Futurist Keynote Speaker Jim Carroll: Disruptive Trend & Innovation Expert

Futurist Keynote Speaker,  Author, Innovation Expert. 

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Faster is the new fast — also in auto

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honda.jpgOne of the key tenets of my book, Ready, Set, Done — How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast,is that organizational “agility” is a fundamental cornerstone for future success.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do — fast defines success.

A few years ago, I spent time with management of a big car company. I don’t think they got the concept.

Then there’s Honda. Read this story about one of their Canadian plants — and ponder on this sentence:

“Honda’s assembly lines can switch models in as little as 10 days, spokesman Sakae Uruma said. By contrast, it could take months for most rivals to make the same change.“

While certain sectors of the auto economy are in turmoil, others are in growth mode. One of the defining reasons being, they’ve structured themselves to act and change quickly. As big truck sales plummet, fast movers like these pick up the slack.

There’s some very important food for thought here. Faster is the new fast.

  • Read As others slow, Honda ramps up
  • The new face of manufacturing : agility, insight and execution…

Soccer moms, text messaging, and the inevitability of virtuality

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Virtuality.jpgA few weeks ago, I arrived in my hotel room, and connected back to my home office via Skype. I found my sons using my Mac (long story!), and proceeded to have a one-hour video conference with them.

During this time, I ordered room service, my dinner arrived, and I ate it. All this time they played a variety of video games, worked on homework, and I unpacked my suitcase and organized my stuff.

All the while, we chatted back and forth. My youngest son made a comment at one point: “it’s just like you’re at home.”

That’s the thing about this next generation and their concept of “where is “there”.” To date, few organizations have really taken to videoconferencing and other forms of virtuality ; yet as today’s 15 year old enters the workforce in the next decade, that is all set to change.

One of the most significant trends I cover in my “What Comes Next” trends perspective is this one: “Resistance retires.” It’s worth a read — simply put, within 10 years, much of the workforce will have grown up with technology, and the pace of how different the workplace, workforce, structure of the organization, structure of the working day, and everything else, is just going to be torn apart and rebuilt.

You can see the signs of the aging of Gen-Connect with today’s new “wired soccer mom.” Alabama’s Times Daily just ran an article examining the phenomena, and I’m quoted liberally thorughout the article:

Jim Carroll, a futurist, trends and innovations expert, said moms between 25 and 32 grew up right along with the technology that enables them to communicate via text.

“It’s technology that’s been around for between 10 and 12 years, so they probably started texting when they were kids in nightclubs, and now they’re the parents with little ones,” he said.

For those who didn’t grow up with it, texting might not ever catch on, Carroll said, and e-mail will remain the way to communicate electronically.

Already, text messaging, which is known in the wireless world as SMS, or short message service, has been adapted for weather and safety alerts on college campuses in the U.S. as well as a violence prevention tool in Kenya, Africa.

So much of this, Carroll contends, is a result of people such as his 12- and 14-year-old sons growing up using the technology and finding ways to apply it in the real world.

“We’re seeing this come into the work force and influence the way we think, act and communicate, and you’ll see that these younger users won’t think a thing about sending a text to a peer in the business community or even a young doctor preferring to send a text to a patient,” he said.

The key point is, anything is on the table, and were in for massive changes in the workplace because of simple demographic change.

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  • The reality of future trends: grab the What Comes Next trends overview

Starbuck’s Icarus moment …..

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schadenfreude.pngI’m quoted in a Reuters article that has run in the Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and the Sydney MX among a few, that comments on the recent woes of Starbuck’s.

Titled “Not everyone’s crying in their lattes for Starbucks; There’s a schadenfreude among some coffee drinkers who think the java giant got too big too fast,” the article looks at how some people seem to be enjoying Starbucks in its Icarus moment.

My comments?

The schadenfreude of coffee drinkers drawing satisfaction from another’s misfortune is part of the popular culture that enjoys the downfall of companies or celebrities, said Jim Carroll, a Mississauga-based trends and innovation expert.

“There are a lot of people out there who take delight in seeing an icon torn down by the masses,” he said.

Starbucks fell victim to a rapid change in attitude, fuelled by Internet bloggers complaining endlessly about everything from layoffs to its breakfast sandwiches, he said.

“Starbucks was a cool brand, and then all of a sudden it’s not a cool brand,” he said. “There’s this new global consciousness that is out there that can suddenly shift.”

This is exactly what I write about in my book Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast. Indeed, one chapter talks about how in this era of very fast change, a brand can go from “hero to zero” in a matter of months, or even less. That’s partially what we are witnessing here.

The key thing today is velocity: business is impacted by rapid consumer change, product change, business model change, cost challenges, market change. The phrase I’ve been using for years is “volatility is the new normal.” Realize that, and build your innovation strategy around that, and you’ll be set for the types of challenges that will come your way.

This is particularly true with issues of branding : brand perceptions can change very quickly today, and I don’t think many organizations are prepared for that. Just look at how quickly any brand equity left attached to the US auto industry has evaporated!

More Information:

  • Buy Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast
  • Blog post: Your Customers Are High Velocity: Are You?
  • Is your brand from the olden days?

Get Fest-ed! Adding some life to your annual conference or event….

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GetFested.jpgI’ve had a new article published for Association Executives for the CSAE, about how you can innovate and jazz-up your annual meeting or conference.

Here’s an extract:

Does your conference marketing suck? Maybe it does, and you don’t know it.

People today don’t want to go to an “annual conference” and attend “plenary sessions.” Kids (and today’s 30-40 somethings — the demographic you increasingly want to get to attend!) go to FESTIVALS.

I think they’re expecting the same brand image velocity for the conferences or events that they might attend. Would you rather go to the “121st Annual Tree Farmers Association Annual Meeting and Trade
Show?”

Or would you rather go to “TreeFest 2009 – The Place Where Tree People Rock!”

Me, I’m all for idea of TreeFest!

  • Read the article Get Fest-ed! adobe.gif

Extreme skills: what happens when knowledge runs out?

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benchstrength.jpgI’m in Vancouver, about to deliver a keynote to a global professional services firm, with the working title, “Extreme Skills Specialization: What Comes Next with Global Talent, Global Organizations?”

The working description goes like this: “The future of every career is either extremely specialized, or
massively general. Most professions are fragmenting into dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of specialities. Someone needs to understand all this, and help organizations tap into narrow bands of knowledge.”

This is a major trend, and perhaps one of the defining trends of the next 10 years. Here’s how I’m presenting the challenges to my audience today:

  • the ability to assist your clients with high-velocity change will be a key success factor
  • because of this, the ability to find, attract utilize and retain ever more narrow niche skills will be critical, for both your clients, and yourself.
  • the ability to scale up and scale down your resource base will define your clients success, and your own.
  • our ability to access and deploy unique skills at high velocity, globally, forming project oriented teams that last but a short time, will be key.

Think about these challenges in the context of your own organization. Ask your this questions: “what’s the depth of your bench strength?”

Then ask this question: “what do you need to do, from a unique structural perspective, to increase and improve your bench strength, particularly as skills become more specialized, scarce and hard to access.” There’s probable room for lots of innovative thinking there!

GET IN TOUCH

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.

VIEW OTHER BOOKS
Definitions: Core • Deep Dive I • Deep Dive II
Series: 2026 • Megatrends • Forward • Tomorrow