Notices by Futurist Jim Carroll (jimcarroll@futurist.info)

"Cheer for the wins even when they're not yours" - Futurist Jim Carroll

I'm Canadian.

And there's a phrase—or maybe more of a vibe—that's familiar to just about anyone in this country who's achieved some level of success:

"Don’t get too big for your britches."

The reason I bring this up, of course, is because I was reading a book called "A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee." It's a wonderful story of a fellow who decided to walk through all of Ireland, to golf. Walking, from one course to another. Without a car or any other form of transport.

While reading the book, I came across this passage:

"There would always be Irish grumblers at the end of the bar who turned sour at the faint whiff of success -my mother described the Irish she grew up with as champions at commiserating over failure, but real failures at celebrating someone else's good fortune."

Whoah. You can tell it caught my attention and got me thinking.
Back to Canada. It’s the unspoken rule in so many corners of Canadian life that you can stand out, but not too much. Succeed, but don’t talk about it. Be proud, but stay humble. It’s part humility, part politeness, and part something else: a cultural reflex to keep things “even.”
Ask any Canadian who’s built something big, chased a bold dream, or landed in the spotlight. There’s often a quiet pushback. A little side-eye. A subtle signal that maybe they should tone it down.

So is this mindset a unique form of Canadian bitterness.? Hard to say. It’s more like an inherited caution. But it might be one reason why Canada is known globally as an innovation laggard.

#Success #Celebration #TallPoppy #Mindset #Achievement #Support #Growth #Culture #Resentment #inspiration

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-cheer-for-the-wins-even-when-theyre-not-yours/

"It's all fairway when you put in the work!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

If you golf, you know instantly when you hit a great tee shot. And as a speaker, you know instantly when one moment has suddenly changed some lives and an industry. As a golfer and speaker, I've had both moments.

Let's start with golf. In my last few rounds - including yesterday - I've been hitting 100% of fairways consistently. This is a good thing, but it's only happening because I've put in the work. My irons are also, as the vernacular goes, 'dialled in,' pretty consistently hitting within 10 or 20 percent of my target. Golfers obsess over stuff like this.

As a futurist and innovation speaker, I also obsess over the quality of my work.

If you golf, you will know that today is the opening round of the PGA of America golf tournament.

One of my career highlights was back in 2010 when I keynoted the annual general meeting of the PGA of America, the organization that hosts this tournament. Most folks don't understand who the real 'PGA' golfer is who would be a member of this association, and who were at my talk. The folks in the room were not the Rorys and Brysons and Xanders- it was the hard-working local club pro at your golf club. The one who teaches lessons and runs the pro shop, who joins you on Mens Day or Ladies Day, manages the golf course, and hires all the other professional golf staff. Some of them might have competed on tour as a PGA Tour player (a different association!), but many simply love the game of golf and have built a career out of successfully running your local golf club.

And back in 2010, unlike today, the industry they were working in was facing a reckoning.

And somehow or other, I was selected to be the opening keynote speaker for their AGM. My job was to come in and provide insight into the trends that might provide them with opportunities for growth in the future. And that was the entire focus of this AGM - the meeting tagline was 'Grow the Game.' Not only that, my marching orders were to help shake them out of their complacency and encourage them to make innovative thinking the core of what they do.

I piped it.

Read more.

#Preparation #Success #Work #Growth #Dedication #Resilience #Innovation #Adaptation #Excellence #Opportunity #Fairway #Golf #PGA #Practice #GrowTheGame #Handicap #GolfPro #TeeShot #GolfIndustry #ClubPro

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-its-all-fairway-when-you-put-in-the-work/

"Trust in your next step more than you fear the fall" - Futurist Jim Carroll

What's holding you back?

Why are you not trying?

Why are you frozen?

These are some of the questions I've asked myself of others as I began to work on the Mediocrity series of books. In them, I've been trying to capture what it is that holds some people back from moving forward while others seem to have the 'right stuff.' A lot of it seems to have to do with how we treat the issues of action and risk.

And I kept on coming back to the issue that through the years, I've seen a lot of people and organizations who haven't had the confidence to take the first step. They are convinced that they don't have the right skills, the right idea, or the right mindset. The result is they never even bother trying because they convince themselves right out of the gate that they are doomed to fail - and fear the failure more than they should. 

One of the worst things we can ever do in the arc of our trajectory is to never take the first step to try something. That's why mindset matters - if you ever find yourself in these circumstances, know that your hope for your future should outweigh your doubt about your potential for success!

Think about it - you might have big dreams for your future, but they also carry within you an innate fear of what comes next. That’s because the future is uncertain, unknown, unpredictable. The result of the uncertainty is that we can often begin to doubt our potential at the same time that we have big ideas about what we might be able to accomplish.⁣ We then up living a life in which our goals and our realities are always in a state of mismatch, and we end up never being happy with our situation.

⁣⁣⁣Different people approach this conundrum in different ways. ⁣⁣⁣⁣Some manage to let their hope override their doubt and bust through to success. In other cases, the doubt far outweighs the hope and failure is the result - but at least they've tried. And then there is the muddling middle, hope and doubt are equally balanced, such that action never happens -  and mediocrity rules their lives.⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Bust the equilibrium. Shift the balance. Tilt the scale! ⁣

⁣⁣Recognize that you have a choice as to how your future turns out, and a lot of it depends on the attitude that you carry around with you; the determination that you embed within your soul; and the focus that you feature in your mindset.⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Be relentless in thinking about your hopes and dreams, and actively work every dispel the doubt! ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣That can be the one key thing that tips the scales in your favor!

Let your belief in tomorrow be louder than your fear of it. Stack your hope higher than your hesitation. Let your dreams shout louder than your doubts whisper. Make your hope heavier than your hesitation.
When the future feels uncertain, choose to bet on yourself, and when in doubt, lean harder into your potential.

Because you should fuel your ambition more than you feed your fear!

#Trust #Confidence #Action #Fear #Mindset #Growth #Potential #Courage #Hesitation #Momentum

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/daily-inspiration-trust-in-your-next-step-more-than-you-fear-the-fall/

“You've seen what mediocrity looks like. Now escape it!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

It's a special thrill every time you see one of your books in print for the very first time.

This happened again yesterday for the 41st - or is it the 42nd? - a time when my proof copy of Escaping Mediocrity arrived from the printer! And holding both books in my hands for the first time - all flowing from a blog post I wrote on December 15 - was even more special.

I would be super happy if you were to buy a copy of one or the other right now! You can do so on the Mediocrity Web site. 

The books play off each other perfectly:

"One will make you laugh. The other will make you move!"

"You'll see yourself in one. You'll want to become the other."

"You're either embracing mediocrity... or escaping it."

Here's what you need to think about - the idea of embracing and escaping your mediocrity is a powerful innovation theme.

Mediocrity can be the killer of all great initiative and is often hidden - as I like to say, it doesn’t show up wearing a name tag. It hides in routines. It masks itself as caution. It pretends to be "best practice" while quietly draining momentum, ambition, and creativity. It's happening all around you. Maybe it's embedded in your DNA.

That's why you need to escape it!

When I first had the idea of putting together Embracing Mediocrity, it was never meant to be just a humorous read - but people have told me that its satirical take on self-sabotaging behavior certainly sparked laughter. It was designed as a mirror. A brutally honest reflection of how individuals, teams, and organizations justify underperformance. The office drama, the passive meetings, the strategic inaction, the excuses - we’ve all seen it. Some of us have even lived it.

But recognizing mediocrity is only the first step. Now comes the real work: escaping it. And that's the mindset established by the second book. It's why I pulled together Escaping Mediocrity. It's the perfect direct companion to the first book and the essential roadmap for what comes next.

Where one exposes the excuses, the other ignites action.

Where Embracing offers the diagnosis, Escaping is your treatment plan.

One’s a mirror. The other’s a map.

One will sting. The other will spark!

If you're leading a team through uncertainty or trying to reignite stalled
innovation, these books deliver clarity. Embracing Mediocrity reveals the cultural cracks. Escaping Mediocrity gives you the strategy to rebuild stronger.

Read them together. Lead what’s next!

-----

Futurist Jim Carroll was inspired to write Escaping Mediocrity after feedback from someone who read Embracing Mediocrity.

**#Mediocrity** **#Mindset** **#Growth** **#Innovation** **#Leadership** **#Action** **#Potential** **#Success** **#Transformation** **#Momentum**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-youve-seen-what-mediocrity-looks-like-now-escape-it/

"Great leaders don't wait out the storm. They go dancing in the rain!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Imagine a child, maybe seven or eight, standing in the middle of a summer downpour. Everyone else is running for shelter. But this child? Arms out, spinning, laughing—feet splashing in puddles like it’s the greatest adventure in the world. No fear. No hesitation. Just joy in motion, despite the chaos around them.

Dancing in the rain.

That’s the image I want you to hold onto. That’s leadership in uncertainty. That’s resilience in action. I want you to see an executive, seeing all the negative news headlines about uncertainty, volatility, and a potential downturn, and instead of seeing negativity, seeing opportunity.

At some moment in time, while writing this series, I had the idea of someone 'dancing in the rain' while the dark storm clouds of the economy surrounded them. That caused me to realize that the core theme of what is now becoming a book, Dancing in the Rain, has never been about predicting the storm. It’s about how you show up inside it. It’s about how bold leaders create movement - forward, focused, and fearless - when the world stalls in place because while others brace for impact, bold leaders brace for acceleration.

In this series that started back on April 7, I've had 24 posts of stories, strategies, tools, and ideas. At every turn, you’ve been challenged to shift your thinking—from fear to action, from retreat to reinvention, from hesitation to momentum. Any time there is economic uncertainty or volatility, a mindset of inaction settles in. But my message has been considered with numerous lessons along the way:

Mindset is the foundation for resilience. Essentially, my guidance is to opt out of the recession—not as denial, but as defiance. You learned that success starts with the decision to refuse pessimism and lean into possibility. Defiance is powerful!

Opportunity never disappears. Even when the future is uncertain and cloudy, you need to see opportunity. That's why one of my most recent posts asked the question: "Where’s the growth?" The answer was everywhere! In global trends, in overlooked edges, in emerging science. You always need to remember to be able to see opportunity where others see only risk.

Speed matters! From my posts on “Momentum” to “Speed Wins,” I've tried to outline why how fast action isn’t reckless—it’s necessary. Never forget this core lesson: leaders who move first shape the recovery.

Your culture creates your resilience. The internal dynamics you establish in your organization - whether it's shared vision, collaboration, or shared purpose—are the real safety nets in uncertain times.

Future-ready leadership is critical. You won't be resilient if you don't know where tomorrow will take you. Trend awareness, decision velocity, and idea flow aren’t soft skills. They’re survival strategies.

Stop seeking clarity when there is none! In every post, my core message has been you don’t wait for clarity. You create it.

So what do you do with my series? Hopefully, you will remember it and find it useful as we continue to go into a period of wild volatility!

#Dancing #Resilience #Leadership #Action #Opportunity #Growth #Momentum #Courage #Storm #Future

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-great-leaders-dont-wait-out-the-storm-they-go-dancing-in-the-rain/

Scott Galloway's article about the US brain drain? A great read.

https://www.profgalloway.com/brain-drain/

I daresay I predicted this state of affairs EXACTLY in my 2017 post, "What comes next with the decline of an empire?"

Read the post. ALL OF IT IS HAPPENING.

https://jimcarroll.com/2017/05/trends-what-comes-next-with-the-decline-of-an-empire/

Why embrace your mediocrity when you can escape from it?

The second book of this two part series is now out - it's always such a thrill when you finally see it in print! They go together so well!

Learn more at

https://mediocrity.jimcarroll.com

You, when you are embracing your mediocrity.

You, when you are escaping mediocrity!

Two books. One powerful message.

https://mediocrity.jimcarroll.com

It's always a special day when you see another one of your books come to market!

This is #43, and the companion piece to my other book, Embracing Mediocrity!

https://www.amazon.com/ESCAPING-MEDIOCRITY-Accelerate-Achieve-Breakthrough/dp/1069469300/

The first post was April 7. The last post will be **#25** on Monday May 12. The 25 posts become my book Dancing in the Rain.

And I've got a manuscript on my desk.

Move fast and make things.

https://dancing.jimcarroll.com

"While others wait for normal, the bold invent what’s next." - Futurist Jim Carroll

Know what you don’t know about tomorrow.

Find out what you need to know.

Know it.

Then do it.

That's your resilience playbook right there!

That's how you grow into your future.

If there’s one thing this series - and soon to be a book - has emphasized, it’s this: the future isn’t waiting for you to catch up. It’s already in motion. And in times of volatility, downturn, or disruption, the winners are those who don’t just react to change—they run toward it.

The single most important question you should ask yourself as a leader, strategist, or builder of tomorrow is simple: Where’s the growth? What's the opportunity? Where do you find your future?

And the simple fact is - the future is already here. It surrounds you. You just need to see it and act on it. At every single moment, new opportunities are unfolding around you.

Is there a future out there? Definitely yes, but a constant drumbeat of negative news can cause people and organizations to lose sight of what will happen. That's why you should focus on accelerating your insight into some of the key trends that will impact industries, organizations, and careers in the next few years.

What underlies all these trends? Despite a downturn or recession, knowledge still accelerates. The global idea machine still reverberates. Big thinkers still think of how to solve big challenges. Inventors still invent. Dreamers still dream. Innovators still innovate. Doers still do. Change agents can still affect positive change.

And most important? Optimism will always overcome pessimism!

No barrier to the future is insurmountable with the right determination!

Growth is not a given - but it is available. And it belongs to those who choose to seek it out, no matter the circumstances. You can’t wait for a perfect moment to act. You need to act in the moment you have.

When others hesitate, you move.

When others cut, you invest.

When others wait for clarity, you create it.

That’s where the growth is.

Are you ready?

Futurist Jim Carroll follows trends. Obviously.

**#Growth** **#Trends** **#Innovation** **#Opportunity** **#Future** **#Action** **#Resilience** **#Technology** **#Transformation** **#Vision**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-while-others-wait-for-normal-the-bold-invent-whats-next/

"The smartest strategy in a downturn? Say no to the narrative!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Your growth story begins the moment you decide not to take part in someone else’s pessimism.

An economic downturn? Just refuse to participate! In an era of panic, the boldest act is to opt out of the fear. The future doesn’t belong to the cautious—it belongs to the courageous.

With that thought in mind, know this - winners don’t wait. They create.

Recessions don’t kill opportunity. Mindsets do. The companies that shape tomorrow are the ones inventing it today—despite the headlines. That's why the smartest strategy is to 'just say no' to the narrative. After all, if everyone’s playing defense, the game is yours to win on offense. The path to growth starts with rejecting the crowd’s caution!

You can't shrink your way to tomorrow. The organizations that pull back on the initiative to move forward will stay back. Those that move forward now are the ones we’ll be talking about tomorrow. That being the case, mindset is the first move. A downturn is a test of belief.

That's why one of the first things you can do is to dance in the rain. Make the best of a bad situation. Do what you can do despite trying circumstances. Stay focused on your goals despite the fuzziness that surrounds you.

Opting out.

To opt out is to choose not to participate in something.

Right now, the conventional wisdom – the wisdom of crowds – always seems to be that in a period of economic uncertainty or a downturn, the best thing to do is to hunker down, scale back, slow down, take it easy, be cautious, reduce spending, defer our actions, wait it out, take things slow, put things on pause.

And that is just plain, well, the wrong thing to do! History tells us so – because those who choose to opt out of conventional wisdom are those who win.
In recent years, we've seen what happens when some choose not to participate in a recession, economic downturn, or whatever we want to call a period of economic uncertainty. They have determined that it's important to focus on the long-term goal, not the short-term volatility.

What we know from previous downturns is this: those who chose to opt out experienced growth during the downturn that others did not see. Not only that, but their rate of growth after the downturn was greater than those who chose the traditional path of cutting back. Bottom line: long-term winners are those who chose not to participate in a downturn!

It seems simple but is pretty critical – when uncertainty stares you in the face, double down on innovation and transformation, and refocus on the long-term view!

----

Futurist Jim Carroll has chosen not to participate in the common narrative of 2025.

**#OptOut** **#Mindset** **#Growth** **#Innovation** **#Opportunity** **#Courage** **#Resilience** **#Future** **#Strategy** **#Investment**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-the-smartest-strategy-in-a-downturn-say-no-to-the-narrative/

"The faster you accept the reality of your situation, the faster you advance" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Progress in a time on uncertainty begins the moment you stop waiting for the old world to return, and start preparing for the next one.

This is where the idea of the '7 Stages of Economic Grief' comes in. Much like the stages of personal grief, organizations often move through a predictable cycle during economic downturns. Understanding these stages, and accelerating through them, is key to resilience.

Shock: Initial disbelief and paralysis in response to sudden economic signals - plummeting markets, layoffs, uncertainty. Decision-making halts.

Denial: A refusal to accept that the downturn will last or have real consequences. Leaders believe "this will pass quickly" or "we’ll be fine."

Anger: Frustration emerges—at markets, governments, internal dysfunction. Blame takes the place of action.

Bargaining: People start seeking stop-gap solutions or temporary fixes instead of long-term strategic moves. "If we just cut this budget…"

Depression: Morale sinks as a realization settles in that the downturn is real and will last for a while. Talent leaves. Innovation slows. The organization loses momentum.

Acceptance: Reality is finally acknowledged. New strategies are discussed. Leaders begin to plan instead of panic.

Hope: Action resumes. Ideas restart. Teams regroup around future-oriented strategies.

Great leaders don’t stall in grief—they lead their way through it straight into acceptance and hope. Realize this - you can’t build the future in you are in the denial, shock, anger or bargaining phase, because none of this creates momentum. Action does.

Recovery belongs to those who race through the grief to begin moving forward.

Thats' why you need to quickly lead your team through the fog of the grieving process when a downturn begins. While others pause in paralysis, your job is to light the way forward. The best leaders do this by helping everyone move with speed through doubt and into direction. It’s not the recession that breaks companies—it’s how long they stay stuck in it.

What happens if you stay stuck in the anger, shock or denial phase? The state of absolute paralysis when a recession looms and idea factories are being turned off! The result is that they don’t just enter a potential economic recession, they go into an idea recession.

But the winners who achieve growth in a recession don't think like that.

---
**#Acceptance** **#Reality** **#Progress** **#Grief** **#Recovery** **#Momentum** **#Innovation** **#Growth** **#Opportunity** **#Adaptation**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-when-the-world-slows-down-winners-speed-up/

"When the world slows down, winners speed up" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Here’s the truth: downturns don’t slow the future. They compress it.

They intensify it. They accelerate it.

When the world slows down, winners speed up. Downturns don’t delay the future—they accelerate it.

With that being the case, speed isn’t reckless. In a recession, it’s your superpower. That's because, during a downturn, it’s not just the ideas that matter, it’s how fast you move on them.

In times of uncertainty, there’s an instinct to slow down. Pause. Delay decisions. Wait for clarity.

But history—and recent experience—shows that’s exactly the wrong move. When the environment slows, the smartest companies speed up.
We just witnessed that reality on a global scale in the last few years as the pandemic took hold. If you think back to those first few months, the fact is we compressed ten years of change into just six months. Retailers became digital-first overnight. Healthcare embraced telemedicine in an instant. Manufacturers pivoted supply chains on a dime.

So what happened that allowed for this? Major trends accelerated as organizations learned something new about speed! Agility and flexibility became critical because business models shifted faster. Customers changed quickly as people became more adaptable to new interaction methods! Overall, corporate cultures that were once used to working slowly had to embrace speed - with the result that the attitude ‘it can’t be done!’ disappeared, decision-making paralysis disappeared, the slow structure was put under a microscope, old barriers to new ideas disappeared, and "get it done" became the rallying cry!

#Speed #Acceleration #Resilience #Agility #Opportunity #Future #Decisiveness #Momentum #Crisis #Velocity

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-when-the-world-slows-down-winners-speed-up/

"When the world slows down, winners speed up" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Here’s the truth: downturns don’t slow the future. They compress it.

They intensify it. They accelerate it.

When the world slows down, winners speed up. Downturns don’t delay the future—they accelerate it.

With that being the case, speed isn’t reckless. In a recession, it’s your superpower. That's because, during a downturn, it’s not just the ideas that matter, it’s how fast you move on them.

In times of uncertainty, there’s an instinct to slow down. Pause. Delay decisions. Wait for clarity.

But history—and recent experience—shows that’s exactly the wrong move. When the environment slows, the smartest companies speed up.
We just witnessed that reality on a global scale in the last few years as the pandemic took hold. If you think back to those first few months, the fact is we compressed ten years of change into just six months. Retailers became digital-first overnight. Healthcare embraced telemedicine in an instant. Manufacturers pivoted supply chains on a dime.

So what happened that allowed for this? Major trends accelerated as organizations learned something new about speed! Agility and flexibility became critical because business models shifted faster. Customers changed quickly as people became more adaptable to new interaction methods! Overall, corporate cultures that were once used to working slowly had to embrace speed - with the result that the attitude ‘it can’t be done!’ disappeared, decision-making paralysis disappeared, the slow structure was put under a microscope, old barriers to new ideas disappeared, and "get it done" became the rallying cry!

It was a fascinating time since it showed what true organizational agility looks like. Necessity didn’t just breed invention—it demanded acceleration. The rallying cry wasn’t “What if?” It was: “What’s next—and how fast can we make it real?”

That wasn't an isolated circumstance though, because history shows that speed wins in uncertainty. Research from multiple downturns tells the same story: Resilient companies move faster. They make bolder decisions. They simplify governance. They respond rapidly to cost shifts and market shocks. They act while others analyze. They reorganize for velocity and enable frontline decision-making. They accelerate when others stall.

Ask yourself:

- are we simplifying decision-making to increase speed?

- are we empowering teams to act in real-time?

- are we using volatility to break down bureaucratic barriers?

- are we rewarding speed of learning over perfection of planning?

Because one thing is certain: the winners of tomorrow are already moving faster today.

#Speed #Acceleration #Resilience #Agility #Opportunity #Future #Decisiveness #Momentum #Crisis #Velocity

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-when-the-world-slows-down-winners-speed-up/

"A downturn reveals who was merely surviving and who was preparing to thrive" - Futurist Jim Carroll

What happens when you don’t do the things you should be doing when times are good? Those things you didn't do stick out like a sore thumb when times are bad!

Let’s be blunt: recessions expose the cracks that were already there.
And if we’ve spent the last 19 posts building a blueprint for resilience, innovation, momentum, and opportunity — it’s time to talk about the other side of the coin. How recessions make things go wrong, fast, for those who haven't done a great job of aligning to a changing world.

Because not everyone makes it through.

Some organizations stall out. Others collapse entirely. And the reason isn’t usually a lack of potential. It’s paralysis. A lack of organizational agility. A culture that doesn't support fast collaboration. Weakness in the product or service line. Or any other number of systemic, endemic failures that would have been leading the organization towards failure even during the best of times.

In the worst of times, all those weaknesses now becoming glaring, exposed to the harsh light of reality.

Downturns don’t just challenge your organization - they reveal it. They surface complacency. They magnify weak leadership. They stretch brittle cultures. They spotlight outdated assumptions and aging strategies. And most dangerously? They reward indecision with irrelevance!

A recession isn’t a reason to shrink.

It’s a reason to rethink.

And if you want to be ready for what comes next — you’ve got to move while others pause.

#Exposure #Resilience #Failure #Weakness #Preparation #Innovation #Leadership #Downfall #Culture #Opportunity

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-a-downturn-reveals-who-was-merely-surviving-and-who-was-preparing-to-thrive/

@mcc This is where i find things like ChatGPT et al actually helpful. I love the opening line it gave me too. it goes on to 8 points. Of course, you run the risk it gives a bad step, but I've had wonderful luck with this type of thing...

A great moment in Canadian policing.

"Don't focus on keeping your business alive. Focus on keeping your customers inspired." - Futurist Jim Carroll

In a downturn, you need to be customer-focused, not company-centered.
Crisis pulls you inward, but growth demands you look outward. And in a downturn, obsessing over evolving customer needs is how you find your next growth curve.

Look, when uncertainty strikes, it’s natural to look inward. Protect what you have. Defend your position. Hunker down and wait it out. But growth doesn’t come from within.

It comes from listening to the people you serve - your customers. In every downturn, the companies that come out stronger are those that never lose sight of one thing: customer behavior is changing faster than your business model. Economic volatility reshapes priorities:

-how customers spend
- what they value
- what they trust
- what they expect next

And in that shifting landscape lies your greatest opportunity—if you’re paying attention.

The thing is - your customers were already changing before this moment, but now it accelerating. Customer behavior was undergoing a massive transformation:

- customers became less loyal and far more demanding.
- they expected instant support, frictionless service, and constant innovation.
loyalty eroded fast—1 in 3 highly loyal customers in 2007 switched brands in 2008.
- they're more informed—often knowing more than your frontline staff.
- they expect your brand to match the pace of a global innovation feedback loop.
- their attention spans are short, buying behavior erratic, and brand expectations sky-high.
- peer networks and reviews now outweigh traditional marketing as purchase drivers.
- demographics are shifting—Gen Z and Gen Alpha expect personalization, ethics, and purpose.
- values are evolving fast: transparency, sustainability, authenticity, and speed now define success.

In this landscape, customer expectations don’t slow down during a downturn—they sharpen. That's because they are supersensitive to everything - price, quality, level of service. Their expectations of you go through the roof because it's their hard-earned money, and they want the best they can get!
In a downturn, companies don’t just survive because they “stay the course.”

They redefine the course based on where the customer is headed. This means that right now, you need to be obsessively customer-focused.

**#Customers** **#Focus** **#Inspiration** **#Loyalty** **#Growth** **#Adaptation** **#Value** **#Listening** **#Trust** **#Opportunity**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-dont-focus-on-keeping-your-business-alive-focus-on-keeping-your-customers-inspired/

"Remember that the teams you grow in uncertainty are the ones that lead you in recovery." - Futurist Jim Carroll

Start building the team you’ll need tomorrow - today.

That's always been a priority for any organization, but it's probably even more important right now.

That's because most companies consider downsizing as the first instinctive reaction in a downturn. That's often the wrong thing to do because they will find themselves in a precarious position as they come out the other side. Don’t just protect your team. Prepare it. Don’t just retain your talent. Grow it!
The fact is, teams who lead tomorrow are being built right now.

Downturns are when truly great teams are built, not just maintained.

Organizations that invest in people during volatility create their future competitive edge, because when the recovery hits - and it always does - the prepared teams move first. So start today. Launch the training. Run the stretch assignment which will challenge your team to do the extraordinary. Bet on someone’s potential. Fuel your people with purpose. Because the future won’t wait for you to catch up.

Why is this critical? Because we’ve entered a new talent era in which skills access is one of your most important success factors. That's a reality, downturn or no downturn. Here's why:

- knowledge is fragmenting. Careers are splintering into hyper-specialized niches.

- skills are degrading. The half-life of knowledge is collapsing

- talent is transient. Loyalty is low. Agility is everything.

- complexity is rising. You need the right skills—on demand, not just on payroll.

- experience is the edge. Teams that learn through doing adapt faster.

All of this means that you'll never have all the knowledge you need to get things done, downturn or not. You are in a constant war for the best talent, a perpetual race for skills. That war doesn't stop when the battlefield of a downturn begins. When others hit the "pause", successful organizations know that when things improve, having the right talent and teams in place will let them fly. So what do they do? Rather than cutting, they invest by pressing the "play" button.

In doing this, they build a powerful currency - loyalty. All around them, their people see people see people being downsized and let go, while they remain stable. That matters - it's showing people they matter especially when times are tough.

Trust me, their loyalty will matter as conditions improve

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Futurist Jim Carroll has been speaking about the reality of the skills specialization trend since 1997 when he coined the phrase ‘nomadic workers’ in his book Surviving the Information Age.

**#Talent** **#Teams** **#Growth** **#Recovery** **#Future** **#Investment** **#Skills** **#Loyalty** **#Resilience** **#Opportunity**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-remember-that-the-teams-you-grow-in-uncertainty-are-the-ones-that-lead-you-in-recovery/