Topics

The COVID-19 Trend Accelerator (& The Future of  Work)
How the world will look as we move through the pandemic is not completely unknowable. In many cases, the pandemic has accelerated many already-developing trends at an exponential pace (e.g., distributed workforces and the growing importance of design in every aspect of innovation). Ultimately, one of the most important trends to consider is how this pandemic has accelerated (and, in some cases, necessitated) the reality that software, AI and robotics will disintermediate sectors of human labor in areas like retail, learning, healthcare and transportation.

Silver Linings – “Short-Termism” Has Been Exposed
Many reputable and well-regarded companies – and, in some cases, entire industries – were caught unprepared by the circumstances of the last two years. This speaks to a long-building epidemic of short-termism among the leadership ranks when it comes to both strategy and innovation. Symptoms include insufficient risk modeling and, perhaps most importantly, too much of a focus on immediate stakeholder returns instead of on a long-term plan of sustainable innovation that truly supports an organization’s vision. The businesses set to win both now and in the future are those with the discipline to engage in truly long-term thinking.

Escape Velocity – An Imperative for Rapid, Unbureaucratic Innovation
Talk of an eventual “return” to the way things used to be is unrealistic. Nothing will be the same after this. Instead of preserving our ways of doing things, we must adapt quickly, and in real time to a new world. We have long talked about templosion, defined as big things happening in smaller chunks of time. Are our organizations easily liberated from the slog of bureaucracy, marathon R&D protocols and outdated thinking? If not, we must diagnose and reengineer our innovative capabilities so that we are able to not only respond, but thrive, in any future scenarios like this pandemic.

The New Leadership Paradigm
The characteristics imperative for effective leadership are evolving in real-time. Conventional talks about “leadership” are a dime-a-dozen. By contrast, our goal is to closely examine a handful of essential and new characteristics that will define successful leaders of sustainable organizations in the near future. These characteristics include, but are not limited to: 1) The Rise of the New CEEO (The Chief Ethical Executive Officer) — Going forward, all major business considerations, such as the integration of AI, utilization of customer data and workplace conditions will have to be evaluated through an ethical lens; 2) The Discerning Leader — Discerning leadership will increasingly be defined by the ability to distinguish between good and bad information in a world permeated by misleading indicators and fake news.

The Competency Tree
The COVID Accelerator effect is changing what it is that we value in the workplace – and the skills and competencies required to future-proof your organization. As such, competitiveness will rely on the creation of an entirely new skills and competencies framework. To ensure that we have the thinking required to solve the big issues that will arise in the future, we need to start viewing and training for these skills and competencies as interconnected. This goes beyond the confluence of ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and people (interpersonal skills). A more fitting visual is that of a tree – with branches (and sub-branches) that go off in many directions. Our proprietary Competency Tree is meant to serve as a framework to help visualize potential arenas for future jobs – even ones we have yet to imagine. (*The complete visual framework is included with this module.)

Generational Compression: Understanding Cybrids
Another area of focus is on generational trends. Generations have long been grouped in birth year cohorts of 15-20 years. But generations are now seemingly refreshing every two-to-three years. Technology is changing so rapidly that kids only a few years apart struggle to have the same cultural and technological frames of reference. Today’s youth are not just “digital natives” – they are Cybrids – cyber hybrids, who have a fully symbiotic relationship with the digital world from the moment they were born. Understanding what makes the youngest of generations tick is critical for understanding retention & recruitment, advertising/marketing, education/learning, etc.