Last year I got hit by a truck while I was training for a marathon. My left elbow was torn to pieces and required surgery and six months of therapy to heal. I'll never have full use of that arm again.
I got blindsided . . . hit from behind. I wasn't looking. I didn't see the driver of the truck and he didn't see me.
We run the same risks in our lives, careers and businesses. If we aren't looking for changes, then we won't see them and they will run us over. We might recover, but we'll never be the same.
The good news is that we can anticipate changes. We can learn from the past, understand the present and predict the future. If we do this, we can capitalize on trends, instead of being destroyed by them.
I recently presented EXPLORE: Ten Trends that are Changing the Future to a group of HR Managers. You can listen to the seminar by clicking on the audio player at the end of this post. You can also get the PPT slides here. Download EXPLORE! 2010
As you listen to the presentation, ask yourself three questions:
- How will this trend affect my life, career, family, company and/or clients?
- How can I respond to this trend in a productive way?
- How can I improve my ability to anticipate trends in the future?
The ten trends are:
- Greening - Al Gore is making a living off of this trend. Can you?
- Graying - A person who is 60 years old today has a 3% chance of living to 120.
- Blending - Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the US.
- Connecting - 1 out of 8 couples who got married last year met online.
- Informing - There are more than 3,000 books published each day.
- Globalizing - Doctors' jobs are being outsourced to "nighthawks" in other countries.
- Open Sourcing - Wikipedia is operated by a worldwide network of volunteers.
- Automating - You don't need a lawyer. Get a divorce at www.completecase.com
- Growing - The world's population is exploding, but not in the US or Europe.
- Accelerating - These trends are multiplying and moving faster than ever before.
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