Apr 22, 2020 | Anticipation, COVID-19, Mega Trends, Modern Life, Social Commentary
I’ve been thinking a lot about how this current phase of the pandemic – and the one that follows – will change us. Unfortunately, I don’t think that we are close to returning to normal. We are instead, to borrow a Churchillian turn of phrase, reaching the...
Mar 31, 2020 | Anticipation, Mega Trends, Modern Life, News, Perpendicular Thinking, Social Commentary, Strategy, Thinking Tools
Are you surprised that the whole US economic system has essentially collapsed in a matter of weeks? I am. This is an enormously disruptive shock, to be fair. But the speed with which the health of the American economy has gone from healthiest in history to gasping on...
Aug 7, 2019 | Attention, Deep Work, Modern Life, Stillness, Thinking Tools
Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” As a reaction to fast food (and its more modern incarnation, fast-casual ), a countermovement rose up a number years ago extolling the virtues of ‘ slow food ’. Since then, we’ve seen the emergence of slow fashion, slow...
Jun 5, 2018 | Acceleration, Modern Life, Reinvention, Strategy
I’m sometimes called upon to give my take on so-called Mega Trends and ‘the Future’, and tonight I’ll be a giving a different version of that talk. Rather than forecasting the future, however, I’m going to discuss the long one you have in front of you. I’m going to...
Mar 13, 2018 | Modern Life, Social Commentary, Stillness, Tech Lash
Do you reflexively reach for your phone when you’re stuck in an annoyingly long line at Starbucks? I do. How about when waiting to get on your flight and you’ve been relegated to boarding category 4? Guilty there, too. Don’t worry: this isn’t going to be another...
Feb 26, 2018 | Attention, Modern Life, Social Commentary, Tech Lash
Have you noticed how nothing ever really ends anymore? This thought came to me as I was listening to an interview with Adam Alter, the author of a chilling new book about how today’s technologies are increasingly irresistible. Alter described how our favorite apps —...
