Fluidity and the Future

With “disruption” this week’s theme, the resonating point is the uncertainty it brings with it, and how it is now, more than ever, impossible for businesses and governments to progress or strategize for the future while turning a blind eye towards it. In the rapidly changing world of today, technology, demographics, emerging markets and global connectivity all interplay and produce outcomes and scenarios that are unique and lack a precedent, or a guideline on how to deal with them; Change for Dummies, if you will. Looking at the first of the identified forces; the shift of economic activity towards emerging markets and the rise of the urban population. Perhaps at one point in history nobody could have predicted for China to house more large companies that the US by 2025. Perhaps yet again, in the 9 years that follow, a new trend might emerge that revises this prediction towards an even more incredible country. What’s more important is, however, due to the ever expanding global market, with the locus of activity shifting, economies need to create space for themselves in the global web lest they find themselves redundant. This uncertainty has certainly been helped by technology, another formidable force of disruption. From the steam engine to the Internet of Things today, advances in technology have played a pivotal role in accelerating the growth of business and economies and shaped the way in which that growth has been achieved.

Today marks an unprecedented world of potential outcomes and possibilities. While it is daunting to live in an age where disruptive forces deliberately keep one from projecting and predicting scenarios, leaders must be wary of the fact that adjusting to new, more fluid realities has never been more imperative than now.