Kevin Novak

The Consequences of Unbounded Optimism Issue 94, February 9, 2023 All societies live by stated or perceived mantras. In the United States we reach for the stars, believe the sky is the limit, and if we build it, they will come. These sentiments permeate our culture, inspire our children, and guide our business leaders. We love entrepreneurialism; we reward it, admire it, and aspire to it. The entrepreneurial spirit and manifest destiny represent the American can-do ingenuity and genius of…

Kevin Novak

February 9, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

How to Master the Art of Storytelling – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

How to Master the Art of Storytelling Issue 93, February 2, 2023 Origin Stories Storytelling and narrative have become the buzzwords of modern marketing. You’ve heard it before: What’s your organization’s brand story? Make your organization come alive through narrative. Help customers relate emotionally to your business by telling a story. And possibly the most ominous: Tell your story, or else your stakeholders will write it for you. Storytelling has been around as long as humans; the 50,000-year-old cave paintings…

Kevin Novak

February 2, 2023

When Less Is More – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

When Less Is More – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

When Less Is More Issue 92, January 26, 2023 “We’re too big to fail.” Try that one out on Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. If there were ever two visionaries with an overabundance of hubris, they’re the ones. Although the concept of “too big to fail” technically refers to an organization that is so important to a financial system that a government would not allow it to go bankrupt due to the seriousness of the economic repercussions (Wiki), one could…

Kevin Novak

January 26, 2023

The Future Isn’t Going to Look Like You Think – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Future Isn’t Going to Look Like You Think – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Future Isn’t Going to Look Like You Think Issue 91, January 19, 2023 Organizations founded on exponential growth are in for a wake-up call. In reverse-trend thinking, some experts believe that good enough is just good enough. Entrepreneurs believe that there are no limits to growth. What do we believe? It requires a deeper look at what is going on in our global population shifts to really understand future growth…or constriction. We wrote about this in our book, The…

Kevin Novak

January 19, 2023

Anger and Rage – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Anger and Rage – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Anger and Rage Issue 90, January 12, 2023 A group of white men wearing T-shirts, Patagonia fleece vests or zip-front sweaters, Allbirds sneakers, and faded jeans are sitting around a conference table. It is 7:30 in the morning. They are collegial, familiar with one another, and engaged in friendly banter. The senior team turns their attention to their leader who has just walked into the room; he looks exactly like they do. Two women follow him, dressed in the female…

Kevin Novak

January 12, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Forging a Pathway Into 2023 – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Forging a Pathway Into 2023 Issue 89, January 5, 2023 Two of the most important qualities we need (personally and professionally) to make good decisions are perspective and context. In order to move forward, both give relevance to how the past informs the present and can be predictive of how to plan for the future. If we take three tenses, we can reflect on what we have learned and how those insights can guide us today and tomorrow. Having said…

Kevin Novak

January 5, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Taking Stock – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Taking Stock Issue 88, December 29, 2022 One could argue that January 1 is an arbitrary date to evaluate the past 12 months. We routinely like to look back to the past calendar year, determine what went well and reflect on what we wanted to change. We view January 1 as a fresh start to tackle our procrastination, fix things that are broken, generally refresh, and forge a committed pathway forward. We all know that for many, these reflections, decisions,…

Kevin Novak

December 28, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Unintended Consequences of Indecision – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Unintended Consequences of Indecision Issue 87, December 22, 2022 Should I stay or should I go? Should we pivot or stay the course? Are my next-gens going to quietly quit? How are we going to make more money in such a disruptive economy? Is everyone going to agree with me? Am I going to be held accountable? Do I even need to be accountable? And why is everything so damned hard all the time? If you are a leader,…

Kevin Novak

December 22, 2022

Value in Every Page: The Truth about Transformation

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

It Was the Best of Times …and Maybe the Worst – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

It Was the Best of Times …and Maybe the Worst Issue 86, December 15, 2022 It’s that time of year for stories. We’ve all got them: holiday merriment, missteps, and mayhem. All the stories that we remember and pass on from our portfolio of family and personal legends. We have a few stories as well. In our new book, The Truth About Transformation, we have an entire section devoted to dispatches (aka case studies) that are some of the most…

Kevin Novak

December 14, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Belonging Matters – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Belonging Matters Issue 85, December 8, 2022 According to the British Columbian First Nation Haida, if you have forgotten or lost your language and your stories you are among the walking dead. (And there are only 24 people left in that nation that speak their endangered language.) The same could be said about evolving an organization’s purpose, using the past to help redefine the future, moving toward a shared purpose and always staying true to an organization’s North Star. A…

Kevin Novak

December 8, 2022

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