Harnessing human ingenuity to create human value – aligning collective action in a knowledge and services economy.
The world has changed, but many of our practices still hark back to methods of work developed in the midst of the industrial revolution. The rewards are huge for those who are successful at upgrading our ways of working together to be fit-to-purpose for the knowledge economy and the creation of complex forms of intangible and non-financial value, alongside their financial success.
This was expressed best by former CEO and Chair of Citibank, Walter Wriston, saying “The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of the people in his or her organisation is going to blow the competition away”.
The “big challenge” for the future is how we can make better use of the world’s finite resources, together with the unlimited creative thinking of humankind… effectively harnessed through the enhanced organization of human labor. In other words, creating better organizations and creating better human futures.
Future leaders need to oversee the re-design and re-creation of systems and frameworks, to ensure they are creating a safe and nurturing space for ideas, feedback and creativity. They need to drive the development of the strategic, logistical and situational support practices to ensure that we are enabling all personnel involved in an enterprise to think, act, and align their efforts… so all staff can maximise the contribution of their potential value.
Leaders need to oversee the creation of frameworks for systemic networked knowledge that harnesses the intelligent creativity of all stakeholders. There are organisations who are doing this well now, and much that can be learned from existing practice.
The new age of highly effective organizations will activate all participants as productive elements in a knowledge engine. Staff, partners, stakeholders and leaders will all participate in the production of high-value networked knowledge, not merely attending as automatons at the remote end of a command and control machine.
Themes Explored In This Keynote Address
Danny’s futurist foresight is a powerful meeting of the latest global research, the leading edge of enhanced professional disciplines, thousands of real-world observations of corporate behaviours, and his unique way of unpacking complex issues through systems thinking, economics, social philosophy, pragmatism, positivity… and humor.