IN HOW MANY WAYS CAN YOU USE A PAPER CLAMP OTHER THAN WHAT IT'S ORIGINALLY INTENDED?

THE ABILITY TO ANTICIPATE THE FUTURE PROVIDES THE BIGGEST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Interestingly, author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker, has exhorted this line of thought as far back as the 80's, when he wrote his magnum opus, "Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms".

In fact, he highlighted two other important forward-thinking aspects: the quest for excellence and the pursuit of innovation.

That was my nascent entry into future studies.

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF PERTURBATION

I like what I am reading:

“Feeling uninformed is uncomfortable.

Feeling inadequate or under-skilled is uncomfortable.

Feeling like you are going to be exposed for these things is really uncomfortable.

And yet, that’s when our brains respond and our learning accelerates.”

~ Jason Lauritsen, who runs the Talent Anarchy’s consulting practice to build cultures that fuel innovation;

This phenomenon resonates with my understanding of the power of perturbation, an unique feature of our brain, which is an open dissipative structure, drawing on intellectual cues from Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine.

A SMART ADVISORY FROM TECHNOLOGY FUTURIST DANIEL BURRUS

A Smart Advisory: "To See the Future More Clearly, Think Both/And"

"... We tend to greet innovation with an either/or assumption, either we use the old or the new. 

But this is not an either/or world we live in; it’s a both/and world—a world of paper and paperless, online and in-person, digital and analog, old media and new media...

... When looking at new technology, remember the Both/And Principle and focus on integrating the old with the new to create more value than either have by themselves... "

~ technology futurist Daniel Burrus;

For me, a good example is: I do quick hand-crafted diagramming sketches of salient points, whenever I read/review books and/or online magazine articles in my large ideas scratchpad.

When I need to do presentation, I transcribe some of them into fancy and colourful pieces with the aid of available software-based mapping tools like SmartDraw Pro, MindManager or VisiMap Pro.

Both ways, comprising the old and the new methods, serve their unique purposes.

RAPID CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT...

A Smart Advisory:

"Rapid change is the only constant...

... In the near future, industries will be ruled by technologies that haven’t been invented yet...

... There’s a very good chance that over the next few years we are going to see a revolution in management that is just as profound as the revolution in management that gave birth to the industrial age...

... We literally live today in a world where change has changed... "

~ Gary Hamel, internationally acclaimed management expert and the bestselling author of 'What Matters Now';

[Source: Big Think Edge's 'Manage Change 24/7 with Gary Hamel']

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY ONLINE

[Source: Educators Technology and Mobile Learning]

IDEAS ARE CHEAP; EXECUTION IS WHAT MATTERS!

An astute observation!

"Performance improvement is blind to the lineage of good ideas."

~ Chris Brogan, CEO, Owner Media Group (dedicated to helping owners grow their business through improving their capabilities and connections), and author of 'Benchmarking for Best Practices';

Ideas, in and of themselves, are cheap. Execution is what matters.

Put it in another way: 

In business, the only thing that matters with an idea is whether it improves your performance.

Where the idea originally came from is strictly academic.

DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY

I like what I am reading, about the burden of dealing with uncertainty:

"... To create what will be, you must remove yourself from the constant concern for what already is.

As for the uncertainty, accept the fact that it will weigh on you.

Accept the burden of continuous processing.

There’s no shortcut to deep-thinking and crunching through scenarios in the basement of your brain.

It is perhaps the most important personal investment (and sacrifice) we make.

Chalk it up as a burden of leadership.

No matter what your creative endeavor is, uncertainty will be lingering around every corner.

Embrace it and channel it, and you’ll gain the confidence to lead your team down a foggy path that always changes... "

~ Scott Belsky, Adobe's VP of Community, and Co-Founder & Head of Behance, the leading online platform for creatives to showcase and discover creative work; also author of the bestselling book, 'Making Ideas Happen';

A NICE AND YET PENETRATING QUESTION TO PONDER

A nice and yet penetrating question to ponder (inspired by author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker):

"What do I do in my job that I should only do in Hell?"

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE ABOUT THE FUTURE!

That's right!

In fact, this nice quote of technology futurist Daniel Burrus reminds me vividly of what author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker has said back in the nineties:

"It is the future where our greatest leverage is. We can't change the past, although, if we are smart, we learn from it.

Things happen in only one place - the present, and usually we react to those events.

The space of time in the present is too slim to allow for much more.

It is in the yet-to-be, the future, and only there, where we have the time to prepare for the present."

10 DISRUPTIVE QUOTES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Here are ten disruptive quotes from entrepreneurs to give you inspiration.

“There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you.” 

~ Richard Branson

“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” 

~ Richard Branson

"When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." 

~ Elon Musk

“You have to be burning with "an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right." If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.” 

~ Steve Jobs

"Great companies start because the founders want to change the world... not make a fast buck."

~ Guy Kawasaki

“Want to change the world? Upset the status quo? This takes more than run-of-the-mill relationships. You need to make people dream the same dream that you do.” 

~ Guy Kawasaki

"More progress results from the violent execution of an imperfect plan than the perfection of a plan to violently execute." 

~ Hubert Humphrey

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." 

~ Hubert Humphrey

"You can dream, create, design, and build the most beautiful place in the world, but it requires people to make it a reality." 

~ Walt Disney

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." 

~ Dale Carnegie

 [Source: '10 Disruptive Quotes for Entrepreneurs'] 

TOP 10 EUREKA MOMENTS: SHOWER, SLEEP, AND DRIVE

Just like to share another nice article about inspiration friendly times:

'Top 10 Eureka Moments: Shower, Sleep and Drive'

by Gijs van Wulfen, founder of the FORTH innovation methodology and author of the innovation bestseller, 'The Innovation Expedition'.

What is most striking about the finding is that, less than 1% of the eureka-moments happens “in a brainstorm” or “at work”.

founder of the FORTH innovation method and author of the innovation bestseller The Innovation Expedition. - See more at: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2014/04/20/top-10-eureka-moments-shower-sleep-and-drive/#sthash.lhbZfWgV.dpuf

Gijs van Wulfen

Gijs van Wulfen

Top 10 Eureka Moments: Shower, Sleep and Drive

MINDMAPPING IS JUST ONE VISUAL TOOL!

I have recently commented on the following article:

 'Excellent Visual Featuring The 6 Benefits of Mind Maps',  

appearing in the 'Educational Technology and Mobile Learning' weblog.

"It's important not to get stuck with "mindmapping" as a panacea.

It's just one visual tool.

In today's change-fraught knowledge economy, one's repertoire should be rich and varied as the world around us.

Not all issues, problems or challenges can be addressed from a centralised concept.

Visual tools like causal loop diagram for a systemic view; fishbone diagram for understanding causes and consequences; concept map for a hierarchical approach to appraise superordinate and subordinate data dynamics, just to name a few, should be embraced as part of one's strategy repertoire."

HOW TO STAY ON TOP OF EMERGING TRENDS

Just like to share a beautiful and elegant article on building one's anticipatory prowess, as it touches on the brass tacks of execution. 

'How to Stay on top of Emerging Trends'

by Jorge Barba, who calls himself, a global Innovation Insurgent.

To me, it is much better written - I mean, less abstract - than what technology futurist Daniel Burrus has written earlier, touching in similar vein in his article, "The New Principle of Leadership'. 

BEING AGILE OR STAYING PROACTIVE IS NO LONGER ENOUGH...

I like what I am reading:

"... Being agile or staying proactive is no longer enough in an increasingly competitive global business environment. 

In a world that’s moving at an unprecedented rate, it takes something more:

– the ability to take a sudden burst of insight about the future and use it to produce a new and radically different way of doing things – solving problems, crafting must-have products, creating high-demand services or building new businesses... "

~ technology futurist Daniel Burrus;

You may want to read his latest article:

'The New Principles of Leadership'

Interestingly, he takes his perennial favourite topics, cyclical vs linear, hard trends vs soft trends, for a new spin to convince businessfolks to focus more on building anticipatory prowess as a leadership imperative, instead of harbouring on agility.