Get ready for career extinction

I've carefully been watching the crowds in my keynote presentations over the years, and have come to realize that there is a direct relationship between the nature of the audience, and the way that they react to my observations on the future.

Call it Carroll's law, because what I've learned is this -- those doomed to extinction and other severe career implications as a result of rapid change, are usually the least receptive to a message as to the reality of their impending doom. They would prefer to escape rather than adapt to reality.

Looking out into the audience, it sometimes seems like I've got a bunch of deer in the headlights -- they seem so shocked by the change that is occurring around them that they don't know how to take the next steps of figuring out what to do about it. This is particularly true when I discuss the reality of outsourcing/offshoring, or when I focus in on how rapid innovation, fuelled by scientific advance, will continue to cause havoc and turmoil in every industry.

I wrote an article yesterday, How Science Will Change Careers -- And Associations -- that looks at the theme of impending, rapid career extinction. Read the article (PDF)

Article - "We Can't Make Up Our Minds"

My comments about the indecision that is driving the economy made the cover of Meetings World, in this article. "People have decided not to make decisions -- and they like it -- because it mitigates their fear". Read the article (PDF)

What comes next?

Straight from Dallas and on to Ontario -- I'll be talking later in the week on the theme, "What comes next?" -- taking a look at trends involving hyper competition - constant, relentless change - rapid innovation - increasing market risk - the emerging skills shortage - and the exit of 'boomers' -- for clients of Fibrewired, a leading provider of hi-end data and networking services. [ link ]

Upcoming keynote in Dallas -- Keys to Innovation

I'll be doing a short keynote and running a panel of customers of SAP, on the theme "Keys to Innovation" in Dallas, TX next Tuesday. I'll be helping the panelists put into perspective the critical business strategies and governance issues that they have used to prepare their organizations for business in the 21st century.

"...soon hundreds of people were using Mr. Carroll's machine to surf anonymously"

In today's Globe: "Jim Carroll was stunned when Rogers Cable told him it had received a complaint that a hacker was using his Internet address." (PDF)

I wrote about this situation earlier here. And a year ago, my Profit magazine column noted that there were some big board/insurance issues emerging.

An upcoming column of mine notes that infrastructure issues are probably the next corporate Sarbanes-Oxley

What's the future for intelligence?

I'll be keynoting the closing lunch tomorrow at the 14th Annual Canadian Conference on Intelligent Systems. It's a very august crowd of PhD's, researchers, academics and scientists. I can't tell them much about the future that they don't already know -- so I will talk about this:

"In his keynote presentation, futurist, innovation and trends expert Jim Carroll provides critical insight into the deep relationship between the "big issues" of the next 10 years and intelligent systems. He'll provide a clear link between the major demographic, social, business, cultural, economic, mployment and technological trends that come next -- and will relate these to the practical intelligent system research and development occurring today. He
will deliver unique insight into the challenges that face the industry as it goes moves from an era of research and development to a time of implementation -- and what the industry must do to address the potentially significant cultural, social and political barriers that can stand in the way of success."

In honor of DDay....

I posted this clip last November for Rememberance / Veteran's Day, and post it again for DDay -- it's a short video of a program my dad was involved in to help preserve memory of what WWII was all about. Dad died in 1998, but he was a big Internet fan, and I think he would be thrilled at the number of people who have seen this clip online. Watch the video.

Keynote overview - "Bridging a Path to the Future"

"If you're not taking risks in your company and career, you probably aren't adding much value. That was the bottom-line message of futurist Jim Carroll, who delivered the closing general session address on Wednesday to the Spring 2004 Professional Forum of the Industrial Asset Management Council ..... Carroll discussed 10 trends that are shaping the future of the global economy." Take a look at the unique insight I provided to this global conference earlier this spring. (PDF)