Complete Article List:
- Building a Creative Business Culture
- Defining Yourself
- 4 ½ Stages of Organizational Success
- How to Fail Your Way to Success
- Six Life Lessons I Learned in Vegas
- Making Sense of Humour in the Workplace
- The Art of Professionalism: Learning the Right Way to Get Ahead
- The Secrets of Effective Decision-Making
- The Customer Rules:
Surviving & Thriving in the New Customer-Driven World - The Fascination of Sport
- Are You a Twenty Percenter?
- The Times They are a Changin'
An Investigation of Five Future Trends - The Business of Global Greening: How Technology and Business are Saving the Planet
- The Changing Face of Charity: How Businesses and Individuals are Redefining Philanthropy
- Web 2.0: Business in a Connected World
- Searching for a Needle of Knowledge in an Information Haystack (pdf format)
- The Power of Design (pdf format)
Articles
The Times They are a Changin'
An Investigation of Five Future Trends
By Steve Bannister
Global Greening ~ The Flow of Philanthropy ~ Connecting the World
Information vs Knowledge ~ The Power of Design
There's something about the beginning of a new year that makes us stop and think about where we are, where we have been and where we are going. It's during these times that we tend not only to reminisce about bygone days but we also look at what future trends and ideas lay in store for us. In doing this, we begin to wonder about how our lives at work and home are going to change in five, ten, or even twenty years from now.
In out fast-paced technological world there are numerous trends taking shape and gathering momentum. Five core trends took last year and will continue their prominence in years to come. Not surprisingly, technology plays a key part in most, if not all, of these trends.
- Global Greening
In response to the on-going concern over environmental issues such as lobal warming and depleting resources, businesses and individuals have begun to take serious action. As a result, the image of the lone tree-hugging environmental evangelist has been ratcheted up a notch to include such powerful individuals as former Vice President Al Gore and such global companies as Wal-Mart.
One main avenue in which Wal-Mart has begun to take environmental action is to purchase their food products from organic producers. The sheer volume that Wal-Mart demands in any of its green ventures cannot help but reinforce the importance of environmental concerns. Similarly, Al Gore's mission to combat what he calls the "climate crisis" is backed by his recent documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Known previously as a tragic political player, Gore has redefined himself as an environmental crusader with the power to make a difference on a global scale.
Read the entire article in this series: The Business of Global Greening. - The Flow of Philanthropy
What have the greedy Boomers from the "Me Generation" of the 80's been up to recently? Well, it seems that they have started another trend whereby history may very well redefine them as the "We Generation". Of course, there have always been people (from varied socioeconomic backgrounds) who have devoted their lives to giving back to society but this particular trend is different.
These players include such people as former president Bill Clinton, Bill and Melinda Gates, and of course not forgetting Bill's bridge buddy, Warren Buffett (who is currently in the midst of planning how to give away the bulk of his $44 billion fortune). Gates and Buffett are supplying the cash power while Clinton has persuasive star power. This can only be the beginning.
Read the entire article in this series: The Changing Face of Charity. - Connecting the World
How many people do you know and whom do they know? Before the onslaught of the internet, this question used to be answered with relative ease. Today, it requires some significant contemplation. The power of the internet has enabled us to globally connect each other in ways which were previously unimaginable. The concept of how people are connected has been around since the 1920's when the Hungarian writer Karinthy Frigyes coined the phrase, "six degrees of separation". He theorized that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of aquaintances with no more than five people in between. We have come a long way since then; suffice to say that we may now only be dealing with two or three degrees of separation.
How can this be possible? The answer lies in the multitude of connective avenues offered up by the internet (Myspace.com, Flickr.com, Youtube.com...) and other connective devices (cell phones, blackberry's, e-mail...). The world wide web is quite aptly named, and it appears that whatever happens from now on, we are all in this together.
Read the entire article in this series: Web 2.0: Business in a Connected World. - Information vs Knowledge
The process of "googling" the word "google" reveals approximately 781,000,000 search results in, believe it or not, .03 seconds! It is basically impossible to fathom how this information can possibly be revealed to us in such a short period of time. Needless to say, the power we now have to access information is absolutely incredible but more importantly, what has this done to our ability to synthesize what we find, i.e. our ability to learn?
In order to survive and thrive in our world of information overload we must adopt efficient coping strategies to effectively harness the phenomenal power of the internet.
Read the entire published article in this series: Searching for a Needle of Knowledge in an Information Haystack (pdf format). - The Power of Design
What do the words, "Times New Roman", "Arial", and "Comic Sans" mean? It wasn't too long ago when the average individual would have had a great deal of difficulty trying to answer this question. Design is no longer the only concern for such people as artists and architects. Everyone today is affected by design in one way or another. A striking example of this is the infamous ballot designs which American voters used to mark their choice for president in the 2004 election.
Rising prosperity and advancing technology have made design more accessible than ever before. Indeed, design has become the main method by which companies tend to create niche markets and differentiate themselves from the competition. Now, more than ever, we are turning to good design to bring pleasure, meaning and beauty to our lives.
Read the entire published article in this series: The Power of Design (pdf format).
Five core trends are revealed. Are these just "flash in the pan" ideas or do they have the staying power to really make a positive change in our lives at home and at work? The answers lie in future issues of this magazine at which time a full article will be devoted to exploring further each trend. In the meantime, think about how these trends may have already affected you or how they might possibly affect you five or ten years from now.
For info on how you may get permission to use this article
on your web site please contact Steve directly.
