Visualizing the Future is not a Privilege; it is a Priority

Visualizing is a Continuous Process of Realizing Potential

Every other person across the planet is now talking about the Future of this or that. There is no future without Visualizing it first. Our planet today is at the precipice of disaster because “We the People” inhabiting it have failed to Visualize Our future with Empathy. Uncaring for the consequences of one’s action, life on planet has brought us to this point of strategic inflection, more by accident and arrogance; rather than by design and diligence. Transformation has to precede Innovation and not the other way around.

Our quest for convenience has obscured the call of our conscience and that needs to be dramatically inverted. Only then can this clarion call for transforming mindsets work.

The Status Quo

The most important first step of any transformation is the mirroring of the status quo; not a projection. Whether one wants to Invent and Innovate or Innovate and Improvise, it is critical to recognize the current state for what it is. How else can one competently decide which of the approaches is relevant? We use jargon like “don’t boil the ocean” without even realizing that the ocean is already boiling.

Illustration 1: How do you shape the Transformation of a Mindset?

Whether it is developed nations such as the United States and Great Britain that embodied innovation to give rise to a new world or rising nations such as India and China, there is a clear Innovation Deficit. The reason for this is very clear. It is a lack of Willingness to face the mirror and read what one sees. Incidentally this is the first principle of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Can one imagine how AI can succeed when the data input in the very first step is not accurate?

Of course, the question is rhetoric to the assumption that those applying AI understand that it serves the purpose of universal decision making in the process of transformation and not for private profit alone. Welcome to the debate, you plodders and philanderers of procrastination!

There is one amusing observation that must not be missed through all this litany and litigation of thought. The future is addressed as though it is somewhere at a distance and does not impact ME or WE. And then, we are producing outcomes that are changing this world.

Paraphrasing Malcolm Gladwell, Exclusivity and Opportunity are at two ends of a spectrum. The challenge of an Intelligent Society and / or an Enterprise is to keep Converging them Continuously. This is the very essence of Artificial Intelligence in our lives where Experimentation is Key; which provides curated data for optimizing transactional decisions.

Are we confusing Transitioning for Transforming?

This question of whether we are confusing Transitioning for Transforming is a polite rhetoric. Truth be told, every human being in every strata of society anywhere in the world has faced the problems posed in each of the above seven stations of life in the recent years. We have been at this Digital Transformation phenomena for quite some time, unwilling to quit the Information Processing space finding every little excuse to inch in the name of online and mobile applications. Which puts the Customers / Consumers between a rock and a hard place; they cannot ignore it as it corners them into conformance but very little benefit accrues to them being on the wrong side of the bargain.

If you observe the above Illustration 2 closely, talent must be prepared to respond to the progression of the 4C’s in a Continuum: From Concepts to Culture to Capabilities to Configuration. There is very little evidence around us that this is happening, leave alone the urgency with which it needs to be addressed.

The Innovation deficit that we find ourselves in our societies is directly proportional to the Leadership deficit. Consider this in the light of Venture Capital Investment just in the first half of 2021 shattering records to record more than $288 billion in investments worldwide; up by just under $110 billion compared to the previous half-year record that was just set in the second half of 2020.

“As we come out of the pandemic, it just became clearer and clearer how important this next generation of technology-powered high-growth businesses are going to be,” said Clocktower’s Savage, who expects this shift in assets to continue. “We will all look back in 15 or 20 years and venture capital as an asset class and the associated sort of derivative asset classes from traditional VC will be much, much bigger.”

Conclusion

To make meaning about the above quote, we must learn to shift our mindsets from the mindset of Returns on Investment (ROI) to Return on Assets Deployed (ROAD). Let there be no doubt about the urgency to catalyze the Flow of Work; from Talent Transformation to Work & Workforce Planning, Work and Innovation Orchestration. There cannot be a Transformation without the aligned 4C’s being transformed in-flight. Yes, you read that right. Transformation & Innovation must be concurrent and urgent in Thought and Action. It is a Burning Platform with raging high sea winds in the form of the four pronged crisis of:

1. Rising debt with Economies globally,
2. Resilience with the unending Pandemic,
3. Ideological conflict with Terror & War and
4. Fake narratives leading Socio- Political divisiveness.

There must be no compromise in developing the five dimension of Leadership that involves everyone driving Talent Transformation through the Intelligent Cycle of Training, Practice and Learning:

1. To find expression to Aspirations with New Ideas and Concepts Design.
2. To find expression to Agility Capitalizing on New Opportunities with Digital.
3. To find expression to Anticipation collaborating on Sustainable Goals & Objectives across the Industry and Life Ecosystems.
4. To find expression to Authenticity raising the bar on Social Consciousness through Innovation.
5. To find expression to Ability increasing the Capacity for Transformation through Resilience.

Whatever The Future (WTF) we are all talking about, let’s get a grip on what needs our engagement on the ground right now and in right earnest. Not just talk but the walk actually!

Please feel free to reach out to me on subbu@hreemm.io to engage personally or just post your perspectives and counter arguments in the comments section here.