Will AI take my job?
With all the news about AI (artificial intelligence) related job losses, it’s no wonder this question is top of mind for many people right now.
Category Archives: Commentary
New Year predictions
I personally prefer to continuously adjust my outlook, assumptions and observations throughout the year, as real life doesn’t conform to a calendar. But this is the time of the year that industry analysts and “thought leaders” scramble to publish their New Year predictions of how the world will change over the next twelve months and […]
The Biggest Barriers to Change and Transformation
The biggest barriers to change and transformation are often behaviours, biases, beliefs, mis-management, misunderstandings and misconceptions that survive and thrive unspoken about in the shadows of every organisation. Having been involved in innovation, change and transformation for pretty much all of my working life (over 35 years so far 😳) I have repeatedly encountered THE […]
What are the most important skills for the future?
I was asked the above question by an audience member a few years ago, immediately after a keynote that I had opened with:- “65% of children entering primary school today, will enter jobs that don’t exist yet” * I had gone on to hypothesize what a few of those jobs might be (some of which […]
Different types of diversity
Diversity and inclusion has been a hot topic across organisations for the last few years and at last we are beginning to see progress at many levels of the organisation – although not yet quite as much at the top of most of them as there should be. Much of the focus to date has […]
Virtual meeting TIPS
I didn’t think there was a need to share my virtual meeting TIPS with anyone as I thought they were common knowledge by now. But after recently taking a friend through the very simple setup steps, she asked me to publish them so that she could direct other people to them as in her words […]
Missed Opportunities
In a previous role, my team was responsible for identifying opportunities for innovation and transformation by collecting and curating ideas from employees, customers, partners and the broad ecosystem within which we operated. The hardest part of the job was overcoming internal resistance to change and deeply entrenched biases skewed towards “the way it’s always been […]
Indecent Proposal
A short while ago I was having a conversation with the co-founder of a startup that had been invited to an exploratory meeting with a big, global brand in their industry. She was excited and perhaps a bit flattered that their startup had hit the radar of this company and she was eager to explore […]
You shouldn’t NEED a “Digital Transformation”
“Digital transformation” (DX) is currently one of the hottest topics with IDC predicting earlier this year that global DX spend will reach $1.8 trillion in 2019 and they forecast $6 trillion in global DX technology spend over the next 4 years. In many respects, this has been great for me personally as the calls for […]
The Partnerships and Acquisitions PLAYBOOK
“Who wants a copy of the Partnerships & Acquisitions Playbook????” I asked the audience as I kicked off the day’s proceedings on the Innovation Catalysis stage at Money20/20 this year. I got a few mumbled cheers …….. it was day 2 of the event and the previous night’s party at the fabulous Taste of Amsterdam […]
The FUGLY BABY problem
Has this ever happened to you? You’re browsing the internet, scanning through your social feeds and you come across a proud parent introducing their latest contribution to the gene pool and your first thought is:- “WOW – what a *&%@$ baby!!!”? No? Maybe it’s just me then ……. Now here’s my question to you – “would […]
Do you fear failure?
I used to – but no more. Having been brought up in South Africa in a culture where failure was met with physical punishment in school, in sport, at home and in military training, the fear of failure severely impacted my risk appetite and affected my decision making. Fear was seldom a good motivator in my […]
Pride and decay
I recently snapped the above photo while wandering in the grounds of a glorious old estate where a friend was working and I was saddened to see what was obviously once somebody’s pride and joy, now abandoned and left to decay. The fact that the registration plate spelled “EGO” led me to reflect on the […]
COAL fuelled Corporate Incubation
In spite of the declaration that “Corporate Innovation does not work” by Accenture’s Narry Singh at the WIRED conference in London, Corporate Incubation is a growing hot topic right now. Often fuelled by COAL (Catching On At Last) or driven by FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), many large corporates are setting up their own incubation […]
Appetite for Disruption
“I’m worried that you would leave after 6 months – you know, after you had done the disruption” the hiring manager said as she looked up from her notes. I was half an hour into the interview and for the first time I was at a loss for words (unusual for me as those of […]
Habit forming
“Old habits are hard to break” probably resonates all too well with the many people that are already contemplating their New Year gym resolutions but unfortunately the corollary of “new habits are easy to make” just doesn’t hold true. Contrary to popular belief, it does NOT take 21 days to create a new habit. The […]
Can you tell me a story?
We all love a good story. I grew up in rural Africa, amidst a rich culture of storytelling and at a young age I was conferred with the honorific of “imbongi” by our local people. In Zulu culture, the word is often reserved for those that change the path of the future by telling stories […]
What the world needs now (in addition to love sweet love)
In the light the events over the last few months, I can’t argue with the sentiment expressed by Hal David’s lyrics in Burt Bacharach’s seminal song of the title (here is a link to Jackie DeShannon’s original 1965 rendition as a reminder) and I make no apology for the fact that many of you will now […]
Ever seen a better mousetrap?
If you work in innovation I’m sure you’re tired of hearing Ralph Emerson’s “build a better mousetrap” quote trotted out as the guiding light for new product development. It seems a few too many people have taken the phrase quite literally since the mousetrap is allegedly “the most frequently invented device in US history” according to the […]
Something to believe in
I don’t know about you but I’m spoilt for choice. It’s a great time to be a consumer of virtually anything – technology advances have been driving down barriers to entry in almost every industry, meaning that even the most historically stagnant have now become interestingly invigorated by new entrants and challengers. But for many […]