Heading back to work after the holidays I wondered how many posts I would be reading around digital trends and what 2012 was going to bring. It would appear the answer was ‘less than I expected’. Maybe that in itself is a sign that our industry is growing up and that year on year the stuff we were writing about last year still applies this year. Maybe this year really will be the year of the mobile!?
Of course the world we work in continues to change and the economic climate we are experiencing sets the tone. What we are experiencing now has become the new normal. Interestingly what is often perceived as the face of adversity is also driving positive and interesting changes in our behaviour. Here are ten to mull over.
I particularly like number two. Live a little. Under a barrage of reminders about what you should and what you should not be doing make sure you do actually live a little and go indulge yourself. At work and play. Pursuing your passion, finding new ways to approach things and a fresh mindset has got to be good for business as well as being good for the soul.
Guess what, that might be exactly what you and the economy needs.
Tags: brainfood, change, trends
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Have you heard of the Do Lectures? It’s all based on the idea that ‘people who go and do things can inspire the rest of us to go do things’… and it came from a small but clever country called Wales. Each year they invite a bunch of interesting and inspiring people down to West Wales to tell their story. The talks are available online and what they have developed is a great resource that anyone and everyone can dip into.
I’ve been following a guy called Gerd Leonhard for some time now. He calls himself a media futurist, I buy into what he is saying and I like the way he says it. He spoke at the Do Lectures last year around what he calls ‘the journey from egosystem to ecosystem’. It’s worth watching.
Thinking about some of the things I am involved with right now – including the interesting and big challenge which is how to get a whole country behind sharing good quality content in pursuit of becoming a more attractive and successful travel destination – a lot of what he speaks about resonates with me. That includes the following … in his words plus some of mine (and I guess that’s the point).
We used to live in an egosystem. Everything was big. Big companies, big government and of course big budgets. That has changed in so many ways. We are starting to figure out the value and benefit in small and the challenges and problems associated with big. We have been hugely empowered and we are living in a hyper connected economy.
Collaboration is increasingly becoming the business model of the future. Whilst not impossible, it is going to become increasingly difficult to achieve things on your own. The smartest stuff is often ‘proudly found elsewhere’ and there is nothing wrong with that. Embrace it. Add to it. Make it better. Success is increasingly dependent on return on engagement rather than return on investment. But in pursuit of that success we might have to give up some of the things we like and have become accustomed to. Including control.
These days nothing is ever finished and things are in a constant state of evolution and flux. Being in permanent Beta can be stressful. We have to get used to it.
Interestingly enough much of this will happen in the developing world. Places which are less constrained by ‘the way we do things’ and the structures that exist around them. Increasingly the wisdom of the crowd is driving new ways of doing things and a win win for all concerned.
Regarding that challenge I mentioned earlier these are exactly the sorts of things we are becoming acutely aware of where rising to that challenge is concerned. And I am pretty excited about it. More on that in the New Year so watch this space.
Tags: change, collaboration, future
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