Think: When two powerful trends — like “Generation Z” and climate change — converge it is time for business leaders to pay attention. The fact that six Portuguese youth have filed a climate lawsuit in 33 countries is a harbinger of things to come. Businesses that are contributing to climate change could, in the near future, find themselves as defendants in costly and time-consuming lawsuits. The best time to think about this issue was 20 years ago, the next best time is today.
Think Optimistically: Did you know that the English language has far more words for negative emotions than positive ones? I didn’t, but this is important because it is easy to think the world is going to hell but, as this article — Steven Pinker on the Past, Present, and Future of Optimism–explains there are real reasons to be “constructively optimistic.”
Think Different: Historically, humans have not been good long-term thinkers. If we are to survive as a species, however, it behooves all of us to embrace the skill of long-term thinking. Anything that helps in this goal is, from my perspective as a futurist, a positive thing. Therefore, I encourage you all to read and think about this wonderfully innovative piece of music which just played a note for the first time in 7 years and isn’t expected to finish until the 2640!
Think Smarter: Quantum computers are “game changers.” IBM recently published its quantum roadmap and says it will have a 1,000 qubit quantum computer by 2023. If true, watch out because this development could change a lot of things very quickly.
Heart-Centered Thinking: For the last few years, “digital transformation” has been all the rage. If you want to get ahead of the curve, I encourage you to begin thinking more about “human transformation.” This article can help.
Until next week: Don’t stop thinking about the future! But also never forget “It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting“!
