Please read only if you are convinced that you want to truthfully answer the question above.
“It is impossible to teach a man what he thinks he already knows” – Epicelus
The world is transforming at an alarming rate, to stay relevant, people and organizations must be adaptable to change.
I vividly remember a course I was privileged to attend some months back on business modeling. It was facilitated by a French man I have grown to respect, I learnt a lot of things, I also learnt about some vital indices that further corroborate the fact that all organizations that will succeed in the future, must factor these elements into their business models. These elements are:
1. Crowded – When my grandfather was born, the population of the earth was about 1 billion, when my father was born it was 2 billion, when I was born the population of the earth was 4 billion. Today, the earth’s population is over 6 billion. The size of the earth has not changed, but the population of tenants has increased. Less than 1% of the known human history has witnessed 90% of the physical accumulation of the human species. The earth is getting crowded, and its resources are being depleted. The economy of the future must depend on resources that do not diminish with the crowd. The economy of the future will be driven by non-physical resources like information and knowledge.
“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer
2. Complex – Back in 1900, there was no electricity, cars were new, no computers, no telephones, no airplanes, no plastic, no TV (not even in the radar). People rode bicycles, read with candles, and traveled by trains and coal powered boats, this was in America. In Africa? Don’t go there :)! Electronics, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, strategic management e.t.c. were not even in science fiction novels.
Fast forward to 100yrs later. We walk on the moon, gather star dust, we are flying at incredible speeds and planning for faster, the average person today carries two small boxes, one to speak to almost anybody, at almost anywhere, at almost anytime (mobile phone), and the other to manipulate data at processing speeds close to 100times faster than was available to NASA in 1969 when it landed the first man on the moon (laptop).
We are approaching a future where the rate at which knowledge becomes extinct will be alarming. 20yrs experience will be 1yr experience doing 20 different things. The value of tenure will diminish; success will be a function of the speed of learning and unlearning.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” John F. Kennedy
3. Changing – Between 500-1500, it took 1000yrs for world economies to triple. In the 20th century, it took 25yrs, 1950 -1975 for world economies to triple. 300yrs ago, there were human beings who knew everything there was to know about everything.
They were called ultimate men (this of course was a world without light, cars, airplanes and fuel). Today, people die as professors still unraveling the mysteries of the inner ear.
Changes in economics, knowledge, technology, and more are making information vital for the future.
“In the future, how we gather, manage and use information will determine whether we succeed or fail.” – Bill Gates
4. Competitive – The major commodities in this world: food, energy, drugs, transportation, information, e.t.c. are controlled by corporate giants. As the handful gets smaller, the giants get bigger and competition toughens.
With the technological flattening of the world today, the world is becoming a truly global village. Service can be rendered from anywhere, and local is becoming extinct. Big corporations are getting toppled by smaller innovative ones. Whether the organization be a lion or a gazelle, the prayers today are the same; for the gazelle, for grace to outrun the fastest lion, and for the lion, for grace to outrun the slowest gazelle. Competition is no longer amongst equals. Survival in the future requires moving from the competitive plane to the creative plane.
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new; so we must think anew and act anew.” -Abraham Lincoln.
Key Questions.
What are you doing to stand out from the crowd?
What are you doing to stay abreast of technology and remain relevant in a more complex world?
What are you doing to stay abreast of changing information?
What are you doing to migrate from competition to creation?
If you know you can’t do it alone, who are you partnering with?
Why not partner with us today? Introducing GUTS
11 thoughts on “Are your eyes on the Future?”
Very thought provoking…..I am proud of your outfit.
The pace at which you keep churning out deep insights and launching one programme or the other ever since this year began is alarming.God will continue to crown your efforts and bless you with deeper insights!
This is thought-provoking… you seem to be thinking ten (10) steps ahead of other men. Gotta act fast!
I was telling a friend a while ago about our grandmother (maternal). She was given a phone by our uncle in London and I bought her a Glo line. Lucky for her it’s a flip Phone so I set it in such a way that she only has to open it to pick her call and this I explained to her as best I could.
Funny though, she rushes down to open it even when it rings for text messages, she has to call someone around when she needs to make a call, it could however be difficult if the name of the person she want to call does not correspond with the name she is metioning even though i tried to store all the names on her phonebook the way she is familiar with them. She has over 30 free text messages on her phone per month and she does not use them cos she does not know how. She relies on trusted people to load her credit for her and tell her how much is left there. She hardly ever lives her phone lying around from the day she realized that anyone can pick it up and use all her money. I can’t lock the phone cos how do I explain opening it to her. Just recently I tried teaching her to use the speakers cos she begining to lose her hearing and believe me…that was work.
My point is this the world for her has changed and she can only try and cope. A lot of people though they are youths who are supposed to know about what is currnet and happening are still a lot like her today, they do not even have email addresses, they cannot tell the difference between mp3 and mp4, dvd and vcd. they cannot convinently operate a five disk changer sound player/recorder. they are amazed at the sight of a remote control.
These things are petty things compared to what will be operating in the world by the time we become grandparents too and our grandchildren will say press this button if you want the car to fly.
We cannot afford to be too backward now otherwise we could be overbackward then. Let us constanly embrace the future with open arms.
Deolu, I’m asking a question now in my head and at the same time bidding all to do same… How flat is my world?
cheers
@biola.com
Many waters have gone under the bridge. A lot of people have had stuff like this and they did nothing with it.
It is my prayer that your community will act with speed. Keep waking them up, someday, someone will send you a cheque for listening to your advise here.
In this time of rapidly changing technology, I have made up my mind to be useful in designing cost-effective, efficient systems that can integrate complex technologies into various industries.
This will put me in the order of creators and not just competitors.
The future until recently has been for me an abstract phenomenon, though I tell people I have tall dreams, but in closet those dreams assume ‘dwarfy’ dimensions, and I fear greatly if they will ever come to.
Most times I catch myself just living the life.
However, I have recently (in the last one year) undertaken several ‘scale removal therapies’ and now have a clear and more objective view of the future and like a just recovering patient the need for outpatient treatments can not be overemphasized and those treatments have come regularly from my visits to this site as well as a few others I will some day list
here .
Having identified the future desired one can more easily live NOW preparing for the FUTURE. Your tips here today has taken up some space in my tots and will be there for as long time till the ambience for the total change desired is reached
Thank you.
You have turned me 180 degrees, only when we meet will i be able to explain this… just know that God has used you to bless a lot of people, and my prayer everyday is to be a blessing to others too.
Chairman,
This piece reminded me of the stuff every proposal coming out from Generis carries, thanks for enforcing us to keep our eyes on the furure.
hmm , i hear you sir. wonderful peice. mine is the next success story.
to leave in a world has ours requires constant learning if not, we may just wake up one day and find out that everything is new. one of my mentors said that “life is a school. in this school, there are no graduates. you only change levels” to be relevant in this 21st century requires us to be open to new ideas, technology and things generally if not, we may be incapacitated.