Too often, people view Innovation through the lens of today (meaning, they evaluate where things are in relation to their hype cycle or adoption model. While helpful, these methods focus on shorter-term trends. Sometimes, a longer view helps too.
Let's look at the pace of innovation, and how the long waves of innovation are truncating faster.
The theory behind these long waves of innovation is based on creative destruction. To summarize a complex theory, as markets are disrupted, a few key clusters of industries have a major effect on the economy and the future structure of society.
An easy-to-understand example is that as railways proliferated, urban growth happened around stations. To a lesser extent, it happened with aviation as well.
The most recent example would be the transition of businesses online. I think it's likely that the COVID pandemic moved forward the timeline for the 6th wave considerably, as individuals get used to a new normal.
Despite the pain and challenges of new technologies, each of these waves brought economic growth and improved living standards.
ESG and green tech are becoming more important (and, perhaps, a driver of the 6th wave). Nonetheless, I think the major movers will be AI and the decreasing divide between digital and physical.
In many respects, I believe AI will terraform the world similarly to how electricity (or the Internet) did – but in much less time.
The mood was pretty optimistic and bullish. As you might expect, there was a growing interest in crypto and blockchain … and a growing sense of “us versus them” directed at China and Russia. We live in interesting times!
If you want to download my presentation slides, you can do that here.
At the beginning of July, a ransomware attack on IT management company Kaseya's VSA systems by REvil, became big news after influencing over 1500 companies and millions of devices.
It took 19 days before they had a solution that they received from a "trusted third party." It's believed that Kaseya got the decryptor either from paying the ransom or from the US or Russian governments.
It's impossible to protect yourself completely, but there are a lot of simple things you can likely be doing better.
Use better passwords… Even better, don't even know them. You can't disclose what you don't know. Consequently, I recommend a password manager like LastPass or 1Password who can also suggest complex passwords for you.
Keep all of your software up to date (to avoid extra vulnerabilities)
Don't use public wifi if you can help it (and use a VPN if you can't)
Have a firewall on your computer and a backup of all your important data
Never share your personal information on an e-mail or a call that you did not initiate – if they legitimately need your information, you can call them back
Don't trust strangers on the internet (no, a Nigerian Prince does not want to send you money)
How many cybersecurity measures you take comes down to two simple questions … First, how much pain and hassle are you willing to deal with to protect your data? And, second, how much pain is a hacker willing to go through to get to your data?
Happiness is a complex concept comprised of positive emotions, lack of negative emotions, comfort, freedom, wealth, and more.
Regardless of how hard it is to quantify … humans strive for it.
Likewise, it is hard to imagine a well-balanced and objective "Happiness Report" because so much of the data required to compile it seems subjective and requires self-reporting.
Nonetheless, the World Happiness Report does a good job with its annual look at quantifiable factors (like health, wealth, GDP, and life expectancy) and more intangible factors (like social support, generosity, emotions, and perceptions of local government and businesses). Click the image below to view the Report.
In their 2021 report, there was a significant focus on the effect of COVID-19 on happiness levels and mental health.
As you might expect, the pandemic caused a significant increase in negative emotions reported. Specifically, there was a significant increase in reports of worry and sadness across the ninety-five countries surveyed. Moreover, the decline in mental health was higher in groups that already had mental health problems – women, young people, and poorer people.
What's interesting about this is the resilience and bounce-back seen within the data. Considering the amount of disruption to households this past year, it's remarkable how stable the averages for countries have been.
Ultimately, globally, humans persevered in the face of economic insecurity, anxiety, and challenges to mental and physical health.
Despite the changes in emotions in 2020, overall life satisfaction rebounded quickly after March of 2020.
While there was a decrease in overall happiness, the relative balance in the face of such adversity may point towards the existence of a hedonic treadmill – or set point of happiness. I'm always impressed by what people can get used to, and how you can find pockets of joy in even the hardest times … or how people with everything they could ever ask for can still feel profound unhappiness.
It's oddly beautiful and a great reminder that happiness comes from within. Obviously, our environment and circumstances play a part. It's easier to be content with a roof over your head and a stable job. But, after a certain point, it's on us to create our realities.
While the Olympics are more controversial this year than normal, I think most of us can appreciate watching the best athletes performing at their peak. We can also laugh at the cardboard "anti-sex" beds they put in the Olympic Village.
With that, I thought I'd bring back a video I shot with Sébastien Toutant who won a gold medal at the most recent winter Olympics. I met Sébastien while leaving an F1 race in Montréal. I had a chance to talk to him about what makes him tick and where he sees his future.
It's a great case study in self-actualization after you've reached the top of your proverbial mountain top.
There are multiple factors at work in high performance and in keeping yourself passionate and motivated.
1. Find Your Unique Ability
"Snowboarding is my passion. I was doing it every day … Over time, It's my job, but it's still my passion. Every time I strap in on my board, I love it. You have to balance it. You have to keep the fun alive."
Unique Ability is where there's superior skill and it gives you energy, instead of taking energy. When you have to grind every day to become the best, and it's taking energy away from you, you're not going to stick with it.
When it lights you up, there's no limit to the hours or years you can commit to it.
2. Maintain Good Habits and Build New Skills
"Keep Snowboarding. Keep Training. Keep Trying New Tricks. The sport is moving so much, so you always have to improve your riding and invent new tricks. Push the sport to the next level."
Success is a war of attrition. You gain it every day through consistent habits and hard work. It's easy to talk the talk, but it's harder to set yourself up for success. Structure your life, and your environment in a way that makes success the default.
3. Stay Focused on the Future
"You have to make sacrifices to make it there. But it's worth it."
At my office, we practice the idea of "Measure Backwards, Plan Forwards".
To us that means it's important to take time to appreciate how far you've come … yet, it's also important to stay focused on what you can still accomplish.
Your edge is decaying faster than ever before. Competition is growing not just from your competitors but from technology as well. Stay focused on next.
By the way, there is one other lesson this encounter reminded me about – opportunity is all around you … waiting for you to notice and act! It would have been easy for me to filter out the "kid" standing behind me in a line after an event. Luck favors the prepared. Stay focused on what you want and keep your eyes, ears, and mind open for ways to get it!
Last week, we talked about the future of AI and the potential for AI to start taking over some jobs (freeing humans to raise their chins and do something better and more meaningful).
One of the key factors I talked about was "mindset." For example, consider whether you’re in a scarcity or abundance mindset? If you are in a scarcity mindset, that probably means you see life as a finite pie with only so many slices … and if someone else gets a big slice (or something new interrupts you getting your slice), you worry that you might not get what you deserve. On the other hand, an abundance mindset recognizes that there’s plenty out there for everybody, and if there’s no more pie, we can always create new pies (or something better).
I have a picture in my conference room that says energy might be the most important thing to measure.
Yes, it means what it sounds like – but, for us, it also means more.
We use A.I. to trade. So, measuring performance is important. But so are all sorts of production, efficiency, and effectiveness measures.
There are hundreds of important metrics we track day-to-day. Energy impacts many of them (and absolutely affects your ability to respond to change).
Energy affects how you feel, what you do, and what you make things mean. Consequently, energy is an effective way to measure your values too.
We’ve seen numerous inflection points in the past with the introduction of electricity, and then the assembly line and the industrial revolution, with the internet, and now with AI.
There’s always disruption, and there’s always pain, but your mindset and energy can radically change what that means to you … and what you choose to do.
AI is coming. Disruption is coming! It's no longer simply possible; it's not even just probable; it is inevitable. With that said, what you make it mean and how you respond is up to you.
In a prior post, I shared a mindset scorecard I created at Genius Network.
Normally, Genius Network is private, and these recordings are for internal use only; but I asked permission to share my impromptu session with you.
Check it out. In the first 5 minutes, I introduce the scorecard concept. For the next 10 minutes, you'll get an extra look at the resulting group discussion.
Think of each comparison as a spectrum. They're not necessarily "one-or-the-other," but they can help identify where you are on the scale of "what to avoid" versus "what you want."
Blaming <—–> Encouraging
Insistent <—–> Inspirational
Fearful <—–> Abundant
Steadfast <—–> Curious
Clogging <—–> Cleansing
Resentful <—–> Grateful
Zero-Sum <—–> Relational
Small-Minded <—–> Visionary
These words mean something to me, but they may need tooling to work for you. Changing the names, the order of the comparisons, the number of comparisons, etc., can have a profound effect on the usefulness of this scorecard to you.
I encourage you to think about how you could use this scorecard and how you can bring attention to those people and actions that best embody the traits that are important to you or your business.
Identifying the words you want to embody and the person you want to be can help make you responsive to change and a better version of yourself.
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