Insight Index

JIM’S INSIGHTS

Futurist Jim Carroll has quickly become recognized as your ‘go-to source’ for effective insight on what comes next, the strategies that you consider, and the leadership path you need to follow.

Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership – “Be the spark that ignites the flame of change!”

“Be the spark that ignites the flame of change!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Most people have a problem. In fact, most people know that they aren’t quite ready for all the change that they are faced with in their future, yet know that everything they are involved with – their business model, skills, product or […]

Daily Inspiration: The Economy and Innovation – “Markets are not trends!”

“Markets are not trends!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Some wild headlines yesterday: In that context, I shared this image with one of my sons yesterday; he’s an investment advisor and works in the wealth management industry. I imagine he will have a busy day with a bunch of scared clients. All of this is to […]

Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Agility – “Innovative organizations work to narrow the gap between opportunity and action!”

“Innovative organizations work to narrow the gap between opportunity and action!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Let’s talk about gaps. Are you falling behind? Back in 2019, I began sharing on stage the idea of what I called the ‘Acceleration Gap,’ noting that the speed of change driven by fast trends was starting to outpace the […]

Daily Inspiration – Leadership : “You’ll never get to your future if you keep trying to get back to your past!”

“You’ll never get to your future if you keep trying to get back to your past!” – Futurist Jim Carroll I’ve had a vague sense of unease for a time that too many industries and the leaders of companies within them are all too eager to try to slide back into yesterday and give up […]

Daily Inspiration: AI & Leadership – “Dive In. Figure it out”

“Dive In. Figure it out” – Futurist Jim Carroll My attention was drawn last week to an article about Amazons’ thinking behind a big bet on artificial intelligence; Amazon built a $2 trillion company through years of aggressive spending on its retail and logistics businesses. Its future gains will likely be determined by the billions […]

Daily Inspiration: Leadership – “Your biggest mistake is believing that you don’t need to do it right now”

“Your biggest mistake is believing that you don’t need to do it right now” – Futurist Jim Carroll What does it mean if you have a great idea, and your superior blows it off by saying “we don’t need to do that right now.” It means you are in pretty big trouble. Why does this […]

Daily Inspiration : AI & Strategy – “To make tomorrow real, you need to be real about tomorrow!”

“To make tomorrow real, you need to be real about tomorrow!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Over the last two years, I’ve done dozens of CEO-level corporate offsites focused on AI. Here’s what I’ve learned corporate groups are looking for – first and foremost, they know that they need to be realistic about where this might […]

Daily Inspiration: Economic Outlook – “The US consumer seems to have entered into a state of perpetual economic gloom. Some companies seem all too eager to follow them into the abyss”

“The US consumer seems to have entered into a state of perpetual economic gloom. Some companies seem all too eager to follow them into the abyss” – Futurist Jim Carroll Here we go again! I seem to spend a lot of time talking companies off the ledge, and I might be doing this again next […]

Daily Inspiration: Forward Thinking Organizations: “Shift your mindset from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving'”

“Shift your mindset from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving'” – Futurist Jim Carroll Have you ever noticed many people thrive on the word survive? They’ve just got to survive the day. Survive the change they are immersed in. Survive the project. Survive the recent events. Survive the golf round. Why survive when you could thrive? Years ago, […]

Daily Inspiration: Leadership & Innovation – “Disruptors value defiance over blind obedience!”

“Disruptors value defiance over blind obedience!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Be like Chuck House. In a world in which you are surrounded by yes-men, be the person who is willing to say no since sometimes following the lead is exactly the wrong thing to do. Years ago, the book The Intrapreneurs, by Clifford Pinchoot III, […]

Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership – “Successful companies got rid of all the bull excrement”

“Successful companies got rid of all the bull excrement” – Futurist Jim Carroll Let’s be real about it. Successful companies have learned a lot about the future – and the fact that it isn’t as complicated to get there as they once thought it would be. In doing so, the old barriers that were in […]

Daily Inspiration: HR, Skills and Recruitment – “Your attitude should get you everything!”

“Your attitude should get you everything!” – Futurist Jim Carroll The business of recruitment is broken. In the last many years, much of it has moved to a world of automated resume processing, analytical examination of talent and skills, and the dominance of cold, hard statistical analysis. Many companies simply demand a cover letter and […]

Daily Inspiration – Future Initiative – “Motivation is overrated in the face of better insight!”

“Motivation is overrated in the face of better insight!” – Futurist Jim Carroll “Are you a motivational speaker?” Hell yes! But not really. That’s the question I always get from new people I meet when it comes around to the topic of what we do for a living. The question quite possibly could drive me […]

Daily Inspiration: Business volatility – “Today? It’s business as unusual!”

“Today? It’s business as unusual!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Today’s photo is from an event I did a few years ago for a group called Havi International – which represents a massive number of companies that are suppliers of products to Mcdonald’s. The theme of their event was, if it is not obvious, “Partnering for […]

Daily Inspiration: Artificial Intelligence – “It’s the reality that matters (not the hype!)”

“It’s the reality that matters (not the hype!)” – Futurist Jim Carroll I have a good friend from my ski club who has been reading my Daily Inspiration post (what you are reading right now) for many, many years. He told me a few months back that he always finds them to be interesting and […]

Daily Inspiration: Leadership & Change – “Assumptions are often just a dangerous, delusional certainty!”

“Assumptions are often just a dangerous, delusional certainty! (Because they will blind you to the reality of your reality!)” – Futurist Jim Carroll Often, the thing that holds people back from their ability to get to tomorrow is their insane ability to hold to their beliefs, even in the face of absolutely fascinating compelling evidence […]

Recent AI Keynotes

Just a few of the recent clients who have had me in for an executive level overview of the real impact of AI. Not the hype, not just ChatGPT – but the real, substantive, transformative short, medium and long term trends disrupting entire industries. I rolled out an update to my artificial intelligence focused Website […]

Keynote: YPO Gold Houston – “The Acceleration of AI” – Houston, Texas

What do you get when you get a room full of CEOs eager to understand the potential investment and venture capital opportunities emerging in the many different aspects of the global AI industry? You get a highly interactive, engaging, and experiential keynote from Jim! By way of background, YPO Houston is an organization of 250 Chief […]

Daily Inspiration: Speed and Agility – “Be the cheetah, not the turtle”

“Be the cheetah, not the turtle” – Futurist Jim Carroll In Hawaii, you can swim with turtles. At the resort where I’m staying, all you need to do is put on a snorkel and a mask, and head out into the shallows, and you’ll meet up with these majestic creatures gliding gracefully through the […]

Daily Inspiration: AI & Leadership – “It’s time to fire up your strategic thinking about the era of intelligent machines!”

“It’s time to fire up your strategic thinking about the era of intelligent machines!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Machines that see. Machines that walk. Machines that talk. Machines that sense. Machines that hear. Machines that think. We’re on the edge of a remarkable new era. It’s not going to be like Rosie the Robot from The […]

Daily Inspiration: Business Model Transformation – “If you aren’t thinking bold enough you’ll never be ambitious enough!

“If you aren’t thinking bold enough you’ll never be ambitious enough!” – Futurist Jim Carroll The world will not be transformed by people using chatbots and ChatGPT and drawing pictures with AI generators. It will be fully disrupted by the other AI trends that really matter – what I call the AI Megatrends. That’s been […]

Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Leadership – “Is your future happening in a garage at this very moment? (And are you even aware what’s happening?)”

“Is your future happening in a garage at this very moment? (And are you even aware what’s happening?)” – Futurist Jim Carroll We live in disruptive, transformative times, in which new companies are developing new products and services that might displace legacy organizations. Some of them might be working at this very moment in the […]

Daily Inspiration: “Dazed and confused? There’s still time to change the road you’re on!”

“Dazed and confused? There’s still time to change the road you’re on!” – Futurist Jim Carroll I’m over in Dublin, Ireland, and spent the day yesterday visiting the town where the ancestors on my mom’s side are from. The result is that I’ve had little time to prepare today’s quote. On occasion – and in […]

Daily Inspiration: “Innovation never waits for the slow fast-follower!”

“Innovation never waits for the slow fast-follower!” – Futurist Jim Carroll I put together an interesting set of slides about the conundrum that organizations now face in the era of accelerating AI trends. For a long time, when it comes to new disruptive technologies and business models, organizations have had to decide whether they will […]