Daily Inspiration: "Don't be frightened of new ideas. Be fearful of your fear of them!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
It’s once been said that the only person who likes change is a wet baby. That much might be true.
Change comes from the introduction of new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing things. And it is certainly true that different people have different negative attitudes concerning change. Perhaps a small minority embrace it, always viewing it as an opportunity to be chased.
Yet many more view it with trepidation, knowing that whatever change they face will cause them a lot of grief, extra work, and new complex realities to managers. Others with it with frustration - “Do we need to go through this again?” And then some view any forthcoming change with weary acceptance. “Wow, am I tired of this!”
And then some recoil in fear, hide with mortal terror, and do everything to deny the reality of what comes next because what it represents is just too horrifying to think about! For this group, fear and change go together like a glove. The scope of the latter feeds the growth of the former until they find themselves in a state of paralysis.
Whichever person you are, stopping every once in a while to think through how you are reacting to and managing change is a helpful and useful exercise.
Daily Inspiration: "A simple act of recognition can often transcend a moment into a moment that matters!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Sometimes, a simple momentary act of recognition will go a long way toward building a longer period of success!
Yesterday, in my keynote for a few thousand cattle ranchers at CattleCon 2024 in Orlando, I gave an early shoutout to the remarkable progress the industry has accomplished through innovative thinking and hard work. The audience gave a pretty massive and sustained cheer, which was rather unexpected. The moment taught me a powerful lesson that I need to make sure I work carefully in what I do - always give recognition to the hard work a group of people have performed, before advising them what they need to do to continue with that hard work into a faster future!
How did this come about? Early on in my talk, I shared some key statistics that give an overview of what the industry has accomplished with an amazing pace of steady innovation since 1997:
- it produces 13% more beef from 30% fewer cattle
- each lb of beef produces 16% less carbon emissions
- it is utilizing 33% less land and 12% less water
- actual bovine emissions are only 2.6% of global greenhouse gas, compared to 26% for transportation
- livestock represents 40% of global agricultural production and supports the livelihood and food security of 1 billion people
- it also represents 15% of global food energy and 25% of dietary protein
- not to forget that grassland ranging and grazing is the most sustainable form of agriculture known
The cattle industry today takes a fair amount of abuse and criticism - and I didn't get into that in my talk other than to forcefully advise that they more forcefully tell their story to the world. I thought it important instead to speak to their efforts and acknowledge their amazing innovative spirit.
Daily Inspiration: "Resilience: It's the thing you develop by turning bad moments into better ones." - Futurist Jim Carroll
Here's a thought for your Monday.
We define our strength in the moments we are weakest; we must learn how to fortify our defenses in the most challenging moments to give us the strength to challenge the moment; we should build up our ability to deal with the bad days by focusing on the better days that are yet to come.
We should discover how to battle back in the most difficult of moments by turning them into moments of triumph.
Resilience is a skill, a hard shell of surviving and thriving that is to be constantly developed, a body armor of the mind, a strengthening of your determination to chase your strength instead of running from your weakness. And it's important as you go into your future - particularly as volatility can come to rule our lives.
Every day is full of surprises - the twists and turns that can change your path, challenge your enthusiasm, and present barriers to your goals. It's what you do with those momentary moments of shock that matters - not the moment itself. It's how you bounce back from the unexpected bounce that will define your path forward - not the bounce itself. It's what you do beyond the momentary moment of shock that is important - not the shock itself. It's how you tell yourself that the blip in your path is just a blip and something to move beyond.
It's what you do in the moment that becomes the moments after that matter.
Daily Inspiration: "A little bit of ingenuity will go a long way to achieving a big bit of innovation success!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Any innovation story would not be complete without a little bit of Ingenuity.
The NASA Mars drone, Ingenuity, that is. It's the little spacecraft that could!
The picture in today's quote is Ingenuity's final resting place after its flight; it was discovered after some searching of the Martian Dunes by its parent Perseverance. It brings to an end not only a remarkable mission in space but a wonderful story of new forms of innovative thinking at NASA with many innovation leadership lessons to be learned.
What are those lessons?
First and foremost, innovate on the fly! Most NASA missions are highly complex, tightly scripted affairs using NASA-built technologies - every step is determined in advance, carefully rehearsed, and never deviated from. That's a necessity in the dangerous moments of launch and the harsh environment of space. And yet Ingenuity allowed a team at NASA to step outside this normal way of doing things in several ways, particularly from a collaboration, design, development, and innovation methodology perspective. The entire mission unfolded in a way that was unscripted, unplanned, and wildly successful.
@Teri_Kanefield Maybe people are exhausted and just so tired of everything that has unfolded since the escalator moment of 2015. It's a freakin' long decade, and people just want it to end. So emotions run hot and people express their frustration.
Daily Inspiration: "At what moment will you finally realize that your future will be unpredictably unpredictable?" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Surprise!
You never really know what might come next - volatility, surprise, and unforeseen events are your new normal. That's why your success tomorrow will come from your adaptability, agility, and flexibility - not only your ability to change but also your ability to accept that change.
That's because everything is going to change, nothing will stay the same, and the volatility and speed of that change will be unpredictably relentless - and in a word, unpredictably unpredictable.
What should you do to deal with this reality?
Many things.
Be prepared to always adapt to change. That can be a challenge – many people can be significantly resistant to change, which is one of the biggest barriers to holding back the success of many initiatives. Make flexibility your middle name.
Develop the ability to embrace the 'new' and act on it. Don't wait to make a decision when confronted by something new - trust your gut and go with it. It's better to be moving forward than standing still.
Enhance your ability to be able to turn on a dime! Don't cling to what you were doing before - embrace what you need to be doing next.
Double down on your ability to react quickly. There is no time to wait - there is only time to focus on the ability to be nimble.
Make sure you can change quickly, rather than being slow. Focus on your ability to have the courage to value speed over comfort. This involves enhancing the ability to inhibit one's perfectionism to unleash one's sheer desire for speed. Make a few mistakes. It's good for you.
Bottom line? The single most important skill you need to enhance is your intellectual and organizational dexterity, flexibility, and agility.
Because tomorrow will be unpredictably unpredictable.
Daily Inspiration: "Creativity capital, experiential capital, collaborative capital, generational capital - these are now the new requirements necessary for innovation success!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Enhance your balance sheet!
You need to understand what's necessary with 21st-century capital: and why it's not just financial capital anymore!
In the 20th century, financial capital was the resource of choice. That doesn't cut it anymore. Today, it's all about skills, experience, creativity and more. Do you have what it takes? In the 21st century, given the high-velocity economy and the need for agility, organizations will need many different, nontraditional types of capital.
Read the list!
Enhancing your real-world balance sheet with these new elements of capital will prove to increase your innovation capability to a great degree. What's the depth of all the different types of capital outlined above?
Do you have the depth of investment necessary to get you through the future?
If not, start to think about how you can start to get some major investment happening!
Daily Inspiration: "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 Jetsons, but there is something powerful going on.
The other day I filmed a short clip about the trend I see unfolding in my business as the number of speaking engagements continues to ramp up. What has become clear to me is that senior executives in many organizations are now realizing that their exposure to ChatGPT and other large language models barely scratches the surface of how AI is going to affect their organization.
They are realizing they need to know more, at a strategic level, about things like machine visions, cooperative robots (cobots), and all the other big AI Megatrends. My focus on this from well over a year ago with my research and marketing material was bang on.
Indeed, for close to two years, I've been banging out the message that AI is bigger than many people think it is.
Note: Posting will be slow this week, as I'm in Hawaii for an event this Friday. The 5-hour time change makes a difference!
The future is about momentum,
About moving forward, not back.
About not getting stuck in today, but going towards tomorrow.
Start doubling down on your path forward by saying 'NO' to those who will hold you back - battling back against their attitudes, beliefs, and reticence is one of the most important things you can do!
Part of the art in doing that is understanding where their negativity comes from - with the flip side being that you can use this to place a solid foundation beneath your positivity. Consider this - many people have a built-in 'negativity bias' - the fact is, it's an evolutionary trait that has helped humans survive by being more alert to potential threats and dangers. We are hard-wired to think of the downside, not the upside. Understand that fact, and you'll have extra motivation to double down on a better outlook!
There are other factors at work; people are wired for negativity - and hence, standing still - because of simple fear driven by past negative circumstances (job losses or layoffs), their own social or mental health situation, or the simple matter of being too influenced to the downside by those who drag them down. Hello, social media! It's very much the case that as soon as someone descends into a negativity bubble, it's very difficult for them to get out. Don't let them drag you down while it's happening!
All of this means that while you are trying to move forward, the forces of negativity are encouraging you to stand still - and learning to say NO is critical
Say NO to inaction.
Say YES to momentum.
Say YES to chasing new ideas.
Say YES to achieving new things.
Say YES to the ability to make decisions
Say YES to moving forward, not backward!
Say YES to constantly reinforcing your momentum through momentum.
Daily Inspiration: "It's not just the trends that matter. It's how you view them that counts!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
The photo in today's post is from the stage that I'll be speaking from on Friday - I went in today while they were still setting up, to get the lay of the land.
Friday morning I'll offer up a closing keynote for this group, known as the Distributors Contractors Association, on the future of the construction industry.
Essentially, these folks are the ones who put any type of infrastructure into the ground - pipelines, fiber, telecom, and other stuff. It's a pretty massive industry, with thousands and thousands of companies and contractors working in a very specialized niche. And I'm there to shake them up, wake them up, and challenge them on the massive number of new technologies, methodologies, ideas, concepts, and new stuff coming into their industry.
The fact is, they are going to see a LOT of change.
One of the most important things any new speaker does is to check out the audience in advance, to get a good idea of who they are, and how they might be thinking. With that in mind - and since it is Hawaii - my wife and I came over early - far earlier than most of my events. We've seen these folks out and around the resort - out by the pool, in the bar areas watching the Super Bowl, and today, at their opening reception. I quickly get a sense that these are good, honest, hard-working people who've built up a successful business doing good work for quite some time - but who might become quickly overwhelmed by the speed and pace of change coming into their industry.
And the fact is, their industry is going to see a lot of change, and many of them might not be ready for it.
Daily Inspiration: "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 water.
They're delightfully slow.
But I'm never one to miss the opportunity to think about what I am seeing and use it as a prompt for some type of insight. Hence, today's quote. On stage, I'll often use the obvious metaphor of being a turtle vs. an animal that is fast, agile, and swift to adapt - which brings me to this article, in which the Governor of the Cayman Islands referred to a keynote I gave an economic development conference there some years ago.
The full article is here, but here are the relevant parts concerning the need to be a cheetah!
"Of particular interest to your editor were the words—and the AK-47 speed at which they were uttered—of Jim Carroll"
At this time back in 2007, I was the opening keynote speaker for the Cayman Business Forum. I had about 700 people in the room; international financiers, wealth managers, bankers. At the time, Cayman was one of the world's leading offshore banking centers - and the mission of my keynote was to wake up the audience to the vast changes swirling through the global financial community - trends that could make Cayman into a sleepy backwater in the grand scheme of global finance.
When I was preparing for my keynote, I had the delightful opportunity of speaking for about 1/2 hr the prior evening with the Governor of the Cayman, H.E. Stuart Jack around my belief that with forthcoming growth in Asia, and other major trends involving high-end skills, Cayman was certainly in the position of losing its luster and standing in the global money race.
My keynote was open, honest, aggressive, and blunt - and resonated. Read more.
Daily Inspiration: "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 water.
They're delightfully slow.
But I'm never one to miss the opportunity to think about what I am seeing and use it as a prompt for some type of insight.
Hence, today's quote. On stage, I'll often use the obvious metaphor of being a turtle vs. an animal that is fast, agile, and swift to adapt - which brings me to this article, in which the Governor of the Cayman Islands referred to a keynote I gave an economic development conference there some years ago.
The full article is here, but here are the relevant parts concerning the need to be a cheetah!
"Of particular interest to your editor were the words—and the AK-47 speed at which they were uttered—of Jim Carroll"
At this time back in 2007, I was the opening keynote speaker for the Cayman Business Forum. I had about 700 people in the room; international financiers, wealth managers, bankers. At the time, Cayman was one of the world's leading offshore banking centers - and the mission of my keynote was to wake up the audience to the vast changes swirling through the global financial community - trends that could make Cayman into a sleepy backwater in the grand scheme of global finance.
Daily Inspiration: "Believe that you can do something noble" - Zachary Taffany
Meet Zachary Taffany. He calls himself "The Vanilla Evangelist."
My wife and I just met him - and listened to a pretty fascinating presentation - at the only vanilla bean farm in the USA - The Hawaiian Vanilla Co.
This is a long post before I get to the point of today's inspiration, so let me just ramble till I get there.
You should know by now that I'm out in Hawaii for an event tomorrow; we came a few days early for a bit of downtime since it is a rather long trip. We've done the things that tourists are normally supposed to do - swim in the ocean (check), swim with the turtles (check), see the whales offshore (check), watch spectacular sunsets (check, check, check) and golf (double check.)
But my wife always likes to make sure that our R&R doesn't just stand for 'rest' or 'relaxation' - she also will often line up some more cerebral activities in addition to vacation time Hence, some of our past trips (particularly when our sons have been with us) have included a tour of a sugar cane factory in Australia, a tour of a mosque in Oman, a working ranch in Hawaii, and other similar adventures over the years. Yesterday, she lined up a visit to a vanilla bean farm. And look, I was skeptical, but I'm always careful to balance our interests and respect her initiative, so off we went.
And I must say - my skepticism vanished! . Read the story!
Daily Inspiration: "REAL confidence is having confidence in your confidence!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Ok, I'll close out the week with a golf story. Why not - it's been a bit of a working holiday as I head off to my keynote later this morning after a fantastic week!
My big golf highlight? I got onto the green on an iconic island-hole #17 at Makani Golf Course on the Big Island, Hawaii.n That's it. That's what I've got to report. It's just a golf shot. But at the heart of it, it's a story about confidence.
After all, putting things into perspective, this was no small feat, and indeed, took years of effort, because as with many golfers, I had developed an unhealthy obsessive fear of water. Every time I would come up to water - a river, pond, or something else - would be a cause for trepidation. My old course a few years back had us cross the river 9 times - meaning that the feeling of continual failure could often be reinforced until it became obsessive. And so, over the years, I've been working to fix this unhealthy mindset, by working on my confidence.
Confidence? Today, I stuck my shot within 15 feet of the hole and almost made the putt for birdie. Once I had accomplished this entirely meaningless task, I observed to my wife that I went at the hole with confidence in my confidence - I knew I could stick it to the green and not go in the water. Golf - as is everything - is a mental game - and if you can conquer the mental game, you can do great things.
Confidence matters. Having confidence in your confidence REALLY matters.
Daily Inspiration: "All things are possible with a great mindset" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Just as we were leaving the resort, my eye spotted this sign outside a small clothing shop - 'All things are possible with a great outfit,' and my mind immediately saw in the sign something different. What is it about a mindset that matters?
Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “Whether you think you can or think you cannot, you are right,” highlighting his belief that ultimately, your mindset determines your outcome. Oprah Winfrey has commented that "the greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."
I'm a big believer in that type of thinking. Today is a holiday known as Family Day in my home province of Ontario, Canada - it's a relatively new mid-winter holiday meant to inspire people to pause for a moment from the hustle and bustle of life and spend time with their loved ones. Specifically, then, it's a mindset moment - a day giving you the time to focus on the things that matter. In my case today, I'm blessed to be able to enjoy beautiful sunsets like this with my wife of close to 35 years; without her support, I'd never have the right mindset to do what I do.
Doubling down on efforts to achieve a positive mindset matters, and there are always some things that you can think about in moments of reflection.
Take time to think about your current mindset - and what you should do to ensure that you are more focused on opportunity, not a challenge. Think about what you want to achieve with your time - chase clarity of purpose. Shift your perspective on things - particularly, put under a microscope on how you think about challenges, failures, criticism, and success. View challenges as opportunities, failures as chances to reset, criticism as constructive feedback, and success as the ultimate result of the hard work you will do.
Daily Inspiration: "There's nothing worse than not trying!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
My wife and I have recently been watching the show "Anything is Possible" over on the Disney Channel - it's a 6-part series about the special effects company Industrial Light and Magic. You can watch the trailer here.
And I must say, there are so many stories on innovation and creativity that my mind can barely keep up - it seems that every few scenes I hear or see an observation it is brilliant!
One of my favorites is the moment where George Lucas talks about the team at one point and his effort to try to get them to do the impossible. "They did not know that it could not be done" - and so they did it anyway! You come away from watching the series with the realization that this organization truly learned how to capture the lightning of creativity and innovative thinking in a bottle - there are so many powerful moments! Another moment in the film was the genesis of today's quote - with one individual talking about a particularly difficult project and noting that, at the end of the day, there is nothing worse than not trying.
The entire history of the organization is geared towards creating and developing breakthrough techniques with special effects and embracing the unknown. They do this by taking on the most challenging of all projects that allow them to highlight their innovative and risk-taking culture - and the list of films they have worked on is simply staggering. From Star Wars to Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Titanic, and The Abyss - the list is ridiculous in terms of the number of award-winning, groundbreaking films that have won multiple awards.
With that, the series provides a captivating view into the essence of creativity and innovation - off the top of my head, there are a. number of lessons that can be learned - read my list!
Daily Inspiration: "Vision matters more than insight!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
For some reason, the opening backdrop image for my keynote a few weeks ago for a few thousand cattle ranchers in Orlando featured some cattle being beamed up into the belly of a UFO. I'm not sure why, but heck, I'm good with it!
On with the post - and my key point is this:
---> Vision matters more than insight - Particularly when it comes to AI.
In this case, I'm telling two stories.
First, when it comes to the future, the ability to understand and track the trends - the insight - is critical. But if you don't know how to turn that insight into an actionable vision for the future, then you are truly missing the opportunity that the future can bring you. That's my first key point - and that's why vision matters more than insight.
But there's a second element to this story, and that is, when it comes to AI, you should realize that it is so much more than the insight that you might get via a tool like ChatGPT. That's because even bigger real opportunities are emerging with things such as machine vision and other aspects of AI. And so - vision matters more than insight. Most people don't realize how significant the machine vision aspect of AI truly is - and the fact that it has already been with us for quite some time. It's a rather mature technology - although still advancing by leaps and bounds making its impact even more significant. In fact - the applications in use are already quite prevalent.
In the field of logistics and warehousing, machine vision is being used to identify hazards in warehouses and logistics facilities to minimize risks and prevent accidents. In manufacturing, machine vision cameras are used extensively for defect detection, contaminant identification, and checking for functional flaws in manufacturing processes.
The list goes on - so while everyone is focused on LLM's and ChatGPT, they aren't seeing the bigger picture!
Daily Inspiration: "It's the era of multiple knowledge partners. Because you can no longer know it alone!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Of all the books I've written, I am proudest of "Surviving the Information Age," which was co-written with my wife Christa. Brought to print in 1997, it's a work that looked back at the past of technology and the relationship people had to that point in time, but also involved a look forward to the trends that would define our future.
Wow! I don't mind saying that much of what I predicted became overwhelmingly true! Chapter 5 is a tour-de-force, predicting today's corporate structure: work location won't matter, people will choose lifestyle when making career decisions, the number of full-time jobs will dramatically shrink; and companies will hire the best talent regardless of where that person is located. Yup!
Within the book, I spoke of the nomadic organization - organizations that would work to get the right skills at the right time, for the right purpose, due to overwhelming complexity: with a resulting, increasing need for complexity partners. Simply put, knowledge, markets, skills, and requirements are evolving so rapidly that no organization can ever expect that it will possess all the skills that it will need in the future. Surviving the Information Age lives on - it's available on Amazon!
22 years later, this remains one of the core messages that I bring to the stage because it has become overwhelmingly true. My recent talk at CattleCon 2024 took on this topic in the context of the accelerating knowledge and skills brought about by AI - spinning into the message from the book of 27 years ago but with an AI slant.
My Daily Inspiration post has been helping me start every single morning with some sort of positive thought, since August 2016. I have not missed posting one single workday! So yup, I'm with you on this!
@appagalcrochet The "Coach" thing too is a joke. He'd fail as a motivational speaker. Today, he just said that there is no reason to give Ukraine money since they will just fail anyways.
I thought coaches were, um, there to plan and motivate for success.
Daily Inspiration: "Every great idea was once on the edge of discovery!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
All around you at this very moment in time, some individuals are working away on the next great idea, chasing the next great discovery, and looking for the next great solution. They are always just on the edge of discovery. Most people - including you and I - are usually unaware of what they are doing, what they are thinking, or what they will bring to the world. Many of these discovery voyagers are themselves not yet fully aware of what it is they are doing, how big their idea might be, or what they might accomplish with their efforts. They are just chasing some passion that is important to them, some ideas that are critical to their mind, some brilliant concept that has been resonating and rolling around in their brain for years.
And a few days or a few months a few years or a few decades from now, their idea will blossom into reality, and it will come to shape and change the very foundation of our future.
Their idea might have something to do with science that is just on the precipice, technology that is balanced on the chasm of reality, or biology that only exists right now on the cliff of uncertainty. It might have to do with quantum computer technology and will forever change the power and speed of our processing friends. Or maybe it will involve fusion power or other groundbreaking energy concepts; unique technology brain implants to deal with the increase in Alzheimer's disease, or tiny medical robots that inhabit and navigate our bloodstreams. Others might bring to our future some sort of space elevator or matter teleportation that will allow our species to voyage further into the heavens or wireless energy utilized in living buildings.
Whatever the case may be, their idea is just on the edge of discovery.
Daily Inspiration: "Dare to differ. Be that one in every crowd!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Some people. Innovative people.
Spot the difference!
It's quite true. Some people have a very narrow view of the world and never achieve too much. Innovators have a wide-open mind and change the world in new and continuous ways.
Consider the differences.
Some people see a trend and see a threat. Innovators see the same trend and see an opportunity.
Some people tend to focus on past failures with sadness or disgust. Innovators look at the same failures and analyze them to figure out what to do better next time.
Some people hear an oddball idea, and say, “that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.” Innovators hear the same idea, and think “what a great idea!“
Some people seek solace from others in order to avoid controversy. Innovators seek out groups of people to grab, share and get feedback on new ideas
Some people wish that everything around them would just stay the same. Innovators are eager to change everything they can.
Some people think that progress is great, and that’s gone on way too long. Innovators thrive on the opportunity and challenge what tomorrow brings.
Some people see chaos and become overwhelmed. Innovators see chaos and find patterns, or thrive upon the chaos.
Some people prefer simplicity. Innovators delight in complexity.
Some people avoid the unconventional. Innovators are drawn to it - they are the rebels, the freaks, the oddballs.
Some people strive for perfection, innovators embrace imperfection, finding opportunity within.
Some people stick to their silos. Innovators bust out of them and connect across disciplines.
Some defend the status quo. Innovators challenge it at every turn.
Some people see insurmountable barriers. Innovators see those opportunities for breakthroughs.
Some people, innovative people. Be the difference.
I figured that today might be a good day for a ruling on immunity and voting and all that stuff, but all I found was the fact that Clarence has a deal happening.
My good deed of the week. Someone local lost their dog. My backyard series of webcams (used to grab film of deer and critters - odd hobby) saw her several times and helped them narrow down the location. It also helped everyone realize she was staying consistenly in a small area of the massive forest that is in my backyard.
They found her this morning.
I've never owned a dog, but I understand the heartbreak of those who lose one. It was a thrill to be able to help out!
Posted more than 8 years ago, the video has had more than 24 million views. Think about that!
This fact has relevance to the fact that when the rules no longer apply, it's time to make some new ones.
I'll use this thought process as I tell the story of an AI-based technology company that reached out to me, after my keynote for Cattlecon 2024, for some advice on how to gain traction in the industry. Their product will weigh cattle simply through AI analysis of a picture - that's the product It might not seem like much, but it's truly a groundbreaking technology - one that has big implications for the typical rancher. Even so, as with many start-up companies with a big new idea, it's difficult to gain notice and awareness in the industry. Why? Because the rules for gaining traction have changed! The old rules of branding and marketing were that you came up with a killer product, a marketing campaign, some advertising, and promotion money, and sales would flow to your door. Those rules no longer make sense in a world that is information-overwhelmed, short-attention-span-based, and inundated with new stuff.
With that in mind, I bring you to ClickR Technologies. The founder and CEO, Joey Spicola, saw me speak at CattleCon 2024, and reached out to me, asking if I might be able to help him build awareness of his business and product. I did reply that I tend to focus on doing what I do well (speaking about trends and innovation) and that I'd love to take on a project but know it's not something I can do. I did put him in touch with someone in the industry who might be able to help him.
But I can write a post about what I would do if I were him, and here it is!
Daily inspiration: "Do the wrong things for the right reasons!"- Futurist Jim Carroll
History celebrates the rule-breakers who did the wrong things for the right reasons!
Rosa Parks - she defined the push for civil rights by refusing to sit where she was told. Martin Luther King for a regular series of arrests in violation of demands that he refrain from protesting. Dick Leitsch for conducting a "sip-in" at a New York bar to challenge the prohibition against serving gay patrons. The fact is, none of them were doing anything wrong, other than fighting the unjust injustice of our world. In that vein, doing the wrong thing is doing the right thing in the face of things that are simply wrong!
In business, those who succeed often refuse to adapt and align to the 'right way' of doing things by doing the 'wrong' thing. Steve Jobs failed to follow the traditional rules and business models inherent in the tech world; Herb Kelleher introduced Southwest Airlines, a low-cost, no-frills airline model that went against the traditional airline industry practices; Daniel Ek persisted in the development of Spotify despite being told by everyone that it was the wrong thing to do.
Innovators like this are not fond of rules - because they know that often the rules are illogical, irrational, and impractical. They have a mindset that rules are made to be broken - because the rules themselves are broken! They know that success is a series of failures punctuated by brief moments of brilliance that display the fallacy of the rules themselves!
At this point, it's pretty certain America won't hear Jack Smith's case before the election. And with that, democracy is gone. Fun experiment for the US while it lasted.
@mjf_pro Your problem is that while there are 80 million, most of those votes don't matter. It's only a handful of swing states that determine the outcome, and in most of those states, the election system has been compromised by the deniers. And so the small number who might be pursued by actual evidence will never see the evidence. Kapoof!
@mjf_pro I'm just losing faith in the process at this point. As a Canadian, the mind starts to shift as to what happens at our borders as the US melts down. When I have a bad day, I write shit like this. Sadly, much of it seems to be coming true. https://badthings.jimcarroll.com
Maybe the final chapter in the gong--show that is America will involve an existing President shooting an ex-President on Fifth Avenue, and getting away with it because he has immunity.
Daily Inspiration: "Have you ever realized that maybe it’s your attitude that has you winning in the race to irrelevance?" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Only a fool dares believe that their past defines their future.
I've met a lot of fools.
Hubris, arrogance, imperiousness - these are the sins of failure - all of which can lead a company, or organization to the brink of failure through a race to irrelevance.
With that, read the article posted by the retiring CEO of the Music Teachers National Association with his thoughts on keeping the past and future in balance. Interestingly enough, the title of his article is 'Evading Irrelevance.' Keep that in mind as you read his words.
