Next year marks the 50^th year anniversary of Future Shock. The upcoming milestone presented the opportunity to recently open my well-worn copy to revisit the epochal writing. As the anniversary of this bestseller draws nearer, we will have more opportunities to discuss the impact of the Toffler’s work. One important idea presented towards the end of the book seems very fitting to discuss now, however, especially given our fast approach to the 2020 election season.

Our modern entertainment and pop culture have taken a distinctly, alarmingly dystopian spin. When is the last time you saw the future depicted as a terrific time and place, filled with people thriving thanks to creative solutions to today’s intractable problems? It’s much more likely that you see a trend or concern of today taken to its dreadful conclusion. Take, for example, shows like The Handmaid’s Tale or movies like A Quiet Place. The list goes on with stories of people and communities raging against their context. 

The United States has long maintained a causal relationship between industrial capability and national security. As our domestic manufacturing capabilities continue to erode and fall behind those in other global superpowers, the outcomes are predictable. In a recent series of war simulations, research organization RAND pit the U.S. against China and Russia. The results were startling. We lose quickly and badly.[1]

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.

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.

Smart city technologies include the internet of Things (IoT), hyper-connected citizens, and data-driven public solutions among other things. These innovations are indeed disruptive individually, but in aggregate promise incredible opportunity for our metro areas. They also have the potential to create major hurdles for those tasked with putting these new resources to work. How do you transform an uncertain future into a platform for competitive advantage?

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Once again, the Pentagon has reorganized.[1] Motivated by a concern about how emerging technologies will impact the future of war, the department has aligned its leadership structure to put particular focus on quantum science, hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and directed energy. It’s a change that organizes and assigns specific responsibilities to two relatively new offices within the Department of Defense (DoD) – the offices of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD R&E).

The following recommendations were designed to provide DHS S&T with clear steps to increase reach, impact, innovation, and resilience. Our hope is that you will also be able to use the basis of our study as a starting point to understand the implications these changes mean to you and how to prepare and plan for the future.

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To ensure a successful transformation to a Market Intelligence 3.0 capability, it is important to establish a governance organization to create a business case, develop a roadmap, design associated communication and coaching programs to manage the change across the enterprise, and position a capability that serves as a source of information and insight for leaders across the organization.

Purpose as the reason for action or existence has remained consistent over centuries. It’s where and how people and societies locate their purpose that has evolved over time. As we consider the state of our government and the present and future state of work, we see that the impetus to pursue purpose has not changed, but how and where we find it has.