Future of Disruption

Within this week’s episode, we are going to be having that conversation around. What future are you preparing for, beyond your retirement beyond your family beyond all of those other things, there is a broader sense, which we will talk about today. So without further ado, let’s open our minds. Let’s take a second to get receptive to at least the acquisition of one idea that we can take into our daily life that we can push forward that we can launch from that allows us to attain more of our upper limits. As I speak to you it is the year 2016. We are at a miraculous time in our lives. It is the most advanced time as it relates to technology and communication. No time before have we ever been as a global community, so close.

What took years to circumnavigate the world or walk across our continents or introduce ourselves to indigenous populations, outside of where we were from takes moments takes a fraction of a second. It’s amazing. So we’ve taken the broad, really 10 steps back view of the future, a future where technology is going to only get faster, where there’s going to be certain industries that are in upheaval, there will be the creation of jobs, there will be the elimination of jobs, there will be a challenge for you to be relevant within an emerging economy. What future are you preparing for? By no means? Is this conversation intended to convince you to be the next app maker or a product developer or to create a spaceship in your backyard?

This conversation is saying that there are skills there are abilities that are required to be successful within this emerging generation of technology with these emerging markets. And one of two things is going to happen. You are going to make the future happen or the future is going to happen to you. Out of both of those options, one stands in a position of empowerment, and the other not so much. And we’ve seen it happen in smaller scales throughout history. There was a time when all the train unions, right, the train unions, were looking at the automobile. Still similar to right now how the taxis are looking at Uber. And there is a change that is happening right before our very eyes. People. It’s not a joke, the autonomous car is coming.

And while you agree that capsa, especially if you live in New York, yellow taxis, they drive recklessly, it needed, it needed some disruption. And personally, on a personal note, within the 2000 decade, I had a niche, I had a skill, I had a coveted skill where I could create Flash animations. At first, I could create a 32nd commercial. That was 200 kilobytes 30 seconds of text, images, music, and it can be delivered. So effortlessly, because it was such a small file. And I cultivated that niche over the course of 10 years, from 2000 to 2010. And probably it got really big for me between the years of 2009 to 2011. Week after week, I was innovating I started adding video. And then like all industries, it was prime for disruption.

So one day, Steve Jobs decided that he was going to have a new level of beef. With Apple, excuse me with Adobe, Adobe Flash wouldn’t update. It was unresponsive to the requests that Steve Jobs teams were ascending to Adobe and almost overnight, Flash cease to be literally. And at the same time there was an emergence of iMovie there was an emergence of do it yourself. The technology became democratized. So my once coveted, specific skill set, virtually evaporated. And if you if you listening, think that you’re immune to this. Good luck. Because there was a time when I should have pivoted. There was a time when I should have saw the signs and I could have pivoted by building skills that were immune to the changes of time.

So as we understand this, how are you preparing for an inevitable disruption in your industry? Legislation can change, the economy can change, the automation and technology can change that will eliminate certain jobs. What skills are you developing, that make you indispensable in an age where technology can at the very least make what you do more efficient than you could ever do? Because the future is coming. And if you’re waiting for in your industry or in your life, somebody who stands in an ivory tower, to reach down and see how you are and pluck you up and lift you above your current rinks keep waiting. What we must do is we must continue to educate ourselves, we must continue to be curious, we must continue to have the open mind and be receptive to how we can tap into our upper limits.

The rules of the game are not made by the industry they shouldn’t be made by your values they should be made by your vision they should be made by the vision that you have to create for yourself. Now, me myself I’m a freaking seat. I’m freaking seeking freedom. I’m a freedom seeking individual. So therefore my lifestyle should reflect that. Therefore are the decisions that I make going forward in the future should give me maximum flexibility? And also maximum impact based upon the skills that I continue to cultivate? Do you understand technology? Do you understand the dynamics of the emerging markets? Do you understand what your industry may be poised to be disrupted. And as you begin to gather this niche knowledge, if you begin to cultivate and research, it’s not going to happen overnight.

Change doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye change may be realized in a blink of an eye. But there was the slow, progressive momentum that allowed it to come into form. And as you begin to gather this information, as you begin to gather these skills, as you begin to get on the leading edge of change that is about to happen, you are poised to capitalize. There is a future. There’s a future as it relates to your retirement, there’s a future as it relates to how you want to have your career play out. If you’re oblivious to think that technology will not eliminate jobs, if you’re oblivious to think that the future is not going to shift it we are in a time of disruption, we are in a time of unprecedented change.

We are also aided by a level of technology that we can transform an idea into a literal product, a literal service within a blink of an eye. How do you poise yourself? How do you position yourself to take advantage of these times? And the times ahead? What future are you preparing for? Are you continuing to educate yourself? Or will you be like those train workers who are mad that the automobile came along and try to no pun intended? Railroad, the automobile industry? Continue to educate yourself, continue to learn, continue to be curious, continue to go forward and seek a level of excellence that you know you’re capable of achieving. Like I said, the future is going to happen. Will it happen to you? Or will it happen with you? You can be part of it. Or you can stand in the way and allow it to steamroll you over.