The Future is Now

Over the last thirty years, I have heard this phrase countless times in my career. Whether from a manager to describe a transformational project, or from myself as part of an effort to gain alignment in a joint vision, this common phrase usually announces or recognizes change. This year I have been engaged in exploring new opportunities to interact with leaders and to gain insights into the world outside my sphere. This intentional walk on the wild side has been about removing limits that came about as part of the pandemic. The first thing I understood – we are starting another technology revolution. If your not familiar with the previous industrial revolutions they brought transportation, electricity, the Internet (and computing), and now – Intelligence.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit in a session with a futurist and take some time to reflect on how the accomplishments of this time have fulfilled the vision laid out in the 1960s – specifically in the cartoon – The Jetsons. Chatbots, Self-driving/Flying cars, smart watches, flat screen TVs, 3D printed food, nanotechnology, telemedicine, video conferencing, automatic vacuums, and robotic assistants – all in one TV show, laid out a vision for the family unit that barely resembled the 1960s, but looking at 2024 it seems we have arrived.

One thought did strike me – I am an avid follower of Star Trek. STNG – which aired on TV in the 1990s, employed voice communication with the ships computer as one of the main methods of distilling, analyzing, and “guessing” answers to complicated questions. I think of how our 2024 drive into AI parallels this. We are moving from typed prompt to spoken quickly, and with the critical mass AI has gained, fully expect it to be part of … everything over the next few years.

This is going to be quite a journey, and I hope you will take it with us. I was just thinking about the last time I used (or could find) a phone book this week. It takes a while for wholesale change to arrive and for us all to find our place in it – but it does arrive.