I just attended the virtual ‘Reimagine the Future’ conference put on by @Thinkers50, a rolling line-up of outstanding thinkers.
Martin Lindstrom spoke about how a lot of people want to wake up and go back to normal, but we have failed if we haven’t changed as we come out on the other side. The consumer mindset will shift. The biggest mistake will be to go back to the way things used to be.
Scott Anthony spoke about the acceleration of digitisation.
Megan Reitz spoke about disappearing power and how the more senior you are, the more likely you are to believe that people are speaking up to you. If you want people to speak up, you need to look at gender. Our conversational habits have consequences.
Lynda Gratton spoke about how patterns of work will become more flexible.
Tendayi Viki spoke about how we have to innovate before we actually need it. It is the role of the leader to create the best context for innovative ideas to spur. Leaders need to focus on organisational design that gives innovators legitimacy and power.
Benjamin Pring spoke about the new clean regime and conspicuous cleanliness. Everything that can go online will go online. Tech will be central to every aspect of society. The future of change has never been this fast, but will never be this slow again. Norms of life, norms of society that we’ve taken for granted for so long, are all changing rapidly. Sustainability finally makes sense. Social distancing is not a fad.
- From hierarchy to wirearchy
- From centralised to decentralised
- From the thumb to the voice
- From the suit to the hoodie
- From CEO to She-EO
- From ‘Free WiFi’ to ‘WiFi Free’
Amy Edmondson spoke about working fearlessly in the face of wicked problems, cross-sector teaming and intelligent failures. The most important question now isn’t how do we look perfect but rather how do we learn fast? Go on a treasure hunt for the genius of your team. The pandemic is a wakeup call.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter spoke about how we can think outside the structures that confine us, outside both the conventional wisdom and the literal buildings we’ve been used to. Big ideas that require big change take a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectional approach. Leaders who are energisers, sources of hope. To persist, you have to pivot, you have to be flexible.
Faith Popcorn spoke about how human survival will be made possible with technology. Cocooning is about insulation and avoidance. We are super-stressed and demanding radical relief. Coronavirus is killing the office. Wellness is becoming deeply digitised. This pandemic is only one of the future pandemics. PTSD is the next pandemic. Coronavirus is one of the greatest accelerators in history. Pandemic distancing is really going to change human behaviour and psychology. Explosion of creativity, design, innovation. Medical-grade is becoming a status.
Marshall Goldsmith spoke about how this is the year to take care of yourself and your family. Feed-forward as a process: Everyone picks one thing they want to improve. “I want to get better at…” and asks for ideas. When they have been given the idea, you say thank you and move to the next person. Treat ideas as a gift. 6 basic coaching questions:
- Where are we going?
- Where are you going?
- What are you doing well? What are you proud of?
- If you were the coach for you, what suggestions would you have for yourself?
- How can I help?
- What ideas or suggestions do you have for me?
Ming Zeng spoke about how Amazon, Netflix, Alibaba, and Zoom are changing the way we function. Digitising requires a complete transformation and enables customisation and direct customer feedback. Creative jobs are the future. It will take something unique to attract creative talent.
So I’m wondering, how is Covid-19 going to change schools? Will digitisation accelerate? Will timetables become more flexible? Will more women become leaders in schools? Will innovative educators gain legitimacy? Will schools be conspicuously clean? Will there be more interdisciplinary, cross-school and cross sector teaming? Will schools pivot faster and become more flexible?