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.

All about growth!

Article in Flame Magazine: "Dancing in the Rain: Why 2026 Demands Bold Franchise Leadership"

I just finished writing my fourth article this year for Flame, the magazine of the National Franchisee Association. This one is about why 2026 demands…

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – Global Economy: "Stability. Reliability. Predictability. Clarity. This is now the foundation of the new 21st-century economy."

"Stability. Reliability. Predictability. Clarity. This is now the foundation of the new 21st-century economy." - Futurist Jim Carroll It's been fascinating to watch the speed…

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #24 Trust Capital: "In an era of synthetic perfection, your flaws are now the ultimate watermark of your authenticity."

"In an era of synthetic perfection, your flaws are now the ultimate watermark of your authenticity." - Futurist Jim Carroll I'm back! And we're on…

Decoding Tomorrow: Your Daily Future Inspiration – Innovating in Uncertainty: "Every good moment of uncertainty demands the certainty of action!"

"Every good moment of uncertainty demands the certainty of action!" - Futurist Jim Carroll You can pre-order Dancing in the Rain effective today! I've got…

Decoding Tomorrow: Your Daily Future Inspiration – “There is no shortage of big opportunities.. There is a shortage of bold leadership!"

"There is no shortage of big opportunities.. There is a shortage of bold leadership!" = Futurist Jim Carroll One of my fellow futurists recently included…

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;…

Daily Inspiration: Retail, Supply Chain, Logistics - "Bring on tomorrow!"

"Bring on tomorrow!" - Futurist Jim Carroll Like the sign says. Bring on tomorrow - because if you don't, your tomorrow might not work out…

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…

Daily Inspiration: Volatility & Trends - "You'll never find your opportunity in the depths of your despair!"

"You'll never find your opportunity in the depths of your despair!" - Futurist Jim Carroll I'm down in Silicon Valley in California today, where I've…

Daily Inspiration: Leadership and Growth - "Real leaders don't try to cost cut their way into the future! (They reinvent!)"

"Real leaders don't try to cost cut their way into the future! (They reinvent!)" - Futurist Jim Carroll Really? Are we going to do this…

Daily Inspiration: Transformative Thinking - "If you are surrounded by transformative trends that are so big, why do you continue to think so small?"

Daily Inspiration: Industry Transformation - "A bold future abhors a timid mind!"

"A bold future abhors a timid mind!" - Futurist Jim Carroll The old automotive industry is disappearing; a new one is being born. The old…

Daily Inspiration: Economic Growth - "At what point will you realize you've wasted time preparing for an economic downturn that never happened?"

"At what point will you realize you've wasted time preparing for an economic downturn that never happened?" - Futurist Jim Carroll Have you noticed that…

Daily Inspiration: Business Transformation - "At some moment in time, you will come to realize that the future you thought had no longer exists!"

"At some moment in time, you will come to realize that the future you thought had no longer exists!" - Futurist Jim Carroll If you…

Leadership and Volatility: It's What You Do Right Now That Matters

History teaches us that those who move forward, fast, during periods of relentless uncertainty, are those who win. Futurist Jim Carroll on stage in London,…

Scary News Headlines?

Have a history lesson! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIbjbwez6pM&feature=youtu.be

Daily Inspiration: "The future of work? It's the skills you don't know about that you need to be planning for!"

"The future of work? It's the skills you don't know about that you need to be planning for!" - Futurist Jim Carroll What can the…

Daily Inspiration: "If you are letting all this recession talk defer your plans for growth, you're doing it all wrong!"

"If you are letting all this recession talk defer your plans for growth, you're doing it all wrong!" - Futurist Jim Carroll History has taught…

Video: Achieving Optimism - Learning from the Two Different Types of Farmers!

One of my favorite bits of insight I like to share from the stage concerns the story of the 'two types of framers.' Which one…

Keynote Topics 2023: Growth, Innovation & Creativity, Megatrends, Leadership and Acceleration

I just sent out my February update to all my speaker bureau partners - I'm represented by most of the major ones in the world…

Daily Inspiration: “Learn more stuff. Empty minds bring empty results!”

“Learn more stuff. Empty minds bring empty results!” – Futurist Jim Carroll One of my favorite trends I’ve covered for a long time has been the issue of knowledge. For example, back in 2011, I observed that the volume of scientific knowledge was increasing exponentially: …. the rate of discovery based on research into gene […]

Video: Achieving Optimism – Learning from the Two Different Types of Farmers!

One of my favorite bits of insight I like to share from the stage concerns the story of the ‘two types of farmers.’ Which one are you? Check the list below. Watch this short clip from one of my last in-person keynotes just before Covid. There’s what we might call the stuck-skeptics, who have attitudes […]

10 Things That Are True About the Future (It’s fast, it’s everywhere, and you are likely already out of date!)

Clearly the rate of change – whether with business models, product life-cycles, skills and knowledge – is speeding up. With such change, there’s a lot of uncertainty within many industries as to what to do next: a senior executive of one client commented to me from his perspective, “…entities are engaged in survival tactics because […]

Daily Inspiration: “At this very moment, you are surrounded by ‘modern things’ that will become ‘things from the olden days’ during your lifetime!

“At this very moment, you are surrounded by ‘modern things’ that will become ‘things from the olden days’ during your lifetime!” – Futurist Jim Carroll We live in the era of acceleration – and with that, things become a part of our life and then disappear faster than ever before. The knowledge we have at […]

Daily Inspiration: “Get ready for a world of real-time, autonomous, spatial intelligence farming!”

“Get ready for a world of real-time, autonomous, spatial intelligence farming!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Way back in 2005, I wrote a blog post that summarized much of what I had been talking about in the previous year as the key trends defining the future of agriculture. Little did I know that search engines would […]

22 Trends. 22 Minutes. 22 Opportunities for 2022 : A Virtual Leadership Kickstart for 2022!

I just shared this update with my many speaker bureau partners. It might provide some food for thought for you too! Good morning! It seems that just while we were looking at 2022 with a wary eye of optimism, the sudden arrival of Omicron can pull us back in to, well, non-optimism! Our industry and […]

Daily Inspiration: “We’re quickly moving from the era of mass production to one of mass customization…..That’s your reality – and that’s your opportunity!”

“We’re quickly moving from the era of mass production to one of mass customization, in which any potential customer in the world is now less than 3 days away from the order date. That’s your reality – and that’s your opportunity!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Just two years ago to this moment, I was on […]

Daily Inspiration: “Your long-standing traditions are likely the very enemy of your efforts at innovation!”

“Your long-standing traditions are likely the very enemy of your efforts at innovation!” – Futurist Jim Carroll There are certain moments in your career when you know you’ve hit the perfect shot. That’s how I felt when I walked off stage after delivering the opening keynote for the 94th annual general meeting of the PGA […]

Daily Inspiration: “World class innovators? They’re built for speed, structured for acceleration!”

“World class innovators? They’re built for speed, structured for acceleration!” – Futurist Jim Carroll This message from 2019 looks very predictive today in light of what organizations had to do to align to the speed of change demanded by the global pandemic. And yet, that’s been the essence of my message for well over a […]

Daily Inspiration: “The fast future has got you down? Follow the math … Act accordingly!”

“The fast future has got you down? Follow the math! Start with 3-6-9-12: baseline your reality 3, 6, 9, and 12 months out. Add in 1-2-5-10: figure out what trends will challenge you 1, 2, 5, and 10 years from now! Act accordingly!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Sometimes, you just need to follow the traffic! […]

Daily Inspiration: “You’ll never solve a big problem with small thinking!”

“You’ll never solve a big problem with small thinking!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Going forward, one of the most significant challenges of our time will have to do with senior care. With that in mind, big thinking was the core of my message on stage six years ago (yesterday) for two back-to-back talks in Nashville for […]

Reinvention: The Critical Element in Your Disruptive Business Strategy

At some point in time, if it has not yet happened, you’ll come to realize that the future that you thought you had no longer exists, and that you need to do something new. And if you are a business organization, that realization brings you the reality that you need to reinvent your revenue. This […]

Daily Inspiration: “Your ability to define a different reality is what will truly define your future!”

“Your ability to define a different reality is what will truly define your future!” – Futurist Jim Carroll The era of oil is over! Everyone knows this to be true – we’ve got so much momentum with renewables, energy microgrids, electric vehicles, and battery storage technology, that essentially the dominance of carbon-based energy is drawing […]

Video: The (Negative) Economic Implications of Vaccine Hesitancy

Since early March, I’ve been tweeting, speaking, and writing about the situation with ‘vaccine hesitancy’ – and I hate ‘hesitancy’ as a phrase because to me, much of it is simple idiocy. A few days ago, I rolled it into a blog post, “Trend: The (Negative) Economic Implications of Vaccine Hesitancy.” Yesterday, I decided to […]

Trend: The (Negative) Economic Implications of Vaccine Hesitancy

Back in 2017, I wrote what turned out to be quite the prescient blog post: Trend: The Emerging Healthcare Reality Crisis. Here’s what I wrote: Clearly there are vast sections of the population today who do not believe in science. They don’t believe in facts. They don’t believe in much other than what they want […]

Daily Inspiration: “Why would you spend so much time defending a past which no longer exists?”

“Why would you spend so much time defending a past which no longer exists?” – Futurist Jim Carroll We are surrounded by people who defend the indefensible, support the unsupportable, cling to the unclingable. It’s weird. It also can certainly do a lot of damage when their defense turns into destruction. This post originally started […]

Video: The Economic Implications of ‘Hesistancy’

Some will win Some will lose — Journey A clip from a recent podcast on the future of manufacturing, in which I talk about the real economic implications for regions with low vaccine uptake. Watch this trend!

Your Future into 2022 and Beyond: Why It Won’t be 2019 Anymore!

As part of my ‘acceleration gap‘ theme, I hit the virtual broadcast studio and filmed a concise piece on what world-class innovators learned throughout the pandemic – and what you are up against if you don’t change!

Daily Inspiration: “It’s the jobs that do not yet exist that you really need to prepare for!”

“It’s the jobs that do not yet exist that you really need to prepare for!” – Futurist Jim Carroll It’s not often in this line of work that you get booked by the same client on the exact same day just a few years apart! I guess they liked my message! That was the case […]

Daily Inspiration: “Build for your future, not your past!”

“Build for your future, not your past!” – Futurist Jim Carroll It’s easy to cling to yesterday – after all, that’s all you know! But that won’t get you anywhere, because your only certainty is that your tomorrow’s are going to be vastly different than your yesterday’s – and the only moment that you have […]

Daily Inspiration: “Do you mean to tell me that you don’t believe that widespread mental instability and mass delusion won’t be a huge workforce problem in your future?”

“Do you mean to tell me that you don’t believe that widespread mental instability and mass delusion won’t be a huge workforce problem in your future?” – Futurist Jim Carroll The quiet part should be said out loud: one of the biggest problems that companies will have to manage in the future is how to […]

The Disruptive Trends that Define Your REALLY BIG Future. But Are You Thinking too Small?

Individually, any trend is disruptive. Combine them together, and it’s transformative. When everything connects, power disperses. Legacy is death: agility and speed are the new metrics for success. These are some of the mantras that should define your future. Disruption is real, it’s big, and it’s happening faster than you think. The trends that define […]

The Dark Underside of a Usually Optimistic Future: How Bad Could Things Get? Pretty Bad!

I bill myself as an “Optimistic Futurist.” My running joke when walking out on stage was – and is – “I can’t tell you that your future sucks, because then I wouldn’t get many repeat bookings.” But all kidding aside, I try to force myself each and every day into a positive frame of mind […]

Video : Understanding the Impact of the Acceleration Gap!

Are you structured for slow in a fast world? The global pandemic has changed the axis of our universe. What was disruptive before is now massively transformative. Do you have a strategy to keep up? Are you dealing with the reality of the acceleration gap? I hit the virtual studio to explain your challenge. History […]