in Innovation, Leadership
Are you willing to suffer? Before I make a decision, I ask myself this question when I approach a new challenge I’m thinking about.
I’ve heard many people tell me they love learning. Often it’s just a spur of the moment thing where they have to say something because they can’t keep quiet. Most simply read stuff. Yes, reading is a way to learn. But the best learning happens when you do something; most people don’t approach learning this way.
I believe we’re all in a constant state of becoming, but only a handful of people are dictating how that happens. Everyone would like to see improvements in their life, but the difference between the ones who do and those that don’t is action. You’re responsible. That means being aware of what’s holding you back and how you’ll overcome those challenges.
in Innovation
Innovation is hard. Really hard. So hard that true innovation is rare. Most of what we see as innovative is increments, improvements, on existing products and services. With that said, it’s really easy to sabotage your innovation efforts when you don’t understand what you’re getting yourself into.
Shunryu Suzuki famously said “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” What it means is you are open-minded, eager to learn and approach everything without preconceptions. Approaching, living life, with a beginner’s mind is something some of us try to do, but most don’t. And trying is very hard because we have to actively force ourselves to do it.
in Innovation
There are 10 key technologies that will drive the Next Economy, the one that underpins them all is artificial intelligence. And while AI is already delivering value, many challenges are left to be overcome before it truly reaches its potential.
As someone who’s developed emotion recognition technology and have talked to leaders, organizations and groups about the limits of artificial intelligence, I was delighted to read a contrarian perspective on artificial intelligence on the NY Times: Gary Marcus argues that AI must account for basic concepts of how the world works, like time, space, and causality, beyond statistical pattern detection, before it can earn our trust.
Any talk about innovation inside organizations is mostly just that; talk. Why? Because just like any individual that wants to make a change in his / her life, actually taking that step requires some reflection and clarity as to what you have to do to change; and you actually have to want to change.
I own a small collection of Air Jordan’s. I bought most of them in the resell market, which is projected to become a $6 billion business globally by 2025, according to a recent analysis from Cowen & Co.. So, providing authentic sneakers to people like me is a big business!