I took this picture in 2016 at Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, California. This used to be a Sears department store. While Sears is still alive and kicking, it’s sad to see so many once celebrated brands slowly deteriorate and/or then suddenly crumble. I call this the new “Kodak Moment,” that moment when executives fail to see how customers and markets are shifting. All too often, there appears to be a pervasive “too big to fail,” shareholder-first attitude during what amounts to…
This is a Time for New Leadership – Building Bridges Between People Who Think Differently
At the end or beginning of each year, smart folks ask other smart folks to contribute their thoughts about the year ahead. Then everyone promotes their participation and the host benefits from a landslide of new traffic and followers. I usually don’t participate. But my friend Tom Goodwin had a different take on the assemblage idea. He asked, “what’s the one thing you learned in 2016?” He had me at “learned.” The post is now live at Forbes but I wanted to…
26 Disruptive Tech Trends for 2016 – 2018
Each year at this time, I read all of the predictions for the new year plus the “top X” lists wrapping out the previous year. Add to that the first week of chaos that is CES and all of the new tech debuting in Las Vegas. And each year, I’m left wanting more substance as I plan my research. So, in 2015, I officially threw my hat into the mix with my inaugural look at “25 Disruptive Technology Trends in 2015 –…
Will You Be A Part of Change Or A Victim Of It? An Interview with @TheYoungTurks
Right before everyone left for the Christmas/Holiday break, I flew down to Los Angeles to visit the The Young Turks studio. My good friend Francis Maxwell invited me to sit down with Cenk Uygar, host and co-founder of TYT to talk about the story of X and upcoming trends affecting business and society. While we did talk about those things, we got there via a conversation I don’t usually have, which is the story of (me) and how I got to where I am today. Perhaps…
Disruption as an Ecosystem
I miss Paris. Just as I was thinking this, I discovered an interview I did with EuroNews while in Paris in 2014 for LeWeb. I watched it for the first time and immediately I was sent back to that moment, in a small media room a few floors above the conference. It’s a glimpse into hot new tech trends and a conversation into iterations, innovation and disruption based on my presentation at the event. We explore the differences with each,…
Disruptive Technology is Disrupting Behavior
I study disruptive technology, specifically innovative technology that gains so much momentum that it disrupts markets and ultimately businesses. In the past several years, disruptive technology has become so pervasive that I’ve had to further focus my work on studying only disruptive technologies that are impacting customer and employee behavior, expectations and values and affecting customer and employee experiences. I can hardly keep up with today let alone consider the potential disruption that looms ahead in every sector imaginable including…
Digital Transformation is About Empathy First and Technology Second
Every day, there’s seemingly yet another disruptive trend that emerges out of nowhere which affects consumer behavior and the future of everything along with it. Many of you already follow some of the most notable trends disrupting markets today and I know you’re devising new strategies as a result in order to compete in these ever shifting markets. – Real Time – Social Media- Mobile – Sharing Economy – Peer-to-Peer Economy – Maker Economy – Internet of Things – Crowd…
Pivot: The Total Digital Experience
The Pivot Conference in NYC in October is unique among events in that, each year, it shifts focus to deeply reflect the needs of its community of senior business transformation executives from leading brands and organizations. To make that happen, I serve as Pivot’s Executive Producer along with Pivot CEO, Mike Edelhart. For four years in a row, we’ve put our heads together to develop a story arc that covers the hottest, emergent trends, presented by the industry’s most engaging…
2014 – The Embolden Years: Change agents lead the way for digital transformation
Happy New Year! 2014 is upon us and it’s once again time to share our (Altimeter Group) predictions for the year ahead. Except this time, predictions are moved aside in favor of important trends that are on the horizon. Let’s use this time together wisely in the hopes of prioritizing our investments in relevant strategies and the time and resources necessary to bring them to life this year and next. In 2013, Charlene Li and I published several reports, infographics,…
The Human Algorithm: Redefining the Value of Data
The onslaught of real-time social, local, mobile (SoLoMo) technology is nothing short of overwhelming. Besides the gadgets, apps, social networks and appliances that continue to emerge, the pace of innovation is only outdone by the volumes of data that each produce. Everything we share, everywhere we go, everything we say and everyone we follow or connect with, generates valuable information that can be used to improve consumer experiences and ultimately improve products and services. While the amount of personal and…
