Tectonic Shifts Leading Us to Tomorrow with Futurist David Espindola

Our guest today, futurist and strategy expert David Espindola, wrote a provocative article a few weeks ago with the title, "Tectonic Shifts, Ten Transformations that Will Profoundly Impact Humanity." In this interview, we ask him to defend both his views on the future and his recommended paths to get there.

************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Wordle, French Toast and Hyper-Connected Ecosystems with Expert Dev Mukherjee

In this episode, ecosystem strategies expert Dev Mukherjee shares his insights and knowledge about hyperconnected ecosystems, leadership strategies, garage door openers, french toast and Wordle. 


************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Abundant Public Data Impacts Modern Warfare

My last article was about leadership decision-making processes - where the trifecta of achieving better understanding, making better decisions, and taking better actions leads to better outcomes.  The first part, "achieving better understandings," is evolving at a speed we have never before witnessed as a result of sensors, satellites, smartphones, GPS, social media platforms, AI, big data, analytics and more.  We will spotlight some of these that made the news this week in the tragic events in the Ukraine.

Russia's unconscionable invasion of Ukraine demonstrated in real-time how the widespread use of commercial satellite imagery and sensors and the reporting of massive volumes of public data can impact world events. As an example, Google Maps is likely to have shown the Russian invasion before it became public.  The Observer published this description of the event, "Google Maps’ live traffic data was believed to have indicated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before the news broke. On Thursday, Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, noticed an unusual “traffic jam” at 3:15 a.m.—way too early for rush hour—in Russia’s Belgorod city, near the Ukraine border."

Decision-Making, Complexity, Kill Chains and OODA

New Technologies are important, but not as important as new thinking. ~ Christian Brose

Today, it is more critical than ever for our leaders to understand how to make good decisions, fast. They must understand in a formal way what that takes. Leaders must have an optimized information logistics system that can help them gain an understanding of what is happening around them as fast as possible.  Any kind of friction that delays relevant information from being captured, transmitted, analyzed and reported hinders the ability to make decisions and act (decision-action loop).

The Physics of Business: The Speed Impact

When I talk with business leaders and hear their challenges, speed, and issues around speed, always comes up.  In this short animated-reading, I share the importance and impact of speed on businesses today.




************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Navigating to the Future

The problem with the future lies in its navigation system.  Let me explain.  In my Jeep’s navigation system, I put in my destination and it efficiently proposes routes (preferably over mountains and rivers. The future, however, uses different inputs.  It takes inputs from innovations in science and technology, and mixes them with developments in the societal, geopolitical and economic domains, adds fast changing consumer preferences and behaviors, VC investments, profit motivations, and then sprinkles in some additional earth-shaking catalysts like depressions, wars, pandemics, insurrections, and economic crisis.  Where will that navigation system take us?  Who knows!?  You can see why it’s a fool’s errand to make predictions about the future.

The future’s navigation system is either broken, or we just don’t know how to use it.  It seems to lack a key field – a destination field.  A field where we can specify a place we want to go where humans flourish, develop in healthy ways, in a favorable environment and that is filled with abundance and joy.  If we can find that input field, we should add that destination!

Many of us have given up on navigating to our desired future.  We’ve stopped trying and turned our attention to learning how to best react to whatever comes along on the road to nowhere.  As chaotic and complex as our world is, that still doesn’t seem to be our best option.  As stewards of our civilization and our children’s future, it seems having a desired destination where humans flourish, and choosing the most efficient, equitable and safe routes to get us there would still be in everyone’s best interest.

************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Partner | Optimistic Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Inevitable Minimization of Human Decision-Making

In the near future, many jobs that are accomplished today by humans will be done by sensors, software, and machines.  These include jobs where responsibilities involve inspections, measuring, monitoring, tracking, adjusting, analyzing, moving things and tactical decision-making.  Many of these jobs are tedious or dangerous and having machines take over will be a positive development.  For example, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense recently announced plans for an Amazon-style delivery service in combat zones that will be operated by autonomous robots with air and ground capabilities.  Future Force Development leader Maj. Matt McGarvey-Miles shared that, "Robotic and autonomous system capabilities will play an increasing role in delivering “deployed sustainment” [supplies to troops] in the near-future."  These frontline delivery robots won’t just know a soldier’s static address, but where they are located in real-time while moving in combat zones.  That capability requires sophisticated algorithms and secure real-time GPS-style navigation capabilities.

In addition to autonomous delivery services in combat environments, robots will increasingly be assigned to support soldiers in the most dangerous missions which are often found in complex urban combat environments.  Robots can be used to pick-up and transport the wounded, remove doors, provide access inside buildings, and be the first to enter and surveil a room in combat conditions.  Knowledge is power, and once the robot(s) inform troops about the dangers and resistance they might face, then humans can take the appropriate defensive and offensive countermeasures.

Ecosystems, Automation and Interdependent Capabilities

Ecosystem business strategies involve emerging, changing, and evolving patterns of interdependence between businesses, which are designed to maximize the value of working together. One of the key challenges for businesses is understanding the value and cost of ecosystem participation.  For example, Amazon provides the following illustrative list of value drivers to participating sellers in their ecosystem:

Marketplace for B2C and B2B
300 million active users (potential customers)
1.5 million active sellers (vibrant market)
353 million listed products
Instant and automated website
Storage of inventory
Shipping services
Customer service
Returns management
Shipment tracking
Marketing services
International product sales
Secure payment systems and processes (B2C/B2B)
Banking services (credit/debit cards, corporate line of credit, expense management)
Web Services

Innovation for the Purpose of Human Flourishing

We are drawn to profits like a moth to a flame.  Although the window of opportunity for humans to flourish may be open, we turn away away away to chase the dollar.
We have lived through the invention, innovation and evolution of social media which could have united us in friendship, kindness, love, and compassion, but used it to create social conflict, agitation, divisiveness, disinformation, mistrust, depression in our kids, and to weaken our democracy and diminish our ability to respond to a global pandemic with a unified front.  All for the purpose of generating increasing profits.

We are witnessing the deployment of low-cost lethal drones that can swarm, follow, and attack a person silently from the air using artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and lethal weapons.   These are developed and sold in the pursuit of profits.  Profits don’t respect borders, and these technologies will soon be available to be purchased by all - a fearful thought.

Ecosystem Strategies with Dr. Ron Adner

An understanding of ecosystem strategies is required for every business leader today.  It involves a new way of thinking - a new mindset.  There are massive opportunities for new businesses, processes and innovations to be created by connecting together new and different combinations of data rich businesses into new value creation engines.  In this interview with author Dr. Ron Adner, we take a deep dive into ecosystem strategies.  Enjoy!

For more insight read the article Ecosystem Business Strategies.

************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Partner | Futurist at TCS
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Digital Intelligence

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Featured Post

Leadership Advice from a Futurist - A Reading

Leadership is hard.  So for all the leaders and want-to-be leaders out there, here is some advice that I hope you will find useful. ***...