As a digital analyst and anthropologist, I’ve studied over the last 20 years, the evolution of disruptive technology and its effect on business philosophies and models. At the same time, I’ve also studied disruptive technology’s impact on society and human behavior. If I had to share just one thing I’ve learned along the way, it’s that markets are splintering into two notable camps: 1) traditional and 2) hyper-connected aka Generation-C (connected). While this may at first glance seem either obvious…
The Future of Work and Innovation is Tied to Personal Creativity, Productivity and Happiness
What?…Me?…Distracted!?… Yes. You. Us. We are all distracted and have been increasingly so for a long time. But, this isn’t a story about distraction. This is a story about how we, with the help of seductive tech and real-time experiences, disrupted our creativity, promise and happiness. To explain more, I wanted to share a very special conversation with my friends at Gapingvoid Culture Design Group. I’ve had the pleasure to work with them on some of the most creative project…
Employees Swipe Right to Personal Tech in the Workplace
The consumerization of IT has been long in the making. While it’s nothing new, the employee-driven trends of social media, BYOD (bring your own device) and BYOA (apps) in the workplace are only accelerating and proliferating. In addition to managing enterprise technology infrastructure and digital transformation roadmaps, IT must now balance the sanctioning and connectivity of new technologies while also managing and mitigating costs, compliance, security and data risks. At the same time, employees will say, and attentive organizations will…
A Real-Time Conversation About AI and the Future of Work
I recently had one of the most fast-paced, fun and provocative conversations I had in a while. It wasn’t something that happened in IRL. Instead, this real-time conversation took place on Twitter. Organized by Cognizant and Pega prior to #Pegaworld, I joined Ben Pring, author of What To Do When Machines do Everything as well as Cogizant and Pega executives and AI/FoW experts on Twitter, to discuss the unfolding reality of AI and its role in the future of work. And, more importantly,…
Crossing Over to the Darkside of Digital and Seeing the Light
“Yesterday is not tomorrow; we can’t innovate, we can’t do new things by opening old doors.” Paul Miller spends a lot of time thinking about the future of work. In fact, he wrote a book on the subject, “The Digital Renaissance of Work: Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future.” I greatly respect Paul’s work and I’ve been lucky to know him for quite some time now. In fact, I was honored to write the foreword to his book. Following that, Paul…
Would you make a decision to join or leave a company based on how you work?
Did you know that employees and employee prospects judge the immediate and long-term potential of a company by their reliance on desktop phones? To some it makes total sense. Why would any company have tethered devices to talk to someone else? Don’t we have mobile devices and apps for that? Besides, I’m always on the go. On the other hand, some might wonder as to why we would be having this conversation at all. Of course there are desktop phones!…
26 Disruptive Tech Trends for 2016 – 2018
Each year at this time, I read all of the predictions for the new year plus the “top X” lists wrapping out the previous year. Add to that the first week of chaos that is CES and all of the new tech debuting in Las Vegas. And each year, I’m left wanting more substance as I plan my research. So, in 2015, I officially threw my hat into the mix with my inaugural look at “25 Disruptive Technology Trends in 2015 –…
In 2016, Resolve to ‘Disrupt Yourself’
Guest post by Whitney Johnson (@johnsonwhitney), author of Disrupt Yourself Oft-spoken though it is, ‘disruption’ is not a catchword; it’s a powerful force transforming organizations, communities, and ultimately the world. But it starts small, as an individual choice to change. Companies and organizations don’t disrupt unless their people do. Individual disruptors upend their companies in ways not always welcomed by their associates. Disruptors can be seen as a fifth column, undermining the familiar and comfortable status quo, not to mention their colleagues’…
Working for More Than a Living
Special guest post by Tom Rath, author of Are You Fully Charged?: The 3 Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life The concept of bringing people together in groups, tribes, or organizations is based on the fundamental premise that human beings can do more collectively than they can in isolation. Hundreds of years ago, people banded together for the sake of sharing food and shelter and keeping their family safe. The basic assumption was that the association gained by joining a…
To Deliver a Great Customer Experience, Stop Focusing on the Customer You Think You Know
Guest post by Rajat Paharia (@rajatrocks), founder and chief products officer, Bunchball and author of Loyalty 3.0: How to Revolutionize Customer and Employee Engagement with Big Data and Gamification 2015 promises to be The Year of Customer Experience. Companies around the globe are resolving to become more customer-centric because, as Brian lays out quite eloquently in his book: “Now’s the time for an investment in something more than price, performance, or value. The future of business is about creating experience,…
