Decoding Tomorrow:
Futurism and Foresights Today

I am excited to share some great news with you, my new book Seamless: a hero's journey of digital disruption, adaptation and human transformation (Wiley) is due for release in February 2017. In essence, Seamless provides you with an on-the-ground perspective and critical guidance for thriving in a changing digital world.

Close-up of a cardigan from Inis Meáin Knitting Co.

So what is this concept of seamless about you might ask? Well, the word 'seamless' actually has its roots in textiles. We can all remember those grating seams of maybe uncomfortable underwear or an uncomfortable shirt where the seams are creating friction. Now, that sort of friction methaphorically is something that many of us as consumers and as talents and even as leaders in organisations currently experience. It might be friction associated with say for example when you do your retail banking and switch from a physical bank branch to a mobile device. Check out my TED-talk where I talk about the challenges businesses face today as they transition between analogue and digital worlds - Seamless Transitions: Weaving Digital & Analogue Worlds | Anders Sorman-Nilsson | TEDxSanJuanIsland.

But it might also be in terms of how you go on your customer journey prior to booking a trip. Just think about that journey for a moment. Where do you start? How and where do you get awareness about where you might want to go? How do you start evaluating different options and which factors do you take into account when you decide where you want to go? And then you need to think about if you want to travel business class, economy class or first class. Furthermore, you also need to arrange transfers from your home to the airport.  When you've finally bought the ticket you'll might wonder how you can engage in a loyalty program with that airline and what kind of benefits they can offer you.

In all of those different moments in your customer journey both across the analogue and the digital touchpoints you often experience friction. In Seamless: a hero's journey of digital disruption, adaptation and human transformation I argue that many organisation and brands around the world fail at removing reoccuring friction and more importantly designing seamless brand experiences. 

Today it's key that organisations that want to create brand loyalty with their customers and their talent are able to weave together a seamless story or a transition between different communication channels to ensure that the customer has this beautiful journey that seems seamless. This is the concept of my upcoming book published with Wiley. I would love to tell you more about it, but in the moment ask yourself the question how seamless is your customer journey? How seamless is your brand experience that your consumers or even your talent have when they work with you? It's important to ask yourself these question because seamless is the digital adaptation and the human transformation imperative for the future.   

"When the unstoppable force of Anders' furious futurist's intellect crashes into the immovable object of his mother's sense of family and traditions sparks fly. Our hero's journey turns out to be anything but seamless. It holds lessons for all of us pushing the digital envelope in a persistently analogue world."
Mike Hanley, Head of Digital Communications, World Economic Forum

"Anders has never been one to settle and as a result, we are all benefactors of his restless, curious nature, of his fresh ideas, well-plotted hypotheses and that ingenious way he wraps up the past, present and the future into a timely, mind-bending bundle for readers to unpack."
Lisa Messenger, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Collective Hub

"The way people shop and buy has fundamentally changed. Through the unique lens of the Hero's Journey, Seamless takes the readers on a tour de transformation of buyers and businesses in the digital era."
Brian Halligan, Co-founder & CEO of HubSpot