“What's the problem we're trying to solve?

What is the question that we're trying to answer?

The key is getting the question right.”

I recently had the opportunity to engage in a fascinating conversation with a fellow life-long learner and high-touch futurist. That discussion with Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild, founder of Wild Innovation and Interim Executive Director and Chief Futurist for the Rural Futures Institute (RFI) at the University of Nebraska, was recorded for the Rural Futures Podcast. On a weekly basis, this platform explores rural-urban divide, technology development, and the future of work.

The security and resilience of our critical infrastructure is a long-standing national and economic security matter. I recently spoke at an Electric Transmission Conference about grid resilience as a national security challenge. A common question arose - namely, how we can help Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) understand the national security imperative? Moreover, how can they grow more favorable to rate recovery for utility owners making security and resilience investments?

This week, we're introducing the first Toffler Associates video blog. Team members Masseh Tahiry and Caitlin Durkovich discuss future threats that will impact cybersecurity. They discuss the rapid evolution of tech, the changing character of warfare, and increased tension at almost every strata of society – from the multinational, regional, and national levels to the local (including those on the seams, like criminal syndicates and insurgent groups) - and yet, none of these threats compare to the threat of humans. Watch the video to see why humans are the most pressing threat, and how we should approach cybersecurity with a human-centric focus.

I am so energized and full of hope! I’ve just returned from the beautiful city of Chicago where we hosted the 2018 Future Shock Forum. Everyone who joined us shared incredible connections, questions, and perspectives. To be sure, the event exceeded our expectations.

This event is part of the Toffler Associates legacy. For many years, our co-founders Alvin and Heidi Toffler would host intimate gatherings of curious, accomplished friends and colleagues. They would gather around the kitchen table of their California home to explore ideas and look at the future. Throughout the evening, everyone openly and respectfully challenged each other’s ideas and views on economic and societal patterns, and the alternate futures they prophesied.

During the past few years, investors, business executives, and the public have become enamored by innovative technologies and processes that alter the ways goods are manufactured and distributed. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing allow companies to perform rapid prototyping and build to spec. Sensors and IoT-enabled devices gather data, relay it to the cloud, and provide analytics that create efficiencies and secure machines and people in the manufacturing processes. Distributed production networks decentralize the manufacturing process to a network of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities connected via a shared IT network, enabling a company to control shipping, customize production for regions, or source materials from a variety of locations.

In a crowded conference hall of human resource professionals, the first address of the North Carolina Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) annual conference was high energy, comical at times, and clear in message. The human resource executive needs to “up his or her game” to meet the most demanding challenge today’s organizations are facing – the demand for human talent.

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.”

― Alvin Toffler

In 1970, Alvin Toffler published Future Shock, and introduced a term that has come to define the transformation of industries, markets, businesses, governments, and societies, caused by rapid and often unexpected ‘shocks.’ These deep disruptions shape and reshape business, value generation, human capital, and more – and are happening fast and widespread, impacting societies, businesses, industries, and governments in varying degrees.

The 2016 elections delivered a number of bombshells. The one top of mind for most Americans is the unexpected presidential victory for Donald Trump. (To review, just prior to the November 8 election, national polling data showed Democrats at 272, Republicans 214[1] – with Clinton’s chance of winning at 71.4% over Trump’s 28.6%.[2])

Revitalizing workforce agility is urgent; it is a priority that must be satisfied if business leaders are to achieve transformation or modernization goals amidst an ever-changing landscape.

The future of work and workforce agility is uncertain, but not unknowable. Preparing for the future starts with understanding what is creating it. We have identified five drivers shaping the future of organizations and individuals.

“Be where the world is going.”

– Beth Comstock

I love this quote. Be where the world is going. The commitment to peer into the future to see what is coming and assume the risks of trying new ways to build resilience is easier said than done. Most organizations are still structured for risk mitigation and operational efficiencies. It is no wonder so many leaders feel a constant pull between today’s urgent issues and tomorrow’s more distant – and important – positioning. Few future-focused leaders are brave enough to strike the balance. Those who can will dominate our increasingly unsettled business environment.