The Best Way to Compete in the Future Is to Create It

Innovation and creativity are key future of work collateral, AND you need a plan to create the future.

The best way to compete in the future is to create it.

Leaders and entrepreneurs can generate a plethora of ideas but no idea no matter how bold will not soar without wings and a flight plan.



Many tech startups use storyboarding and design thinking to generate customer oriented innovations—the process is to walk through a planned product or service as a customer.

The successful execution of a plan requires a roadmap. A map plots out the project in a visual and timeline specific format that allows for everyone to follow visible steps to achieve the goals of getting an idea to market or to a transformation of an existing product or service.

That's where our newly created brand comes in—on March 15th we are launching NextMapping™—a proprietary process and approach to help leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs be future-ready now.

In our research and customer surveys, we found that there are many resources and experts that talk about the future of work and none that provide a map on how to create your future now.

At NextMapping™ we don't believe in a far off future focus—we want to help our clients create the future they envision for their company, their clients, and their employees.

Many futurists point out an almost dystopian view of the future where robots, AI, and automation are going to take away jobs and overrun the world.

We take a different approach—we believe that the future is what we create.

Humans get to decide on the positive impact of robots, AI, and automation. As long as technological innovation is focused on human life enhancement and work happiness, then we can create that future.

For over 20 years I have been passionately studying, researching, and sharing all things to do with ‘human evolution'—helping leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs shift their thinking, change their behaviors, creatively solve customer challenges, and ultimately, change the world by helping business be ‘human centric.'

Competition is no longer within an industry; disruption can come from anywhere, and following a success story is no longer guaranteed proof on your own success. The only way to compete in the future is to focus on transforming both employee and customer experience in exponential ways.

Digital transformation is one tool for delivering on the ultimate outcome, which is to help humans lead more fulfilling and happy lives at home and at work.

If you and your teams are focused on how you can change the world through business, you are on the right trajectory for future success. If your focus is on defending what's worked in the past or protecting the status quo . . . then you may want to shift your attention and focus to creating a better future for your customers and employees.

Strategically there is a completely different approach to defending against threats (the SWOT) or dynamically focusing on how to innovate and implement at the speed of change.

This article was originally published on NextMapping.

Cheryl Cran is a future of work expert and the founder of nextmapping.com, a future of work research and consulting firm that helps leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs be future-ready. She is the author of six books, including her new one due out at the end of 2018 titled, "NextMapping—How Great Leaders Inspire People to Create the Future of Work."

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.