Where is the most uncertainty for your organization? Introducing scenario planning to extend the time-frame of strategic thinking

By

Earlier this week I ran a scenario planning workshop for the board and management meeting of a major Central European company, where we explored the value of scenario planning for the conglomerate.

Scenario planning for macro-strategy

Most people are familiar with scenario planning as a macro-strategy tool, used by organizations such as Shell, the CIA, the Singapore government, the World Economic Forum that want to explore global or industry landscapes decades ahead.

Many organizations in dynamic industries (which today is every industry) can get massive value from building high-level scenarios that can be used for shaping their future.
Read more →

Creating the future of media: 6 ways for media organizations to adapt, thrive, and maximize value

By

One of the most striking trends in 21st century innovation is the significant potential for media to create value on a global scale. Media, in all its forms, is fuelling economic growth, structural change and technological advances like never before. As society debates the role and influence of media in a “post-truth” world, it is increasingly apparent that the future of media is crucial to shaping the future of humanity.

Leading futurist Ross Dawson shared useful insights on how to create a vibrant future for media organizations in his keynote at the #SchibstedNext 2016 event in Olso, Norway held by Schibsted Media Group. You can see the video of the full keynote below.
Read more →

Designing effective co-creation of knowledge using knowledge development loops

By

Last week I gave the opening keynote at the Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand’s Thought Leadership Forum, the fifth consecutive year I have done the keynote for this excellent event series. My keynote was on The Potential of Business-Academic Collaboration, offering a big-picture view of the possibilities for value creation between university business faculties and the business sector.

As I was preparing my keynote it struck me that the themes of my first book Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships are extremely relevant here. Universities are implicitly knowledge-creating organizations, and the value they have to offer to the business sector must be in developing their knowledge capabilities.
Read more →

Platforms are the future of media: implications for news, journalists and society

By

I was recently interviewed by Nikolay Malyarov of digital newspaper aggregator PressReader for their industry magazine The Insider.

The transcribed interview appears as an extended article Platforms are the Future of Media, which goes into depth on some of the issues I see in the future of media. Below are a few brief excerpts, but read the full article for more detail.
Read more →

How to become a top professional speaker: 5 key insights from a leading keynote speaker

By

Many people aspire to be professional speakers, traveling the world, sharing their stories and insights, with audiences hanging on their every word.

However, many more people desire to become professional speakers than those who actually succeed on that path. What have those who have thrived in this career done to achieve their objective?

Professional keynote speaker and futurist Ross Dawson shares five critical steps that have helped him gain the experience, insight and authority to have been invited to deliver hundreds of highly successful keynote presentations across 28 countries.
Read more →

Uniquely human capabilities will be at the heart of job creation as automation advances

By

Many of the interviews I have been doing at the beginning of this year have focused on the future of jobs and work, it seems to be a topic that resonates strongly at the moment.

One of the interviews was on ABC News 24, as below.


Read more →

The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty index is at an all-time high: the implications

By

A group of top economists has created an Economic Policy Uncertainty Index for 17 countries, using media reporting and economic forecasts to show how much uncertainty there is economic policy.

The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is currently the highest it has been since the beginning of the period analyzed starting at the end of 1996.
global-epu
Read more →

Shaping a positive world as we move into a “post-work economy”

By

The New York Post has just published an article titled Prepare for a world without work, based on an interview with me.

Below are some excerpts from the article delve into what I describe as the “post-work economy”, with some further comemnts:

Driverless cars are set to make millions of truckers and taxi drivers redundant and automated fast food service is poised to shut off a key job sector for young people. As artificial intelligence is increasingly able to carry out complex tasks that used to require humans, large numbers of us are set to find ourselves out of work, with no prospects.

“Many jobs will be destroyed,” futurist Ross Dawson told news.com.au. “We can no longer be sure we’ll have a sufficient amount of the right type of work for people to be employed.”

Read more →

General reflections on blogging after 14 years

By

After having written my post to relaunch this blog last week, I am now – in theory – back in blogging mode, so I should be writing blog posts.

Passing the threshold of blogging

Which in itself comes to the nub of the experience of blogging, all the thresholds you have to cross to actually start and finish a blog post. What is compelling enough to say that you take the time to write it? How long or polished should pieces be? If I get started writing a post, how much time is it going to take to say what it is I want to say? When do I cut off a blog post and save the rest for the next post?
Read more →

Relaunch of my website and blog – time to get blogging again!

By

I am delighted to have finally relaunched my personal website and blog! The front page of this website provides an overview of my work, there are details on my keynote speaking and strategy advisory work, and now my blog has been incorporated into the same website.

I set up my blog Trends in the Living Networks in 2002 to accompany the launch of my book Living Networks. A bit later I set up rossdawson.com as my speaker website, and kept the blog on a separate domain, running the two sites in parallel for many years.
Read more →