Are crypto, the metaverse, and all these new ‘sexy fads’ really worth your company’s time? Futurist Jim Carroll explains that while these are important trends, they aren’t really worth your time yet – and they may be overhyped. 

So, what should your organization be focusing on? From adapting to fast-paced markets, to riding generational change, and watching for disruption, Jim outlines what truly matters for businesses in 2022. 

Excel at seizing opportunities, not fads!”

By Futurist Jim Carroll

Part of the art of being a futurist involves knowing how to discern trends that are all hype from those that are not! 

Right now, this dichotomy is playing out in a pretty significant way as companies focus on the current ‘sexy fads’ involving Web 3.0, cryptocurrency, the metaverse and all the other trends that are part of the latest cycle emerging from Silicon Valley.  If you listen to the hype, you would think that you need to rush out and quickly come up with a strategy for cryptocurrency, your virtual presence and more. 

But do you?

Not really. 

From a timing perspective, while these are very real and important trends, they won’t mature and be ready for real disruptive opportunity for quite some time. As I’ve been explaining to my global clients, many of these trends are in the early stages of excessive hype, set to hit the inevitable moment of strategic disillusionment. (We’re witnessing that right now as the crypto world continues a pretty significant meltdown in valuation – it’s gone from $3 trillion at the start of the year to less than $800 million at the moment of writing.)

I don’t want to simply discount these trends, but don’t be caught up in FOMO – the “fear of missing out”! You need to focus on what really matters — and that’s the issue of speed!

Real Strategies, Real Issues

Within my client base of global Fortune 5000 organizations, I’m seeing world class innovators focus on the issue of speed. What with economic volatility, supply chain issues, staffing challenges, and other things, they’ve got bigger concerns to worry about than the price of Bitcoin, virtual avatars or weird monkey art. They know that real success doesn’t’ come from cool trends, but by re-orienting the organization to a faster future!

What BIG issues do they REALLY think about? 

Tapping into future opportunities while managing the challenges that surround them!

While I do a lot of major keynotes for associations and conferences I also do many small, executive-oriented sessions. In fact, that’s become the core of my business over the last 15 years as organizations scramble to keep up with fast change. These range from groups of 10 people around a boardroom table, to senior leadership meetings with 100-200 executives. In other cases, these are customer/client-oriented events – rather than spending money on a trade show, organizations are finding that taking key customers to an offsite event for several days to talk mutual strategy provides far more bang for the buck. 

In both of these cases, I’m brought in by a senior executive to provide a talk on the future trends affecting their particular industry, to help them re-frame the concept of innovation, or a combination of these two key themes.

Regardless of the industry and size of the group, the planning for such a talk often involves a long conversation with the CEO or other senior member of the management team in advance. There are issues that are on the table; often, they’re planning to be out of the office for a day to think, strategize and shape their focus, and I play a key role in this big investment of time. We spend time talking about how I can customize my insight, and hone the message that I can deliver.

I always scribble down little notes of our conversations; I use these when I start my research and when I’m pulling together a slide deck. And through the years, I’ve kept many of these notes; they provide tremendous, wonderful insight into the mindset of a typical major CEO or other senior executive.

I was searching through a pile of these notes the other day and came across one from a few years ago that I think does a really good job of reflecting what’s on the mind of an executive that runs a major, global organization. This particular individual described to me what he hoped his organization and team would be able to develop in terms of core innovation competencies:

• Excel at seeing opportunity: The organization needs to get better at spotting new emerging opportunities, whether with markets, customers, or products. It’s been very, very inwardly focused, and is starting to lose out on many great opportunities because the team seems to be too busy looking inwards, solving problems and firefighting, rather than looking outward to see ‘what comes next, and what should we do about it?’
• Adapt to fast-paced markets: There needs to be a clear recognition that customers are more demanding; that the value proposition of the product line is being subjected to greater pressure than ever before; and that some competitors are moving faster in reinventing the product line. The company is competing more on price than on the value of the product, which is leading to commoditization. They’ve got to get better and speed up the process of adapting to all of this change.
• Watch for disruption: clearly, there are new organizations, particularly in the technology space, looking at the industry and thinking about ways to change the business model. That’s a significant challenge, and the leadership team needs to understand the potential for disruption and think through opportunities for a strong offence and a good defence to deal with this reality.
• Realign innovation pipeline: For years, all R&D has been done internally, yet there’s a realization that the entire process of R&D has changed in almost every industry. The organization needs to be more outward in terms of sourcing external ideas, developing unique innovation partnerships, and seeking to align itself to the ideas of some of the small start-ups that are changing the process of development within the industry.
• Ride generational change: There’s a recognition that the next generation of digital natives is now making their presence well known throughout the organization. They’re impatient for change, full of ideas, and ‘chomping at the bit’ to pursue innovative ideas. The senior management team needs to be thinking about how best to utilize their uniqueness as an opportunity, rather than trying to shut down their thinking because they don’t fit the historical norms of the organization.
• Align to technological velocity: There is a clear understanding that the next wave of technology will not be about streamlining a process or providing efficiencies, instead, it is all about redefining the industry, changing products through pervasive connectivity, and accelerating change in many different ways. The organization needs to learn to ‘innovate at the speed of Apple’ as this fundamental change unfolds.
• Re-assess skills: There is a big mismatch between what the organization has in terms of skills, and the skills that it really needs to accomplish all of the above. It needs to get better at ‘getting the right skills at the right time for the right purpose.’

These are the important issues that you need to be thinking about. The era of acceleration is leading us to a world in which fast action, accelerated decision making and speedy strategy is becoming a critical factor for success. Other trends – those that fit in the faster FOMO camp – can prove to be a powerful distraction from focusing on what really matters.

Jim Carroll is one the world’s leading global futurist, keynote speaker, business trends, and transformation expert, recognized worldwide for his compelling motivational style, delivered on stage or via his world-class virtual broadcast studio, including “Timing the Future: How to Maximize Your Opportunities by Understanding How the Future Actually Happens!” and “What Do World Class Innovators Do That Others Don’t Do?”

For more than 28 years, Jim has shared his insight from the stage with over 2 million people worldwide. Jim’s clients include NASA, Disney, the World Bank, Mercedes Benz, the PGA, Blackrock, the Wall Street Journal, Pfizer, Microsoft, Cisco, and over 1,500 more. He shares his highly customized, industry-specific insight with CEOs, senior executives, government leaders, and leadership teams on the real trends that matter, and the innovation pathways to align to new disruptive realities.

With extensive industry insight and the customized research that he undertakes for every engagement, he helps to transform growth-oriented organizations into high-velocity innovation heroes!