Investing in yourself is key to building your business. A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to talk to an individual who attended this year’s Abundance 360 Summit. If you don’t know what this is, it is an event held annually by Peter Diamandis, where he invites 360 of the leading entrepreneurs, CEOs and investors committed to understanding the impact of exponential technologies.
As I listened to him, he explained that he had attended this summit over a number of years and was amazed at how fast technology was moving. He said that it was getting faster and faster and that he was amazed that year over year, the changes taking place were no longer minor leaps, but shifts he could never have imagined.
Most of us have heard of 3D printing, but what about 3D printing food? It is already happening. Most of us know that robots don’t have feeling. What if they did? It is coming soon to a world near you. What? You don’t have to leave your home to feel exactly as you would feel taking that winter vacation. The shift in virtual reality will soon make even this possible.
Technology is moving at an incredible pace, and as a leader or business owner, you owe it to yourself to push yourself out of your box, or you could find yourself left behind. It is easy to think that things will always be the same, but there is more than one company that has been pushed out of the game because they chose to think this way (ever heard of Block Buster? Polaroid? BlackBerry?). There are industries in the same boat (newspaper industry, travel agents, etc.).
As the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, it will not only be the simple jobs that are taken out. It will be some of the ones you don’t expect. AI can now read x-rays. It is able to pour through pages and pages of contract law to find loop holes in seconds as compared to what would take days previously, and with more accuracy.
So what can you do?
- Get out of your business or company and attend trade shows, conferences, and summits. Go to ones where you might feel uncomfortable, because that is where you will get the greatest insight.
- Embrace the technology around you. If you get a new phone, make it your quest to learn everything they can do. Ask you kids (they likely know a lot more than your do about these things), ask your friends what apps they use and how they use them, or simply play around with it.
- Get curious about the world beyond the one you live in. In today’s world of information, there is a tonne of it at your finger tips. Why not take a few minutes each week and see what is new. Type into YouTube the words “innovative technologies” and you will be amazed at the video that pop up for you to check out. We thought we would share one below.
You owe it to yourself to remain relevant, especially given with today’s innovations you are likely to live longer than you might imagine. See technology and innovation as fun and exciting