JimCarroll

The Story Behind the Picture: “A Child Is Alive Today Who Will Jump Into A Flying Car In the Future!”

April 16, 2018 by JimCarroll

“The future happens slowly, and then, all at once!” – Kevin Kelly, Founding Editor at Wired magazine.

That, in a nutshell, was the modern day leadership dilemma that I presented to the CEO and senior team of a major company in the US financial services industry, at their corporate meeting last Monday in Dallas. Before I met with them, I put together my early morning “motivational quote of the day” and came up with this observation.

(Learn more about these daily quotes here – and take part by following me on various social networks!)

I put the quote together that morning based on my slide deck for the day: I was covering the key trends which would impact the world of insurance, banking, wealth management, investment advisory services and more going forward. And here was the big issue I was challenging them with that was the sub context of my talk – when it comes to the future, the big challenge is not necessarily knowing what the trends are — it’s increasingly, ‘when are they going to happen?’

We might have any number of trends which will impact financial services going forward – artificial intelligence, blockchain, disintermediation, robo-advisors, the acceleration of expectations, the emergence of new competitors, social-network driven wealth management and more. Yet, when might any of these trends become real and have a significant, disruptive impact? That can be a bigger issue than the trends themselves!

Consider one of the most overwhelming and challenging trends in the industry — will direct broker relationships survive in a world in which consumers are doing more and more online? It’s a trend known as “disintermediation,” and I’ve been speaking about it on stage for close to 25 years. Read my post from 10 years ago about the potential for change in the wealth management industry, when I did a talk for the National Australia Bank!

Daily Inspiration: “Simplicity is the new complexity!”

April 16, 2018 by JimCarroll

“Simplicity is the new complexity!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

We live in the world of the Google search box and the iPhone touch screen – and we have little patience for anything that takes more than a moment to figure out. This has implications for everything we do, from how we consume information, to how we learn, to how we exercise!

I often raise the point on stage that today’s consumer has little patience, a zero-second attention span, and a desire to do things in a rush. The challenge for my my clients – many Fortune 500 organizations – is that their customer facing systems need to talk to big, complex, vast back end systems. The result is a series of screens that are complex to navigate, difficult to understand and impossible to finish. Have you ever tried to apply for a loan or mortgage online? Every box that you don’t finish seems to scream at you!
The same attitude bleeds into our lives off-screen. If we are given instructions on how to do something, it better be fast and straightforward. If we ask a stranger for directions, we’ll barely take the time to get past the second step. If we’ve got a gym routine explained to us, well….. Attention spans are challenged. Simplicity is the response!

Daily Inspiration: “A tradition is a routine that binds us to our future!”

April 14, 2018 by JimCarroll

“A tradition is a routine that binds us to our future!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Keynote: Partners in Building, Houston, Texas – The Future of Residential Construction – AI, Robotics and Disruption

April 13, 2018 by JimCarroll

This company is one fo the most successful, established luxury home builders in the Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee markets. The CEO wanted to find someone to come in to speak to their team — 100 strong – with a focus on the future of homes, neighbourhoods, construction methodologies, materials and more. And, he found me!

Since I didn’t have a photo from this event, Ill take another approach: the photo above is from my daily quote, which I put together just before going to spend my time with them. I had shared with some of their team in advance some of the trends I would cover – in my combined keynote and workshop spanning 3 hours.- and the comment was made that it was pretty scary.

No, it’s not – unless you make it scary. Some people see the future and see a threat – innovators see the same future and see an opportunity!

Pre-Keynote Video: A Sneak Peak of My Topic

Daily Inspiration: “It’s all about just-in-time knowledge: getting the right skills, at the right time, for the right purpose!”

April 13, 2018 by JimCarroll

“It’s all about just-in-time knowledge: getting the right skills, at the right time, for the right purpose!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

‘’Today I’m in Houston with one of the leading luxury home builders in the US, talking about the home, subdivision and neighbourhood 10 years out.

It is one that will involve new building methodologies and new materials, such as windows that generate solar energy. Local community energy micro-grids, and in-home health care monitoring. Drone landing pads on the driveway for package delivery and neighbourhood car sharing garages. Building for manufacturing with assembly as the key methodology, with much of the construction occurring off site.

There is a lot going on, and those who win will be those who align themselves to these trends – and more so, who attain and develop the skills to get them there.

And with that, today’s quote! I’ve been talking about the concept of ‘just-in-time knowledge’ since 1995 …. and going forward, it is still one of the most critical success factors in aligning to the trends of the 21st century.’’

Are You Stuck with the Same Old Boring Keynote? Stop it Now!

April 12, 2018 by JimCarroll

Are you tired of booking a keynote for your event – having a perfunctory phone call with your selected speaker – and having them show up at the last minute, only to deliver a canned message that doesn’t relate to anything that is important to your participants?

So am I. They give the industry, and folks like me who work hard for your event, a bad name. And that’s not me. I really go the extra mile in working with you on material that goes beyond the event date.

Here’s a good example – I was recently booked to headline the annual summit for the Trapeze Group known as Think Transit – a company that provides software for the urban transit industry. It’s coming up this June in Nashville.

Beyond several planning conference calls to talk about content, and how I can best align my message to their overall event gaols, I took on a number of other projects to give them some extra benefits:

a full Q&A interview about the future of their industry, which they ran as a blog post

and a highly customized event promotional video, that they have been using to heighten interest in the event

In addition, I’ve been doing extensive research in my go-to tool, Dow Jones Factiva, which lets me access thousands of newsletters, newspapers, magazine, research reports and more information, so I can zone in on the specific industry issues at hand. I describe that in this short video here.

So if you are bored with the typical keynote speaker who does little to pay attention to your needs, give me a call! I’ll even pick up the phone!

JimCarroll

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THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE FAST features the best of the insight from Jim Carroll’s blog, in which he covers issues related to creativity, innovation and future trends.

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE FAST features the best of the insight from Jim Carroll’s blog, in which he
covers issues related to creativity, innovation and future trends.