What every professional needs to know about 2018 in 3 minutes

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO THRIVE IN 2018 & IN THE FORTH INDUSTRIAL - SIX STRATEGIES IN 3 MINUTES by Coach Gabriela Mueller Mendoza

Yes 2018 is here and I wish you all a great start in this New Year and energy to pursue your next level, whatever it may be. And NOW the Fourth industrial revolution is here! The current and developing environment in which disruptive technologies and trends are changing the way we live and work. Among those: AI, Machine Learning, Smart Robots, Commercial Drones, Cloud to the Edge, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Augmented Reality, Brain Computer, Block Chain / Bitcoin, Event-Driven Systems, 5G and more! Is your brain going “WOW!” in excitement or “Ouch!” in anxiety? Regardless of your reaction to this new act, the 4th Industrial Revolution is here big time! The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. This era brings enormous potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. So far though those gaining something are consumers able to afford and access the digital world. Technology has made possible new products and services that increase the efficiency and pleasure of our personal lives: ordering a taxi, ordering stuff online, making your bookings, paying for things in a digital form, downloading entertainment options, gaming, etc. You may wonder: is it possible this revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets? Yes. The possible displacement of workers by machines and by technology is a possible scenario. However, I am optimistic about one thing — that in the future, talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production in our organizations. I am a visual learner, so I prepared a rather graphic representation of these disruptive new advancements and mention their impact of your/our teams. Below you will be able to review the dozen most destructive and exciting trends we will see in 2018 and how I as coach and specialist on Human empowerment see their potential. I back it up by research and views by WEF, CERN, Gartner and UN. Are you/your teams ready to embrace these opportunities in 2018.

Click HERE to enhance

SIX CONCRETE THINGS YOU AND YOUR TEAMS CAN DO TO THRIVE IN 2018 As coach and leader in communication and team dynamics, this is what I assess

1. Real time information and intelligence will offer new specific insights on customer expectations and needs in a faster and more disruptive way.
2. Your teams will face disruption also on how they face innovative competitors, who will also access global digital platforms for R&D, marketing and new sales channels. This is also good news because I can foresee that new players who can deliver quality in a faster pace, using new channels will outperform competition (even well stablished competition) faster than ever before.
3. An increasing demand for transparency from our customers will make governance and ethics gain relevance in a world. Walking-the-talk will be key. Is your organization clear about it? And you as leader / manager?
4. The Millennial challenge and opportunity will be one that can reveal what your company is really made of. Millennials are now setting the pace of consumer trends. We live in world where 30 Billion WhatsApp messages are sent every day and where 87% of young people in Western cultures say their smartphone never leave their side. It is a world of “now”. The “now” world requires all of us in business and leadership to be ready to respond. Not to react, to respond to new needs and re-invent / innovate faster and more effectively than ever before. Also, let’s not assume that these is confined to high-income economies. I recently traveled to several Latin America countries and to Asia/sub-Saharan Africa and I lived it firsthand. Those regions are the fastest-growing regions in terms of mobile-phone subscriptions and e-commerce.
5. Agile thinking and true diversity of thinking can be the crucial elements that will make a difference in this new competitive landscape. The concept of being the “CEO” of your project, your team, your idea even as being part of a global company will be embraced more and more. This approach can only work if your company culture embraces three key elements: failure, resilience and vulnerability. True innovation needs oxygen to allow: trial-error-retrial.
6. The great majority of companies profess “customer centric”. 2018 will test their claims because as real-time data and meta-data are applied to their campaigns / targets / service, their traditional segmentation will no longer be useful. The data associated to the customer experience and expectations emits tons of information by the second. Therefore, your teams’ success in the 4th Industrial Revolution will greatly depend on how they will adapt and serve in an agile way. The will need to from their customer. They will need to observe, listen effectively and then promptly provide value without leaving their essence behind, and what the company stands for. Challenging though rewarding.

The companies and leaders who understand that the Forth Industrial Revolution is happening as we speak and that disruption affects both demand and supply of their business will thrive. They will have to be brave to question their assumptions, question the “success” factors that got them to where they are. To welcome new sources of ideas and approaches that are not the traditional well-accredited sources. Their future solutions and products may come from combination of multiple technologies and industries in a different unexpected approach. For you as leader or leading company in 2018, these are great FIVE questions to answer and decide whether you and your teams are ready for 2018 or blindfolded in this new disruptive year:

1. How ready are you to meet your customer’s expectations and needs, which are clearly shifting in the 4th industrial revolution?
2. How ready are your teams to establish strategic new partnership and alliances across other industries and disciplines to co-create solutions, f2f and virtually?
3. How empowered are your teams to lead horizontally, bottom-up and top-down and influence and persuade key stakeholders that don’t report to them? Moving from authority to real influence.
4. How ready are you to balance your dance between B2C, B2B and remembering it’s still H2H – Human to Human? It’s always H2H. Those human interactions foster trust and empathy across the board.
5. In the era of Virtual communication, how effective are you and your teams communicating key messages virtually, f2f, culturally savvy and in an influential way? Are they able to resolve conflict among distributed cross-cultural teams effectively? Remember most challenges in projects continue to be people-related. So, without face-to-face contact, are your team ready to sort these challenges using webcams, tele-conferences and VR?

Let’s embrace and accept the challenges along the way, choose to keep moving forward, and savor the journey. Need support to leap and lead? Coach Speaker Gabriela Mueller

Leadership Strategist & Catalyst & Coach and Engaging Speaker. Based in Central Europe Active worldwide.

Twitter @gabrielamueller