Saturday, November 14, 2015

Consequences of the Unknown


"I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got." 
- Walter Cronkite



In a time where the half-life of any skill is about five years and leaders bear a responsibility of constant learning in order to secure the relevance of their organizations.

These organizations are fearful of being vulnerable to an unknown future, for instance the
militaries have long suffered from the consequences of the unknown. In World War II nearly every military cracked the communications of their enemy. However, each service continued to believe in the invulnerability of their own signals despite the fact they had broken those of their opponents. Consequently the battle was lost

Increasingly organizations requires searchlight intelligence; That is, the ability to connect the dots
between people and ideas giving them an informed perspective in order to anticipate accurately and succeed in the emerging future.

But how can business leaders stay relevant on a playing field that is constantly changing?
The best way to predict the future is to create it:
  • Technology that extends security, people want to be safe at home. For instance, Microsoft and SmartLabs have introduced a kit that allows people to remotely control motion sensors and surveillance cameras at home using the Internet Protocol. Basically, they can monitor their homes from anywhere. Google’s Nest and Apple’s HomeKit are also working on similar technologies
  • People are interested in data that give vitals about themselves with simple dashboard analytics to understand this data. We want to know how we compare to others—in terms of emotional intelligence, sleep patterns, Body Mass Index, etc. Self-quantification is one of the most avidly downloaded IoT applications while wristbands with embedded sensors and software, are among the Internet-enabled consumer products that have taken off the fastest.
  • Services that optimize our machines, connected devices can be optimized to save people time and money. There are new products that can automatically adjust air-conditioners, heaters, and other devices that use electricity, depending on when people are more likely to need them.  General Electric, Whirlpool and startups like Chai Energy—suggest that rising supply will lead to greater demand.
In business, the skill to success is still in the domain of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, of weighing decisions, of collaboration and in trust – qualities that are utterly different from the machine logic of networked sensors and processors we create.

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