Think Optimistically: Over tens of thousands of years, the human brain has been trained to optimize around the notions of fear and scarcity. The reason for this is simple: The world our ancestors occupied was a scary place and it was hard to find food. I will be the first to admit that the world [...]

(Editor's note: This week, my colleague, Jeff Appelquist, and I will be in Montana battling the heat and conducting our 3-day experiential leadership seminar, Into the Unknown: Exploring the Leadership Lessons of Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. If you or your organization are interested in learning more about the program, please feel [...]

Think: Well, here we go. Researchers at CalTech have recently developed a robot that can crawl, walk, climb and fly. This article has a brief description of the technology along with an impressive video of the robot in action. My best guess is that among the first markets for the technology will be the police, [...]

Think: "The Great Progression, 2025-2050" is an insightful article and is well worth reading. It is on the long side (about a 20-minute read) but two quotes in particular stuck out to me: 1) "This slow-moving, pro-progress story is being missed by most of the mainstream media chasing the minute-by-minute story of crisis and decline" [...]

Think in Questions: Given the extraordinary advances in everything from artificial intelligence and robotics to biotechnology, nanotechnology, gene-editing and regenerative medicine, here is a question all of us should spend some time thinking about: How Old Can Humans Get? (Hint: One leading scientist thinks the answer may be 1,000 years--or more.) Think Different: What's the [...]

Think: If you're a leader in your organization, I encourage you to read--and then think deeply--about this article: Strategy as a Catalyst for Change. Thinking long-term can sometimes feel like a "fool's game" because so much of the deep future (10+ years) is unknowable and will be unpredictable. Alas, not everything is unknowable. One thing [...]

Think in Questions: If you haven't yet watched the new movie, "Oppenheimer," I highly recommend it. One of the most interesting things for me is that at the time the scientists first tested the atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945 there was a "non-zero" chance that the weapon might ignite the atmosphere and destroy [...]

Think: It is not uncommon to think that whatever era you live in represents the peak--or sum--of all human knowledge. From the perspective of the future however, our "present day" knowledge may well seem laughable. To this end, advances in quantum biology could revolutionize our understanding of how life works. If this is true then [...]

  Think: Gutenberg's Lessons in AI. This is an outstanding article and I highly recommend it. My big take-a-way was this: After the invention of the printing press it took a great deal of time--sometimes decades or even hundreds of years--before certain products, services and concepts were even conceived. In this same way, it is [...]

  Think: Earlier this week, I traveled to Miami to deliver a keynote to the utility industry. Interestingly, Elon Musk recently said the industry will need to produce 3X the amount of electricity it is currently producing by 2045. Of course, the vast majority of this energy will need to be sustainable. Fortunately, advances in [...]