From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I was working on the principle that if you only listen to the voices around you, you'll amalgamate them into something that already exists… My view was that consensus isn't going to build something that will change the game.
By the time he was still scrolling through his options, I simply showed him the answer on my phone. He was taken aback, admitting that this was a far superior approach. This experience exemplifies the revolutionary nature of answer engines.
I think both examples share one glaring mistake. They overlook the fact that even though knowledge diffuses, it is also agglomerative—it tends to concentrate. When it comes to the growth of knowledge, you need to double down on the capacities you already have; you want to build on cities that possess a foundation.
There simply isn't enough creativity and bandwidth at the top to deal with the level of complexity and change in today's world. A century ago, information was expensive to acquire and move- bureaucracy was a logical way of bringing information together. The world simply doesn't work like that anymore.
People really don't oppose new technologies but they question the way they are used so the challenges are more social than they are technological.
Too often, organizations become like frogs in boiling water—gradually losing their competitiveness because everyone is afraid to take risks. The short-term pain of taking a risk seems more daunting than the long-term consequences, even though the long-term pain could be the loss of competitive advantage and, ultimately, the entire value of the enterprise.
Bureaucracy may be humankind's most important innovation. Whether it's scientific innovation, the invention of the steam engine, locomotive, electric-motor, semi-conductor or antibiotics, none of these would have been possible without the understanding of how to work precisely and repeatably at scale; bureaucracy.
Each of us needs a space to think deeply. The best space to think combines the comfort of paper and the advantages of digital technology—in a focused, distraction-free environment.
The notion that the Google or Chrome app could become redundant on mobile devices isn't far-fetched. In a future where direct URL visits are less common, the convenience of an all-encompassing app could significantly alter how we interact with our devices.
Transformation is about understanding how the market is evolving and positioning your organization for the future that's unfolding. It's about ensuring that you're there when that future arrives.
We believe innovation should be a continuous activity. It should be a capability that you are developing and attending to regularly. It requires a kind of fodder of new problems all the time in order to be refining and developing.
We could partly predict where people will come from for future events.