leadership Archives

The Distortion of Time Issue 103, April 13, 2023 With our celebration and awe of emerging tech (think generative AI), there is a basic issue that we rarely consider: the distortion of time. What we mean is that we are in such a hurry to develop and adopt new tech that we frequently leapfrog over its actual relevance, usefulness or even its consequences to our organizations and business models. Let alone do we address the potential legal or policy issues…

Kevin Novak

April 13, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Future of Personal Agency – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Future of Personal Agency Issue 102, April 6, 2023 It can’t come as a surprise that many people feel they are losing their sense of personal agency in the face of such rapid technological change, global disruptions and polarized social and political factions. Personal agency? It’s a “sense that I am the one who is causing or generating an action. A person with a sense of personal agency perceives himself/herself as the subject influencing his/her own actions and life…

Kevin Novak

April 5, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Were They Thinking? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What Were They Thinking? Issue 101, March 30, 2023 Jared Diamond, author of Collapse, asked a profound question referring to the ancients in Easter Island. When they cut down the last tree on the island, what were they thinking? Seriously, what sane society would make a valuable natural resource extinct with one final hatchet job? Which in turn made their people extinct? Or how about a more complicated social problem replacing the US draft with an all-volunteer military, ultimately making…

Kevin Novak

March 30, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Pathway to Continuous Learning – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Pathway to Continuous Learning Issue 100, March 23, 2023 Editor’s Note: Welcome to the 100th Issue of 2040’s Ideas and Innovations Weekly Newsletter. We thank you for your continued readership and your feedback and comments weekly. Everyone has a personal learning style. Independent learners buck the system and find alternative ways to learn on their own terms. Traditional learners are comfortable with the classic teacher-student relationship. And then there is everyone else in between. Whatever preference you have, continuous…

Kevin Novak

March 23, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Does Your Organization Have Tunnel Vision? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Does Your Organization Have Tunnel Vision? Issue 99, March 16, 2023 You think you see a light at the end of the digital tunnel, and then you realize it is the blinding light of tunnel vision that has derailed you. In considering how to change, transform or simply adapt to changing conditions across a market or profession, organizations (including ourselves) often fall back to doing what we know best and what has worked in the past under different circumstances. Believing…

Kevin Novak

March 16, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Case Study: Sidestepping Accountabilities – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Case Study: Sidestepping Accountabilities Issue 98, March 9, 2023 At 2040 we work closely with our clients to bridge theory to practice. Strategy is great, but if you don’t know how to apply the great ideas, it becomes a hard stop to any forward progress. We can get mired down by details, overthinking – and worst of all, not keeping out of our own way. So, back by popular demand, we bring you another case study that you may be…

Kevin Novak

March 9, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Can You Hear Me … Now? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Can You Hear Me … Now? Issue 96, February 23, 2023 The challenge of communicating with colleagues has become increasingly difficult. With the proliferation of tech experts and Next Gens in the workforce, we may need a translator to ensure we all understand each other. Here’s a real-life example. A content team is struggling to understand how to load a certification testing module into a new software platform. The project lead from the platform is a developer who thinks with…

Kevin Novak

February 23, 2023

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Consequences of Unbounded Optimism – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

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

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