FUTURIST SPEAKER: DEALING WITH CHAOS, DISRUPTION, AND UNCERTAINTY

You don’t have to be a disruptive innovation keynote speaker or futurist to figure out the secret to successfully dealing with chaos and uncertainty. In fact, it’s quite simple, actually. Put simply: Make a point to routinely change in time with changing environments, and if you can’t predict the future, make it a priority to plan around it instead.

In effect, right here, right now, while things are going well, and you can most afford to take chances – before the bottom potentially drops out – is the best time to be doubling down and investing in initiatives that drive ongoing learning and growth for your organization and workforce, and encouraging people to embrace the idea of continued learning through constant trial and error.

That’s because, contrary to popular belief, in uncertain times, you’ve got to take more risks, not fewer if you want to get ahead in business. And these risks have to come in the form of small, smart, cost-effective bets designed as ongoing learning experiences that can help you quickly gain deeper insights into the shape of changing customer preferences and markets and make better choices as you get smarter.

Likewise, you’ve also got to start being more deliberate about putting systems and solutions in place that can help frontline employees more effectively keep their eyes and ears peeled to shifting client needs – and more quickly and continuously adapt their strategies to be more successful in turn on a perpetual, running basis.

Keep in mind that most organizations can now go from concept to execution in under 90 days – and 30 days is the gold standard more often than not. In fact, our consulting firm has multi-billion dollar clients we work with that are now rolling out new apps every 6 weeks for $20K apiece all year round – just for the learning experience. And just in case you missed it, with each and every interaction, clients are telling us how their needs are changing. Since studies repeatedly show that they’re the #1 best proven source where orgs get successful and innovative ideas… the real question to ask yourself here isn’t “do we have what it takes to compete” – it’s “are we giving our people all the tools they need to be effectively listening?”

For the moment though, if you need a good reason to start doing things differently right now, just remember:

– The next 10 years promise to bring more change than the prior 10,000.

– Likewise, customer expectations + competitive landscapes are constantly shifting.

– And thanks to rapid advancements in technology + communications tools, we business leaders are being hit with more unforeseen disruptions harder, faster, and from more angles from ever before.

As a result, the only thing you can count on as an executive today is that the way we’ve “always done things” is all but guaranteed to no longer be the best way to do it. So if you want to get better at operating in a world of constant change? Not only is it time to start challenging yourselves andyour people to constantly think differently. You’ve also got to start putting platforms and programs in place that give your workers the ability to help great ideas bubble from the bottom up, not just top down – and the freedom + flexibility to quickly adapt their strategies to be more successful in turn.