Celebrate EXPONENTIAL Change

Since the days of Marcus Aurelius, change has been celebrated as an essential aspect and driver of progress. Today though, we are in uncharted territory when it comes to change. Salim Ismail, the author of Exponential Organizations 2.0, has written extensively about change - not just ordinary change, but exponential change.

Exponential change is closely linked with today’s IT explosion, driving a constant doubling in productivity in the midst of rapidly declining costs. According to Ismail, All organizations are designed for scarcity, efficiency and predictability. And it’s been this way for several hundred years.
The challenge for meeting today is that you need to be architected for adaptability, flexibility, agility and speed.

In a similar fashion, author and consultant Tony Seba has identified five major pillars that he believes encompass the vast scope of this change. Although his language tends towards the dramatic, his data continues to support a near term future marked by massive change.

Seba writes,
We are on the cusp of the fastest, deepest, most consequential transformation of human civilization in history, a transformation every bit as significant as the move from foraging to cities and agriculture 10,000 years ago.

During the 2020s, key technologies will converge to completely disrupt the five foundational sectors that underpin the global economy, and with them every major industry in the world today. The knock-on effects for society will be as profound as the extraordinary possibilities that emerge.
In information,
energy,
food,
transportation,
and materials,
costs will fall by 10x or more,
while production processes an order of magnitude (10x) more efficient
will use 90% fewer natural resources with 10x-100x less waste.

Together, Ismail and Seba are among the top futurists in the world, and deserve careful attention for anyone trying to make sense of how the next five or ten years will unfold.

Fortunately, in the face of this massive wave of change, there are some simple but essential steps that we can take to not only stay aligned with our ROCKET goals - but to harness these exponential forces for accelerating our own waves of progress.

5 Powerful Ways to Harness Exponential Change

1). Make Agility, Flexibility and Adaptability Your 3 Muses
Beauty, Wisdom and Hope remain eternal beacons, even in this era of profound change. But on a day-to-day basis, begin making Agility, Flexibility and Adaptability your constant companions in every situation - large or small. They will grow to be fond of you, just as you grow fond of them.

2). Don’t Wait - Seek Out Change
Be deliberate and seek out the new changes you hear about. Try the new AI technology, practice your pickle-ball serve, test drive an EV, ask your children for some tech advice. The list is endless - but the attitude remains the same - Be relentlessly and excitedly curious about the exponential changes underway.

3). Don’t Be Surprised by Surprises
No one knows exactly how all this technology is going to impact us. Even Tony Seba admits things could go way off course. There are going to be headlines and new ways of working that no one could imagine in a million years. So, instead of living in a constant state of surprise, learn to say “why hello surprise my old friend, why it’s nice to see you again!”. Then see what the new surprise has in store for you - for good and bad.

4). Plan to be Lost, Re-routing is Normal
Let me ask you - the last time you got lost, did you park the car and start walking home in a fit of despair? Probably not! Instead, the GPS was busy re-routing you to your original destination. The GPS is a powerful analogy for daily progress and goal setting, especially when you get off course for whatever reason. Stop if you need to, look at a map, i.e. ask people for directions and help, and then keep driving. It’s that simple when you’re driving, and it’s that simple with all your other projects! Re-routing happens and that’s okay.

5). Play is Work, Work is Play
Play happens when we’re not really worried about accomplishing anything “useful”, and where there aren’t any mistakes because after all, we’re just playing around. This playful attitude is essential for coping with massive change because we are all beginners in an AI exponential always connected world, and play is the safest and fastest route to grasp what is happening.

It can be hard to imagine, but over the next five years there are millions of people who will not only stay agile and flexible in the midst of the coming changes, but they will massively thrive. With the right mindset, engagement, agility and curiosity, you can be one of them!