paced future—one full of challenge and opportunity—to an organization where a significant number of people don’t think that the future will impact them?”
Daily Inspiration: “Autonomous vehicle technology, sensors and the Internet of Things, 3D printing and mass customization….disruptors defining our future….”
“Autonomous vehicle technology, sensors and the Internet of Things, 3D printing and mass customization, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence & machine learning, cooperative robotics and swarmbots, crowd-thinking, rapid prototyping and fast, iterative R&D! These are the disruptors defining our future. Are you in, or are you out?” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Keynote: Fin-tech and disruption, Finastra annual user group meeting, Orlando, Florida
This company is a software vendor to the community bank and credit union industry – and naturally, that’s what I zoned in on. With a little bit of the Jetsons to boot! (While all of my talks are highly customize to the audience and issues at hand, I also have 25 years of stage craft experience, and know how to have fun with a crowd!. In these days of mobile device obsessions, you need to know how to work an audience and engage them.)
GET IN TOUCH
Jim's Facebook page
You'll find Jim's latest videos on Youtube
Mastodon. What's on Jim's mind? Check his feed!
LinkedIn - reach out to Jim for a professional connection!
Flickr! Get inspired! A massive archive of all of Jim's daily inspirational quotes!
Instagram - the home for Jim's motivational mind!