Kevin Novak

Is Your Organization Ready to Comply with Privacy Protections? Issue 84, December 1, 2022 A wise man once told us when thinking about a significant life event, “We can be prepared, but we’ll never be ready.” So, it may be a stretch to connect mortality with privacy laws, but we would argue that most organizations are neither prepared nor ready to deal with the privacy changes at the state level in the United States and countrywide in many countries around…

Kevin Novak

December 1, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Does It Mean to Practice Gratitude? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What Does It Mean to Practice Gratitude? Issue 83, Nov 23, 2022 We’ve been thinking about gratitude, and not just because it’s the season. Every era has its set of challenges and disasters, and each ensuing decade we think it’s getting worse. But we would argue that perception is based on the human condition that we are risk averse and generally content to live in a safe and secure bubble, professionally and personally. That’s not an indictment, it’s just the…

Kevin Novak

November 22, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Back to Basics – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Back to Basics Issue 82, Nov 17, 2022 How often have we been reminded to get back to basics? We live in an overprogrammed, overcommunicated, overstimulated world. Recently several cultural threads caught our attention, and when combined, remind us of how the basics in art and culture can have a positive effect on ourselves, our workplace, the organizational community, and society writ large in counterpoint to high-tech. Although we have been seduced to worship technology over the past few decades,…

Kevin Novak

November 15, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What’s Holding You Back? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What’s Holding You Back? Issue 81, Nov 10, 2022 An important part of 2040’s practice with our clients is to use an open mind in applying intelligence and solutions from one sector to another. The concept of systems thinking is to look at the world holistically and find the intersections of new ideas and trends that paint a larger picture of an organizational landscape. By habit, we often become so focused on the day-to-day and keeping our nose to the…

Kevin Novak

November 10, 2022

A Modern Fable About Social Media: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

A Modern Fable About Social Media: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

A Modern Fable About Social Media Issue 80, Nov 3, 2022 Over the past 18 years, social media has become a way for organizations to market their products and services. It has also enabled society at large to remove physical borders to connect, express their thoughts and opinions, and share the events of their day-to-day lives. Social media offers efficiency and immediacy in a highly-connected world. Before the internet, connecting took time — whether in person, writing letters, telegrams or…

Kevin Novak

November 3, 2022

Uncertainty and Disruption: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Uncertainty and Disruption: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Uncertainty and Disruption Issue 78, Oct 20, 2022 You know something’s happening, but you don’t know what it is. Your competition is edging ahead. Your stakeholders are ambivalent. Your workforce is listless. Your management team is exhausted. Nothing that worked before is working now. You’re not alone. High performance in disruptive markets puts everyone to the test and on edge. Old strategies don’t work because conditions have changed. Managing a remote workforce with traditional management tactics doesn’t work because they’re…

Kevin Novak

October 29, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Shape of Things to Come – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

The Shape of Things to Come Issue 79: Oct 27, 2022 As we contemplate the end of another year, now is a good time to revisit the opportunities and shortfalls of technology. And to clear up some popular theories that may be losing ground. As we have said many times, technology is no panacea or silver bullet, it is simply a tool to augment our intelligence, make our solutions smarter and help us measure what matters in a way that…

Kevin Novak

October 26, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Uncertainty and Disruption

Uncertainty and Disruption Issue 78, Oct 20, 2022 You know something’s happening, but you don’t know what it is. Your competition is edging ahead. Your stakeholders are ambivalent. Your workforce is listless. Your management team is exhausted. Nothing that worked before is working now. You’re not alone. High performance in disruptive markets puts everyone to the test and on edge. Old strategies don’t work because conditions have changed. Managing a remote workforce with traditional management tactics doesn’t work because they’re…

Kevin Novak

October 20, 2022

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Too Much Choice Makes Brand Loyalty an Endangered Species – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

Too Much Choice Makes Brand Loyalty an Endangered Species Issue 77: Oct 13, 2022 There’s a sea change taking place in social media and streaming platforms which should be a red flag for organizations that offer memberships, subscriptions or use devices that seek to deliver continuous value via consumer consumption, leading to rich sources of recurring revenue. Members Only Membership and subscription have become all the rage over the past five years across many businesses. The continual drips of monthly…

Kevin Novak

October 13, 2022

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps The Past Is No Playbook for the Future Issue 76: Oct 6, 2022 If by chance you have been asleep for the past three decades, you may have missed the success of a systems thinking strategic model. Everyone who understands climate change realizes that we (all of us, sentient and non) live in a closed-loop, interconnected system. That understanding is based on the ability to look at life holistically, connecting the…

Kevin Novak

October 5, 2022