Think Smarter: One emerging trend that isn’t generating much attention, but is one I encourage every organization to think about, is “degrowth”–which I loosely define as consumers’ growing desire to reduce, reuse and repurpose products. This article, France’s Most Valuable StartUp’s Raison D’etre is Creating a Circular Economy for Tech, will give you a glimpse into this powerful and growing trend.
Think in Questions: One of the best ways to probe the future isn’t to seek answers (they don’t always exist), but rather ask better questions. This article, 5 Uncomfortable Questions Good Bosses Ask Themselves, contains questions that can make you a better leader as well as help future-proof your organization.
Think Harder: I thoroughly enjoyed this article, Our Technology Sickness–and How to Heal It. The gist of it is this: technology gives quickly, but takes slowly. One of the most precious things it is “taking” from us is our attention. (If you have ever pulled out your phone during a conversation with a loved one, you are trading “availability” for “attention.” Hint: It’s a poor trade.)
Think Long-Term: If we are going to tackle humanity’s biggest long-term challenges, we will need to become better and more accomplished long-term thinkers. This wonderful article, How Humans Grew Acorn Brains, is written by one of my favorite thinkers, Roman Krznaric, and it will help you think better about the long-term future. We all possess the imaginative capacity to see into the future. It’s time we take responsibility for our actions on the citizens of tomorrow–and this requires that we take the time to think about the long-term impact of our actions.
Think Faster: The world isn’t always transformed by the biggest and sexist technologies. Sometimes, it is something relative mundane–like a robot that can dig. The difference with this new plasma boring robot is that it can dig tunnels 100 times faster and 98 percent cheaper than existing robots. This technology could transform both the U.S. utility grid as well as transportation infrastructure–specifically if can dig tunnels for the super fast hyper-loop trains.
Afterthought: “Our humanity should not be measured by how much attention we attract but by how much attention we devote to what matters.” –Micah Goodman