Emergent Futures Tumblelog

This is the Tumblelog of Paul Higgins and Sandy Teagle - Futurists from Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia. Go to Emergent Futures to see more or follow on Twitter at FuturistPaul . If you right click on the pictures, titles or links in these posts you will be able to go to the original story on the web. If you click on comments for each post you can either read what others have said or add your own comment via Disqus. If you click on the date of a post it will take you to a single post view where you can copy the web link if you want to send it to someone else. If you click on the tags it will take you to other stories from Emergent Futures with the same tag.

September 28th 2012

How to make Strategy SEXy

8 notes |# Comments

This is my latest long form blog post including:

“When I tell people that I am a futurist the reactions fall into two broad categories.

  • “That is so cool” – to which my response is generally “can you go and tell my 15 yr old because he in no way thinks I am cool”.
  • What the ****** is a futurist. That happened to me yesterday when I was sitting in the audience for the launch of a new Horizon Scanning tool that we are working on with the Department of Premier and Cabinet here in Victoria. The group in the seats behind me were saying “what is a futurist, there is supposed to be one here?” My general response to that reaction is : we help people think differently about the future so they can shape their strategy.

I like to show people the Futurist Meme…….”

You can read the whole thing at http://futuristpaul.com/2012/09/27/how-to-make-strategy-sexy/

Tell me what you think

Posted at 9:25am and tagged with: strategy, foresight,.

May 26th 2012

37 notes |# Comments

Courier firm hires delivery runners to beat congestion during London Olympics

  • DHL is enlisting London-based JogPost’s team of foot couriers to make sure packages get to their recipients



Full Story: Mailonline

Posted at 7:13pm and tagged with: innovation, marketing, strategy,.

Courier firm hires delivery runners to beat congestion during London Olympics DHL is enlisting London-based JogPost’s team of foot couriers to make sure packages get to their recipients Full Story: Mailonline

May 18th 2012

Reblogged from stoweboyd|20 notes |# Comments

Steven Johnson on Can Anything Take Down the Facebook Juggernaut? | Epicenter | Wired.com

(via thisistheverge)

Posted at 4:38am and tagged with: business models, strategy, tech, technology, social media,.

“
I suspect that Facebook will forever live within this dialectic, expanding the boundaries of social sharing and then reacting to pushback from users and critics when it goes too far. As long as it continues to listen to those critics, that pattern is probably the best outcome.
”

May 10th 2012

Reblogged from futuramb|11 notes |# Comments

futuramb:

Cloud is a corporate strategy, not a tactical solution
By Mark Thiele, Switch, gigaom.com

As an IT com­mu­ni­ty we are still stuck in the past rel­a­tive to the strate­gic nature of cloud. Many of us are look­ing at the adop­tion of cloud as just anoth­er tech­nol­o­gy, and are leav­ing the deci­sions on how to adopt, own, and man­age …

I hear an echo of what we said in -94/-95 when Internet were entering the consiousness of companies.

Posted at 4:41am and tagged with: tech, technology, strategy, business models,.

futuramb: Cloud is a corporate strategy, not a tactical solution By Mark Thiele, Switch, gigaom.com As an IT com­mu­ni­ty we are still stuck in the past rel­a­tive to the strate­gic nature of cloud. Many of us are look­ing at the adop­tion of cloud as just anoth­er tech­nol­o­gy, and are leav­ing the deci­sions on how to adopt, own, and man­age … I hear an echo of what we said in -94/-95 when Internet were entering the consiousness of companies.

May 9th 2012

18 notes |# Comments

AmazonSupply Debuts As A E-Commerce Vertical For Industrial Materials, Mechanical Parts And Hardware

Amazon has a new vertical, called AmazonSupply, which is a new site for mechanical parts and other hardware for business and industrial sectors. Amazon says the site sells over 500,000 items, including bench-top centrifuges commonly found in laboratories, radiation detectors designed for environmental testing, and carbide end mills used to machine titanium.


Full Story: Tech Crunch

Posted at 7:21pm and tagged with: tech, technology, business models, strategy,.

AmazonSupply Debuts As A E-Commerce Vertical For Industrial Materials, Mechanical Parts And Hardware Amazon has a new vertical, called AmazonSupply, which is a new site for mechanical parts and other hardware for business and industrial sectors. Amazon says the site sells over 500,000 items, including bench-top centrifuges commonly found in laboratories, radiation detectors designed for environmental testing, and carbide end mills used to machine titanium. Full Story: Tech Crunch

May 9th 2012

Nobody seems to understand what Jeff Bezos is doing. Does he? | PandoDaily

Reblogged from courtenaybird|24 notes |# Comments

courtenaybird:

“Most people think that Amazon is selling Kindle devices at cost in order to make a profit on the sales of books and movies. But if Amazon is also giving away a lot of media for free—4 of the Top 10 books in the Kindle Store can be had for free under the Kindle lending program—then what is its business model for Kindle?

Giving away the razor to make money on the blades is a well-known strategy. But giving away the razor and the blades in order to make money on a subscription loyalty program as a way to sell everything else? Is that Amazon’s real goal with the Kindle—is Amazon in the device business only to sell Prime subscriptions, which the company sees as a key accelerant for sales across the rest of its site?

…We don’t know where Amazon expects to make money from in the future. Indeed, we barely know where Amazon makes money from now. The company refuses to divulge even the most basic stats about its business. Amazon’s earnings calls are a comedy of opacity and misdirection; you’d have a better chance getting a guard at Buckingham Palace guard to crack a smile than to get an Amazon exec to accidentally tell you about the company’s business.

…But all this misunderstanding can’t be an unalloyed good. Amazon is so opaque, with so many mysterious businesses and revenue streams, that you’ve got to wonder whether the people who work there even understand what it’s up to. In business, simplicity often wins. Selling me a device to get me to buy a membership in order to get a book for free. Is Bezos crazy like a fox? Or is he just plain crazy? We have no idea.”

Posted at 6:31am and tagged with: tech, technology, strategy, business models,.

April 30th 2012

20 notes |# Comments

Why Great in the Market Place of Ideas Means a Power Drill not a Revolver

Last week Jason Calacanis sent out an email of his post that was up on The Launch blog called The Age of Excellence. In the post Jason argued that in a world of relentless openness and transparency it was no longer enough to be good, you had to be great.

I agree but have posted a contrarian view over at our long form blog including:


“ it is my view that if everyone likes what is being presented to them then it is too bland and too mainstream. That is fine in the area of entertainment or applications but it is dangerous in the market place of ideas………. I agree totally with the sentiment of Jason’s overall post which is that in a modern world you have to be great because good is not good enough. However being liked and being great are not always the same thing.”


Full Post at futuristpaul.com

Posted at 1:40pm and tagged with: transparency, trust, openness, strategy, business models,.

Why Great in the Market Place of Ideas Means a Power Drill not a Revolver Last week Jason Calacanis sent out an email of his post that was up on The Launch blog called The Age of Excellence. In the post Jason argued that in a world of relentless openness and transparency it was no longer enough to be good, you had to be great. I agree but have posted a contrarian view over at our long form blog including: “ it is my view that if everyone likes what is being presented to them then it is too bland and too mainstream. That is fine in the area of entertainment or applications but it is dangerous in the market place of ideas………. I agree totally with the sentiment of Jason’s overall post which is that in a modern world you have to be great because good is not good enough. However being liked and being great are not always the same thing.” Full Post at futuristpaul.com

April 11th 2012

Reblogged from stoweboyd|28 notes |# Comments

Brian Green, Herman-Miller, from Coworking, Swarming, and The Agile Workplace (via stoweboyd)

Posted at 3:39pm and tagged with: strategy, disruption,.

“
Agility may be the single highest priority for workplaces now and in the future.
”

April 5th 2012

26 notes |# Comments

Asian innovation

Frugal ideas are spreading from East to West

Full Story: The Economist

Posted at 1:15pm and tagged with: Innovation, strategy,.

Asian innovation Frugal ideas are spreading from East to West Full Story: The Economist

March 23rd 2012

Reblogged from minimalmac|186 notes |# Comments

Steve Jobs, WWDC 1997

Saying no is actually saying yes to other things…

(h/t Aaron Zuchhold)

Posted at 5:54am and tagged with: strategy, leadership, focus,.

“
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1000 things.
”