It’s time to refine the process you use for making informed decisions about new tech and be a resource for others.
Over the past year, many of us have started using new and existing tech. On one hand, there are many good outcomes resulting from this unexpected and unplanned increase in tech use. For example, tech development has sped up, and more people are experiencing greater personal efficiency. Users are considering long-term adoption of tech that they discovered or were developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, from prenatal telehealth systems to robot shelf-stackers and cleaners.
On the other hand, our responses to the pandemic have required rapid action and change that has impacted how we learn about new tech. I haven’t had…
10 Ideas for Reducing the Unintended Consequences of Emerging Technologies
The appeal of ‘emerging technologies’ is undeniable. It seems like every week there’s a new gadget, app or platform released that sparks excitement about improving operations, services or products. Being an early-adopter can certainly create benefits for your organisation, but the dream of radical positive transformation quickly turns into a nightmare when there are harmful unintended consequences.
New technologies can help to future-proof organisations, but can we future-proof new technologies so they make organisations (and life) better and not worse? Can we reduce the harmful outcomes?
The first hurdle is that the risk of unintended consequences increases along with the…
The resources, experts and ideas within a university campus are a rich source of diversity that can complement a business’s internal capabilities.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses everywhere are rethinking purpose and strategy. Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty, at least one thing is clear: building a sustainable and impactful organisation in this radically changed environment requires more new knowledge and less reference to past ways.
As we shift from response to recovery — from reactive to proactive — there’s an opportunity for leaders to create new links with innovative universities for knowledge and resource exchange.
A positive downstream effect of increasing the quality and quantity links between individual businesses and universities is the strengthening of the business-university nexus; a…
Here are 8 ways executives can broaden their expert networks and info sources by tapping into universities.
Connecting with university professors, staff and students can help executives build more sustainable and impactful businesses. Learning about what’s happening in a university can yield valuable knowledge, create new expert connections, lead to partnerships, and surface business-to-university (B2U) opportunities.
To jump-start your foray into becoming acquainted with today’s university environment I’ve compiled this list of eight information sources. Consider these as starting points to facilitate your introduction to who’s doing what on campus. The majority of these sources are accessible to anyone, regardless of previous interactions with a university. …
When your executive team is ready to recruit a critical thinker or two into your expert network it pays to have realistic expectations for the practicalities of the exercise. Even though the process will likely be different than usual and possibly require more resources, the additional intellectual power gained will be a significant advantage.
Professors and other PhD graduates bring diverse knowledge and skills to the executive’s expert network. I previously wrote about the benefits of having these ‘professional critical thinkers’ as an intellectual resource for the executive team in the Information Age and Exponential Era.
After the decision has been made to include professional critical thinkers in the expert network, the next step is to plan and then implement a ‘recruitment’ process. As with any recruitment, the process must be tailored to internal needs and to the target audience — in this case, professors and other PhD graduates (e.g. university researchers or Post-Ac…
To navigate the challenges of the data-rich Information Age, the CEO and executive team require access to increasingly sophisticated critical thinking skills. University professors and Post-Ac members are professional critical thinkers and offer enormous value to the CEO’s expert network.
The sheer volume and variety of data available to today’s executive team is mind-boggling and continues to grow. It’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created daily by 2025, that’s 463 billion gigabytes per day. This Information Age data explosion is creating new opportunities for leadership teams to innovate and have a faster, deeper and broader impact.
Having access to more data is a key enabler, but to have real value the data must be converted into useful information that the executive team can confidently utilise during strategic decision-making. That is, the disparate unstructured sets of data points…
Removing the barriers that increase professional risk would lead to practical and cultural change.
A professor is professionally better off if they ‘stay in their lane’ rather than sharing their expertise in a new area. A hard truth is being exposed: the current research system lacks the agility required for professors to effectively participate in the preparation and response to urgent global events in the VUCA world. Innovative employment and funding principles could lead to a cultural shift.
The professoriate responded to the pandemic, protests, and bushfires of 2020 with remarkable speed and efficiency. The mobilisation of resources and the sharing of knowledge is even more impressive given that the existing research funding and…
The #Imaginable Project.
In light of the events of 2020 (so far!) let’s talk about the future of leadership.
When it comes to the future of leaders and leadership,
- How can we act together during this moment of uncertainty to change ‘leadership’ for the better?
- What must leaders do more (or less) of right now, for us to be happy, healthy and secure in the future? (Please mention who “us” is in your comments…the whole of humanity, your family and friends, or a subset of people?)
- Have you taken on a new leadership role in 2020, due to the pandemic, protests, or other…
The #Imaginable Project.
Information is everywhere. We constantly receive information from our environment and from within our own bodies. We use it to make decisions about what to do, why, when, where and how. What’s more, we are increasingly reliant on other people for information and our decisions can have life-changing consequences.
In light of the events of 2020 (so far!), let’s talk about the future of information.
When it comes to the future of information,
- What personal change have you made or new habit have you adopted in how you gather or use information during the 2020 pandemic or protests that you…
Online conferences favour inclusion, diversity, and accessibility.
Conferences are reaching a moment of truth in 2020. In-person conferences are going online due to Covid 19 distancing rules and environmental, financial, and technological factors. However, attitudes towards accessibility and inclusion will determine the long-term trajectory for the online conference.
Prior to Covid 19 the conceptual switch to online conferences was already in motion.
Organisers and attendees cognisant of the environmental impact of in-person conferences were searching for sustainable options. Stakeholders were also keenly aware of the lower financial return on investment for attending, hosting, or sponsoring an in-person conference compared to online or other alternatives. Furthermore, technology is…
Kristen Sadler
Learning. Sharing. Running. Traveling. TEDx’ing. Advising. Speaking. Writing. kristensadler.com
