Decoding Tomorrow:
Futurism and Foresights Today

COVID19 has compressed a decade's worth of digital change into a single year - 2020.

As a leader and as a human you will (potentially) learn more about yourself, your resilience, and core thinking strengths in the next 12 months than you would in 120 - because of this exponential acceleration.

I recently sat down with Head of Entrepreneurship and Social Leadership at Scots College in Sydney, Australia, David Todd in his podcast: 'Decoding Entrepreneurship' where we had the opportunity to discuss the future and the importance of adapting to digital innovations. 

The post-COVID19 era is one that will look vastly different from the one we left behind. 10 years worth of leadership lessons and digital transformation has been crammed into a single year - 2020.

There has never been a time when it has been more important to learn, unlearn and relearn, as the eminent futurist Alvin Toffler put it. Sadly, some people who are being laid off today will never get back into productivity - either because their skills are not relevant for a digitised workplace, or because their thinking / execution is being carried out by a robot or an AI. Yes, this does sound dystopian, but it really is a call to arms for humans to reconnect with our curiosity, our creativity and our humanity, and to spur new learning, new business models, and to craft ideas for a new economy. When did you last learn something new or change your mind about something? This viral Black Swan event has been challenging all of our perceptions, senses and assumptions.

The question is what the 'new you' will look like beyond the lockdown?

At most levels of adolescent and adult education we have tended towards the glorification of STEM, but under-indexed in STEMpathy, or the true recognition of the importance of the right brain. While scientific and digital literacy will become hygiene factors, our ability to creatively combine, hack, innovate, emotionally connect, tell impactful future strategy narratives and lead humans will receive their true recognition in the 2nd Renaissance. As machines help digitise both our brains and our brawns, they will also help liberate us from some menial tasks like data-entry, and mundane routine tasks such as paperwork, so that we can spend more time making meaning and moving the world forward - towards adoption of renewable energy, to sustainable supply chains, ethical production, and the digital democratisation of the productivity tools of tomorrow.

Reflect on your own education and the parental guidance you received - was it skewed either towards the left brain or the right brain? Are you happy in your job / career?

Where do you think you could flourish most and accelerate out of the curve post-COVID19?

Evidence from our collaboration with ING - the Future Focus Trend Report - shows there is a Second Renaissance emerging, filled with new opportunities ready for the taking. How are you shifting your and your children's educational focus as a result. Download the ING Report or listen to the Scots College Podcast now. 

If you want to learn more about futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson's foresights and to read the ING report, check out our blog post: 'Beyond COVID-19: Future of Work Report'.