By Sven Larsen(@zemoga)
“All things are ready, if our minds be so.” – Henry V, Shakespeare
There are a lot of bloggers weighing in with their predictions for 2010 this week. People are proclaiming the coming 12 months as “The Year Social Media Grows Up”, “The Year Traditional and Digital Agencies Converge”, “The Year of MObile” and many, many, more.
We think the honest truth is that things are moving so fast, no one can accurately predict 12 weeks out (let alone 12 months). Just take a look at January 2010. If the rumors are true, Google will launch a new phone (the Nexus One) on January 5th, Apple will launch it’s long awaited tablet computer later in the month, and CES will unveil a whole host of other tech launches. And this is just the start of a stunning year that promises everything from Google’s Chrome OS to Microsoft’s entry in to cloud computing to even more radical changes in how we consume media (did you know e-book sales have passed traditional books sales in volume on Amazon?).
The traditional twelve month planning cycle may be as outdated as the traditional school day or the traditional office.
So how do we prepare for what’s to come?
While predictions may be tough, it’s not that hard to remain clued in on all the new advances that are coming (this blog is one of many tools designed to help you do that). Are you using an RSS reader or other aggregator to monitor developments not just in your field but in other areas as well? Are you looking at sites like the TED conferences or the Big Think to see what super smart people are thinking about next? Are you putting yourself out there in your community via conferences and social networks so that you can exchange ideas with the thought leaders in your field?
Most importantly, are you open to and willing to embrace change? That remains the $64,000 question. Right now American and global business is full of the rusting hulks of giant organizations that thought they could fight the shifting tides of the global economy (today it’s GM but tomorrow it could be the New York Times). Is your company doing everything it can to foster innovation? Is it it doing everything it can to empower you to be proactive and ride the wave of creativity and connectivity that is transforming business worldwide? And if your company isn’t doing this, should you be working somewhere else that does embrace that philosophy?
Here’s our prediction for 2010 – it will be a year of massive changes. Aren’t they all?
