A lot has changed in 3 years…

And given the logarithmic change of electronic, software and computer technology for the last 75 years, A LOT MORE will happen in the next 18 months…

Last I wrote for TI Especialistas, Augusto was getting married and I was preparing for mine. TI Especialistas had 28,000 visitors every month (now 80,000+) and my own blog was changing from a hobby to a professional blog with 2000 visitors every month (now 53,000+)…

But that is hardly a drop in the pond of what has changed in 3 years… And what will change in the next 18 months…

Change is Coming But What Will Be Changing?

What — you ask — will be changing?

Well, does it really matter if you are not prepared to change you first?

This applies to all generations, not just elders…

Already some of the young generation are becoming overwhelmed with the changes and losing confidence in their abilities to remain competitive.

Already, those whose profession is to be the thought leaders, remain on the front of the curve and share what will be happening next are discovering much has already happened by the time they have their next focus prepared… Their ability to practice their profession is finally being challenged by the rate of change of technology… For those not sure what this means, our thought leaders usually guide the industry to what to do next, the are the pilot of the boat… And the pilots are not getting their information quick enough…

How We Educate Others and Ourselves Will Need To Change

This also means something else — our rate of education, both formal and informal, has to keep pace — and it is falling behind faster than technology is growing…

Read that again and think about the consequences:

Our rate of education, both formal and informal, has to keep pace — and it is falling behind faster than technology is growing…

If you don’t change with change you will soon be left behind — in other words, you will be seeing the taillights of technology created by those who are keeping pace… Not a very comfortable place to be as now you’re focused not on innovation as they are and you should be but on some how keeping the number of taillights to a minimum…

How We Process and Think Will Have To Change

Think about this quote from Albert Einstein…

“We cannot solve the problems we have
using the same thinking
we used to create them.”

If you know anything about Einstein, you know he was talking from more than one level — our thinking, our disciplines, our habits, even our very beliefs need to change in order to solve the problems we have created.

Of course, no one has to do everything… Nor any of this… However, many are — which means they will be the leaders… Where will you be in this shuffle?

And unless you like looking at the technology taillights of others as they lead, as well as what is left after each and every banquet, then take heed…

Seriously…

Looking Back Just 3 Years

Stop and think of what has transpired in the last 3 years…

• Technology changes and transformations are now occurring monthly, they used to occur quarterly not even 3 years ago…

• New applications and software solutions, many offering freeware at the entry level, are being introduced daily…

• Microsoft 365 online has now replaced nearly half the desktop applications (at less than one-third the cost of the entire Office 2012 suite nonetheless)

Mobile usage has jumped from near 5 percent to more than 64 percent overall, many industries seeing as much as 80 percent or more usage of mobile

• One of the more complicated computer systems outside the military, HRIS (SIRH em Portuguese) and the specialty my company focuses on, has seen systems going from secured client/server to cloud and mobile — with security running the forefront of this advance

• Hardware technology has more than tripled in ability, power, capacity — including batteries… Now the Holy Grail for computer battery life isn’t hours, but days (there are several that have surpassed 12 hours within the past 18 months and the number is growing quickly)…

• Seniors in college (last year) will be finding their freshman (first year) course outdated and in some cases obsolete — and are entering the workforce without the skills businesses sorely need from their new recruits…

If not familiar with most of these claims, all can be easily verified by searches on Google, Lexis-Nexis, IDC, Garter, Oracle, SAP, Deloitte, Accenture, capgemini and PwC… I know as our company uses and/or subscribes to them and many more…

What Does All This Mean?

Well, think of it this way. How are you going to solve your problems, which are also Brazil’s problems, using the same thinking that created the current problems? What are you going to have to change to get through this?

And ‘get through this’ are the keywords — there is no getting around it, no throwing it front of the fan to disperse it, no sweeping it under the rug to hide it… It is a bull charging straight at all of us, in any country, and we can only do only one of two things…
Get out of the way (and get used to taillights) — or grab the bull by the horns and go for the ride… One will have various levels of regrets, and the other full of life…

A New Series Focused On What We Need To Look At

This post is an introduction to a series of posts I will be presenting to TI Especialistas, the tagline of which is…
Why is the technology tail still wagging the person?

The series will look at many things…

• the one trait that will make a difference starting now

• The importance of innovation — if you are not doing it now, you are already behind; the difference of innovation from copying and improving

• transformational leadership: what it is, why it is important and what it means to innovation

• social media: why we’re only using a tiny portion of its leverage ability, why C-suites need to be active on social media (keywords: need to be)

• means and ends: which is tech and which are we? What happens when leadership has it backwards?

• The importance of knowing who your thought leaders are and how they get their information

• how to stop learning what you have been told to learn (seriously!), instead learn how to think through processes, problems and challenges innovatively

There will be many more topics to share…

Participation is Conversation: Silence is Not Golden

But I need a favor — I need to know what you need and that knowledge can be gained through your comments. I will reply, even banter with you (more to make both of us think) — all in the name of

• Debating what is important

• Learning to ask the right questions

• Determining where your focus should be

• Learning to discern what are the right questions

What really matters in a world that already has a fast pace of change (and it’s probably the last thing in your thoughts)…

I will be the first to confess I don’t hold all the answers, but there are principles that I will share that work no matter what the environment, no matter what the industry, no matter how slowly or fast things change…

My last words for this installment is directed at decision makers specifically….

For The Decision Makers Reading This

What we tolerate, we cannot change – that toleration can be anything… And everything.

Everything as tolerance stops change dead in its tracks — nothing improves, and most likely gets worse.

So in that sense, I am wrong, things will change when we tolerate, but almost never for the better.

Where it has changed for the better usually has been based upon the principles that will be shared in future posts, but not always, mostly very infrequently…

Otherwise, toleration has never lead change for the better, only for the worse. Reflect on this thought, it will is prevalent throughout all my content, here or elsewhere.

Looking forward to starting a new conversation here with many of you!

[Crédito da Imagem: Change – ShutterStock]