One of the world’s most respected business news sources had me in to lead a discussion about the sweeping, transformative trends of our time. I covered the entire range of big thinking visionaries, fast innovate startups, edge based innovation, the acceleration of R&D and the impact of micro-group thinking – and what today’s leaders must do to deal with the reality in which the future of their industry might just be defined by a kid in a small town in rural Africa!
Keynote: National Rural Electrical Cooperative, St. Louis – The Disruptive World of Energy & Renewables
The disruptive impact of local community hyper-grids. The era that involves the end of oil and natural gas because of the dominance of renewables for energy investment going forward. An energy infrastructure that must support electrical vehicles and other disruptive trends. This organization brings together individuals from throughout the rural energy sector, and I put into perspective for senior Board member and executives from small utilities across the country, the reality of the trends that will define their future.
Jim Carroll named as one of 75 experts in Consumer Technology Magazine “The 2020 Imperative”
Each year, Consumer Goods & Technology Magazine puts together an issue that peers into the future. I’ve been named one of their esteemed visionaries in the past, and again this year for their 2020 Imperative issue.
Here’s the opening comment from the magazine: any my insight is shared below that.
“It’s no secret that consumer goods companies must drastically change the way they do business in order to compete — and the pace of change needs to happen faster than ever before.
Gone are the days of executing large-scale technology implementations at a leisurely pace. In 2014, consumer goods executives must often jump head first into new initia-tives — like big data, digital marketing and omnichannel selling — without much of a safety net to protect their brands, businesses or investments. That’s the exciting, yet challenging, world we live and work in today.
But, what about five or 10 years from now? How can consumer goods companies best prepare themselves to stay in front of future trends, many of which are just educated
guesses at this point?
In the 2014 Review & Outlook Report, we asked 75 of
the industry’s brightest minds — each of whom is driving change in the consumer goods industry in his or her own right — to look into their crystal ball and tell us:
“What one initiative must consumer goods companies pursue now in order to compete and grow in the year 2020?”
Jim Carroll’s observations
Going forward, the biggest trend impacting the consumer goods and retail sector is that the pace of innovation has clearly shifted to the speed dictated by Silicon Valley — which means that the innovation will now occur at the speed of Moore’s law.
(Remember, Moore’s law explains that roughly, the processing power of a computer chip doubles every 18 months while its cost cuts in half. It provides for the pretty extreme exponential growth curve we see with a lot of consumer and computer technology today.)
The checkout process? It’s now being driven at hyper-speed through the introduction of iPad-enabled checkout devices, which accelerates change.
The introduction of ever more intelligent, connected packaging technologies shifts control of innovation from traditional packaging companies to tech companies, the makers of bits and chips and RFID and tags.
In store interaction, with consumers more engaged with their iPhone than with a salesperson, now evolve at staggering speed as in-store promotion technologies no longer involve cool cardboard box end-cap displays, but hi-tech LED televisions wired to Facebook Like buttons.
And of course, there’s the Amazon helicopter drone delivery system. Science fiction? Maybe so — but if you think so, then I suggest you watch a few old episodes of The Jetson’s cartoon show. Watch carefully, and you’ll see that George was actually having FaceTime chats, read his news off the Internet, and has Internet-sensor, connected clothing. What was once sci- ence fiction now becomes reality faster than ever before.
This means that in the future, the consumer goods industry is going to have to learn to innovate at the speed of companies such Apple, Google, Twitter and Facebook, as opposed to a more leisure- ly pace of innovation found in the past. Clearly, Moore’s law rules! Hence, my catchphrase — the future belongs to those who are fast!
Keynote: Brownlee Hyatt Farber Schreck, Las Vegas – The Future of the Legal Profession
What’s the future of the legal profession? What happens in the era of knowledge acceleration, the emergence of new unforeseen legal risk, and the unique business challenges that come with advanced technology and trends? That was the focus of my keynote to open the annual partners meeting for 500 lawyers for one of the largest law firms in the US.
Keynote: Chubb Insurance, Phoenix, Arizona – The Disruption of the Insurance Industry
Real time insurance policies with risk underwritten based on hyper-connected data. Actuarial assumptions based on looking forward rather than looking back. The acceleration of new forms of insurance risk. The return of disintermediation and challenges to existing broker networks. The potential for Amazon and others to massive disrupt existing business models. I covered these issues and many more when invited in to address a meeting of senior insurance executives from this property and casualty insurance organization, as they plan for a fast, accelerating but disruptive future.
Observations on a keynote!
A few weeks ago, I was the opening keynote speaker for the annual Ameriquest Symposium. It’s always fun to look and see how people have reacted.
![technology-world-moves-fast](/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/technology-world-moves-fast.jpg)
In this case, I came across a blog post by Anita Alvaré of Alvaré Associates.
I thought it was a great and fun little post, and I hope she doesn’t mind, so I’ve reposted it here in entirety. You can read the original post on her blog here.
The Future Belongs to Those Who Are Fast
by Anita Alvaré
I’m pretty fast on my feet. I think fast, walk fast, talk fast, and sometimes even eat fast. I have a (bad) reputation for finishing people’s sentences for them, and 20 minutes into a movie, I have the plot line pretty much wrapped up. But after listening to the machine-gun delivery and predictions about the workplace-of-the-future by Jim Carroll – Author, Global Futurist, Trends and Innovation Expert – I’m afraid I may need to pick up the tempo a bit.
When someone starts their presentation by saying, “No one understands what’s going on anymore,” you know you’re in for a wild ride.
At the AmeriQuest Symposium in Florida, Carroll told the invited audience what all of us already know and feel: change is happening faster than ever before.
For example:
- Sixty-five percent of today’s pre-school age children will work in jobs and careers that don’t yet exist.
- Your social standing with your peers will depend upon the cell technology you are carrying around (let’s talk shallow).
- Half of what students are learning in college is obsolete before they graduate (time to write that worthless tuition check).
- Digital camera manufacturers have 3-6 months to sell their “new” products before they become obsolete (click!).
- And by the way, success for your business will have nothing to do with legacy, history or size but will be defined by your ability to change. Fast.
The future belongs to those who are fast.
Carroll predicted that smart phones are about to become credit cards in our wallets.
Many science fiction movie and TV scenarios that we’ve seen or are watching now will become reality.
To illustrate this point, Carroll showed a cartoon of George Jetson video conferencing (Skyping) with Mr. Spacely, his boss at Spacely Sprockets.
The animated sitcom, The Jetson’s, was set in the year 2062 “in a futuristic utopia.” It premiered back in “the olden days” (1962) of television. And believe it or not, it was the first program ever broadcast in color by ABC-TV.
Carroll’s breathless delivery focused on what world-class innovators will be doing that others won’t to keep pace with this runaway train known as “the future.”
1) They will put speed of change in perspective.
If your cell phone is older than three months, you’d better run (not walk) to the nearest phone store for an upgrade.
2) They won’t be afraid of thinking boldly.
The rules of automotive design, manufacturing and distribution will be re-written, new forms of business partnerships will be created.
3) They will align their businesses to Silicon Valley velocity.
Say “hello” to a world where facial recognition technology will anticipate your every need, where everything, everywhere is connected.
4) They will check their speed.
In the next five years there will be more changes in the retail sector than in the last 100 years.
5) They will ride generational acceleration.
Half of the global generation is under 25 (!). They are coming into industry “wired, connected, change oriented.”
I can’t speak for anyone else, but while Carroll was talking, the thought bubble coming out of my head was of a shack on a beach in Cuba. I’m not sure if I am (1) able and (2) willing to race through what’s left of my life at the pace he describes.
And after years of listening to futurists’ predictions at professional conferences, I’ve come to find that they are usually right.
So with that in mind, here’s Carroll’s advice for getting warmed up for the inevitable:
- Think BIG.
- Start SMALL.
- Scale FAST.
‘Gotta go…
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