Shift to the Future

I know, the title sounds kind-of retro, something from the 60’s, but let’s not go there.  I read and write a lot about machine power and how machines are increasingly taking over roles in society that were previously thought to be human only.  As this inevitable trend plays out, it will be increasingly important to be crystal clear about the role of people in the economy and society in general.  We seem to be on an unwavering trajectory to a highly automated and robotic future so why not leverage that likelihood to the people’s advantage.  Let’s be sure to keep our roles up front and center in this brave new world that’s unfolding. “In the years ahead,” Rifkin wrote, “more sophisticated software technologies are going to bring civilization ever closer to a near-workerless world. Race Against the Machine (Kindle 118) I remember as a kid hearing about some utopian future where machines did the work and people sat around enjoying their leisure.  That doesn’t ...

Do you get the sense that the world has sped up?  Does time seem to be passing you by faster and faster?  Do you find that the rate of change, new products, services, and amazing capabilities is accelerating?  Well, you would not likely be alone in sensing this.  We live in unprecedented times of rapid change.  I spent a few days last week at the annual Microsoft Canadian Leadership Summit in the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Redmond Washington. About 300 technology leaders from across Canada converge for an information and networking packed few days where clearly, we were treated to a drink from a fire hose, metaphorically speaking. Author Steven Johnson spoke to us about innovation based on his book “ Where Good Ideas Come From ”.  He talked about how ideas are more likely the result of a Slow Hunch than a Eureka Moment, percolating slowly over time.  Ideas often generate based on ideas mixing in ‘liquid networks’ such as coffee houses ...

Take pause for a moment and consider the vast sea of ideas active in our world right this second…  Can you picture it?  At any given time, billions of people collectively generate billions of ideas.  Unfortunately, most ideas never leave a person’s head or are only ever shared with a family member, or perhaps one or two close friends.  Ideas die prematurely every day because they are not able to take root in “fertile ground”.  Ideas need to mix with other ideas and they need to encounter support and experience conflict to survive and grow. In our increasingly digital world, ideas have never had it so good!  When a person chooses to enter in and engage with others in online spaces, it’s like a veil is lifted for them and they see what was hidden from them previously, a connected sea of ideas.  You can see the mixing of ideas take place through Twitter, Blogs, Wikis, Youtube, TED, Google +, Facebook, and hundreds of other interesting spaces. I’ve jus...