By Hal Josephson
Seeing 2020
The Holidays leading into the start of the New Year are a great time to take a well-deserved R&R respite. January is generally a month that starts off slowly in both hemispheres. Where I live in New Zealand, it’s Summertime and ½ the population acts like August in Europe. School is out and it’s time-off with family. BBQ’ing and reading at the beach are popular warm weather activities. “UpOver”, in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s Wintry COLD weather and a perfect time to curl up with a warm drink and a book, article in a magazine or a weblog in front of a fire.
It’s also a great time to look back on the past 12 months; and an even better time to look ahead and think about and envision what the coming year(s) have in store. No matter what you do in January, I find its a good time to reflect on the past and project about what’s ahead.
I always like to look at some of the research, predicted trends and prognostications that may or may not be absolutely accurate or true; but certainly appear to be leading indicators of what may be the forces driving change and innovation.
There are six URLs in particular that I reference below. Four are general mega-trend lists compiled by different organizations or individuals. The 2nd set of the four links below do have some overlapping similarities. I find it intriguing to interpolate between all seven sources below to build one’s own “snapshot” of what’s ahead. For me, the best prognostication URLs for the coming year are, in no particular order:
Fortune magazine is a great source of business information and this post profiles four trends that certainly have dominated the media over the past year, and will even more so in 2018 and beyond. HERE
Tech.co from the multi-talented mind of writer/blogger + Adam Rowe. ‘Nuff said. HERE
From Frog Design – some of their best minds designing future products & services. HERE
Futurist, prolific blogger and public speaker Thomas Frey runs the Da Vinci Institute in Colorado. He lists nine mega-trends that he believes are driving future change. HERE
Two others that lead to some meaty thought – leadership thinking or reference statistics that establish trends in innovation and the Internet are as follows:
Foresight and Trends has a downloadable executive summary that is definitely worth a look. Plus, a variety of links off the URL below that offer perspective on a wide-range of topics. Foresight and Trends also organizes and curates the annual FEI, Front End Innovation conference, in Boston and though I’ve never attended, I’d like to go – the program agenda looks most intriguing. HERE
Though not officially yet publicly available – if you’ve never seen Mary Meeker’s slides from her annual presentation about future Internet/mobile trends. HERE
Finally, Singularity University is another organization that produces some of the most forward-looking cutting-edge conferences about the accelerated pace of change and how it will impact our future. If you’ve NOT attended a Singularity University conference or Summit and if you have not read any of their material or perspective from the Founders. HERE
It’s my hope that this compilation of links is a thought provoking resource as you begin your next year in business. Even better, I hope that you find content that makes you think about and perhaps change or adjust your future business strategies and/or best practices to become more successful.
No matter where you get your information or what you read, it’s always useful to find good sources of content that provide new perspective and insight. Perhaps many of you who are reading this will be aware of these referential sites above already. Maybe you know some others that also have intriguing content about our unfolding future. If you do, please be in touch to let me know.
Meantime, I wish all readers of this newsletter a most satisfying, healthy and prosperous next few years until we all see 2020. – Hal Josephson, Founder of MediaSense
Hal Josephson is the Founder of MediaSense, an international business development firm that specializes in strategic marketing planning, special innovative projects and thought leadership program management. During the past 20 years, Hal has worked with Asia Pacific governments, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China, to help these organizations develop and implement strategies and programs that increase overall economic impact. This has included expanding business potential through implementing technology innovation as well as executing on commercialization efforts.
Hal is the author of the forthcoming book, Life-Size Stories: Lessons from the Journey and a public speaker on the topic of 21st Century Creativity in Business. Hal can be reached via e-mail at haljo@me.com and referenced via http://haljo.com/