Future of life – A new agenda for work

In this new whitepaper, the “Seven principles for a new agenda for work” are meant as a reference for your strategic choices on the new normal. “The Future of Life” expresses just the idea that how we want to live our lives dominates how the future of work will evolve. The collective Covid experience will leave its mark on the future. How all of this will eventually play out needs to be seen. But what stands out is the understanding how much personal life and working life are intertwined. How culture and value shifts in society already leave their mark on business strategy. And how new media technologies are turning people into media and organizations into broadcasters. In times of transformational leadership we need a new agenda. All our seven principles are based on magic and need support from new leadership and new technologies. Look for the magicians in your organization and let them lead you towards an organization that is:

1) Employee Obsessed  2) Serendipity proof  3) Creativity Online  4) A Platform for Meaning  5) Asynchronous  6) A Media Company  7) Fan-based not Customer-based

Infinite Machine Creativity

Our new report, Infinite Machine Creativity, urges us to rethink creativity; to embrace machine creativity. The report examines the journey from students wondering whether computers can use their fantasy, to the development of a new breed of artificial intelligence (AI) known as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). It describes how GANs have recently proven to deliver original and effective ideas. These two keywords combined define the word creativity. So, your ideas around creativity should be reset. Machines can be creative, but in a different way to humans, since machines lack a soul, a drive, a consciousness. The report examines the huge potential to accelerate innovation when the human soul and the creative machine come together. It argues that those organizations able to figure out how creative machines and creative people can collaborate will be the inventors and creators of tomorrow.

 

Utopia for Executives

There are certain moments in time when collective dreams are more in vogue, more sought after, than at other moments. Societies seem to be stable for long periods and then – bang – doubt and uncertainty begins to pour in. People start asking themselves “Is this the world in which I want my children to grow up in?” or “Why is everything moving so slowly,  we need to take action now.” It is in these ‘fuzzy periods’ that the popular vote is on the move and society looks for new narratives, a new Utopia. It’s at these moments that massive changes in how we run our economy start to evolve. For organizations there is a clear and bold message: to stay relevant in the 21st-century economy, you need to be driven by a strong purpose. The days of the Milton Friedman doctrine is over.  It’s about equality and “resetting capitalism”, as espoused by the Financial Times newspaper earlier this year. In Utopia for Executives we explain why now society is making this drastic turn, what it means for organizations, and what to prepare for. We present fresh, visionary thinking, from some of the world’s most profound thinkers in the fields of technology, economy and wellbeing. Some of it is dystopian, with a bleak outlook for society and business if we don’t have a true purpose to what we’re doing. Some of it is uplifting, with a belief that we face a new golden age that’s been preceded by a massive technological shift – but only if we focus on an inclusive, planet-centric world. Utopia for executives is our fourth and concluding report on Digital Happiness.

The Synthetic Generation

iGen, also called Generation Z, grows up slower and more openminded than any generation before. This new generation (1995 +/- 2015) watches streams, mukbang, and ASMR video’s instead of tv, and don’t know a life before Amazon or bol.com. They are more concerned, safe, tolerant and have less sex and alcohol.

‘Experience on Demand’ and ‘the smartphone as a remote for the world’ are oneliners that fit them perfectly, but a lot of assumptions don’t hold true when we look at generational research. Interesting trends are happening here and in a few years this generation dominates the 18-29 years old market. How could organizations prepare themselves for their new employees and customers?

 

In Code We Trust

“In Code We Trust” is the second report, in a series of four, on the research theme “Digital Happiness”. Trust is one of the six key variables that have been found to support wellbeing according to the World Happiness Report of 2018. Trust and happiness are closely related. For instance, societies that show high corruption rates, lose their trust and are amongst the unhappiest countries in the world. For our wellbeing and happiness, the trust we can put in friends and families, organizations and institutions are key. And since trust has become such an important part of the current tech-debate, we decided to investigate the concept more in depth. “Who can we trust?” and “How do we organize trust?” are the leading questions.

 

 

Digital Happiness

Digital happiness is rapidly becoming the new frontier of competition. New digital opportunities can make our lives easier, more efficient, safer, and more joyful. You may ask yourself where to begin and which needs to prioritize, but one thing is clear: only focussing on efficiency and effectivity is not enough anymore. The impact of digital technology on our happiness needs to be taken serious by tech organizations. At the same time customers and employees are already two steps ahead by actually living in a happiness economy. They are becoming more selective when looking for happiness and a purpose, making the prudent use of technology an additional differentiator. Aiming for digital happiness is needed and will give you an advantage.

 

 

AI First – Learning from the machine

More and more companies are now taking action with more than a third of the organizations applying AI at scale. Place AI at the heart of your digital activities to raise your Corporate IQ. AI First: Learning from the machine’ explores the latest developments on the journey to being an AI-first organization and recommends a number of actions for improving Corporate IQ with a better understanding of the relationship between man and machine.

 

 

 

The Frankenstein Factor

The book by Mary Shelley “Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus” has inspired many Hollywood scenarios. The fear that is addressed in the book can also be triggered when people are confronted with applications of artificial intelligence. ‘The anatomy of fear of AI’ deals not with the question if the fear is justified, the report is an exploration into the underlying triggers for these fears.