Engineering the Future: The 7 mega-trends, the books, the tools and picking your number

By Ron Immink

Engineering the Future is nothing to do with technology but about engineering yourself. A healthy mind, a healthy body, a strong mind and a focused mind – applying the rule “rubbish in rubbish out”. If you can tell yourself (internally and externally) a good story with a vision and purpose, you will be doing fine. Realise that what got you here, won’t get you there. You need to constantly look for new things and unlearn the old ways because they are just no longer relevant. It is the only way to keep up with exponential change. The purpose of this book (and the others in the series) is to make you think, wonder and reflect. Maybe get a new idea or a way forward. At a minimum it is decision-making fuel and will make you more aware of what the best business thinkers think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oak Tree Press
• Release date: Mar 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781781194362

Book preview

Engineering the Future

Two years ago, I moved to Spain. And for the last two years, I have spent lovely summers in Spain, writing a number of books. Below are the books that I have written so far:

Innovation, do or die

The future, slow down or go faster

Social media and selling

Climate change

Resilience

Sense-making

Business Books

When you read a lot of business books, it gives you an idea of the trends that are going on. I think the titles are a reflection of some of the megatrends. They are:

exponential as an effect

storytelling as a megatrend

climate change

your personal responsibility as a leader

questioning the future of humanity.

Innovation

It starts with innovation. And yes, it is do or die. There is a realisation that innovation is very, very hard. Most companies seem to be looking for the solution in structures and projects, and basically placing bets. Fundamentally think that innovation is about a collective mindset. The ultimate word is mindset. Mindset is a word that reflects the true megatrend.

The Future

The second book I wrote is a book about the future, which is all about exponential. A book about how fast things are going. The conclusion is that it is near impossible to keep up. You can try to run faster and faster, but eventually, exponential wins. I think that the secret to coping with particularly technology trends is to slow down and go back to understanding what the core of your business is and more important who you are as a person. Purpose, stillness and self-awareness.

Social Media

I then wrote a book about social media and selling. About a world where everything in marketing is increasingly fragmented. Fragmented from a messaging and from a media channel perspective, but also from an attention perspective. The thing that still cuts through is actually one of the oldest ways of conveying messages in the world. It is good old storytelling. Nassim Taleb wrote a book title Antifragile. In that book, he writes about the Lindy effect. It is the effect that describes things that have been true for 10,000 years will probably be true for another 10,000 years. That is why you shouldn’t ignore ancient wisdom. Storytelling is hundreds of thousands of years old. Proper storytelling is going to be the best ways to cut through the fragmentation in marketing and social media.

Climate Change

I wrote a book about climate change, a book that moves between despair and hope. From scenes from Mad Max and scenes from Waterworld. All at the same time. Armageddon. But also hopeful books such as Drawdown, which suggests that all solutions are already available. My personal perspective if that first and foremost climate change is a 90 trillion business opportunity and a hard trend that business cannot ignore. It will be businesses that will have to solve this problem. When governments redefine the economic drivers, business and exponential effects will do the rest. The only issue is timing. We are running out of time.

Resilience

I wrote a book about resilience, and that book is about the need for inspired leadership. What you can learn from special forces, top athletes and master chefs. The common denominator is again mindset, extreme ownership and leadership as a collective responsibility.

Sense-making

The last book that I have written is sense-making. Businesses (and people) find it really hard to make sense of all the things that are happening, such as climate, technology, Brexit, Trump, AI, robots, genetics, health and generating an income now and in the future. There is definitely a sense of a struggle between man and machine. This book follows on from The future, slow down or go faster and that we need to go back to the core of what makes us human. Read Humanity versus technology. Our humanity is at stake. Which is why you start to see the backlash against the larger tech companies. Look, for example, at what is happening with Facebook.

Engineering the Future

As I was preparing for a talk for a large project engineering company, I started to read up about engineering. Starting with Make, think, imagine. It really opened my eyes. As a non-engineer, I began to realise that engineering is incredibly interesting. Engineers make science possible. Without engineers, science would not be applied. More interesting, and this is more to do with large infrastructural projects, engineers have an enormous responsibility to make sure everything is 200% safe. Slowing down the exponential effects. Engineers are slow, and that is a good thing. Engineers as the moral guardians of the impacts of technology.

Manage the Planet

Another book that you might want to read is Synthetic age, which suggests that through engineering, we could possibly manage the planet and manage nature. Including weather and earthquakes with some geoengineering thrown in. Nature as a solvable project engineering challenge.

Three Levels

I think you can engineer your future on three levels. At a personal level, at a macro level and at the level of your own business.

Personal

When you start reading business self-help books, you realise that those books are increasingly taking lessons from the military, sports and increasingly master chefs. Books such as Extreme ownership. What you find in those books, and in particular in books about special forces is that everything is about mindset.

Mindset

Mindset applied to control your brain, mindset to ensure you are physically fit, but also mindset into something as simple as your breathing. The understanding that leadership is something very personal. Simple things as leading by example and applying the golden rule. But more important is to understand that leadership is also and much more so a collective responsibility. For example, Navy Seals allow the specialist of the moment to take the lead. Shared leadership as a principle.

A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

I have the pleasure to work with special forces specialists on retreats we run in Barcelona with CEOs of medium-sized businesses (see www.tibor.nl/retreats). There we work on tackling the business issues, the personal issues, the mindset, but also on physical fitness. What we find is that physical exercise and physical fitness are a crucial element in helping people turn themselves around. The Lindy effect again; a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Fitness

You are going to find that future CEOs will be expected to be physically fit. Taking the philosophy that an unhealthy body is a reflection of an unhealthy mind. With a link to self-discipline and character. Increasingly you find fascinating studies about the connection between body and mind. Therefore, you need to be self-aware, and you need to be fit. Mentally and physically.

Where Do You Want to Be

You also need to know where you want to go. Do you have a perspective on the future? For example, are you robot-proof? Or more important and urgent, are you AI proof? How is AI going to impact on your work? IBM’s Watson is now a platform and is competing with doctors, surgeons, stockbrokers, accountants, bankers, solicitors, and yes engineers.

Your Skillset

Which means you will have to assess your current skill level and particularly focus on your soft skills and creativity. Or you could get yourself augmented as a response. New hands, new eyeballs, brain implants, nano repair bots in your bloodstream, etc. The reality is that we are already more augmented than we think. The smartphone is a perfect example of that. Still attached to your hand, soon projected on your eyeballs or inside your body or brain.

Science Fiction

As a byproduct, it will also mean we will live to be 150 or 200 years old. Maybe even immortality. Once you combine augmentation with biology and genetics, that is a near-inevitable conclusion. Science fiction is becoming science fact. For you to understand the future, there is no harm in reading science fiction, so you create an understanding of possible futures and where things are going. And not plan for ten years, but 100 years if the effect of climate change does not get your first. Although, soon you can augment you against those effects.

Coping

I think that coping with changes on a personal level is the hardest part. It is difficult. It is also the most essential part of engineering the future. It is first and foremost about you. Developing a perspective on your own destiny is part of creating a strong mindset. Because if you do not make up your mind, somebody else will do it for you. You will be manipulated by social media and companies such as Facebook, Google or Amazon. They will make up your mind for you. You will need a healthy and strong mind in an augmented body.

Macro

Developing a macro perspective is easier. Starting with your attitude. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? Are you worried about the climate? I always ask that question, because I believe that climate is the most existential crisis we are facing. I also believe it is a bigger business opportunity than the Internet. I also like to think that the exponential technologic developments will give us the solutions before it is too late. Although, I am also worried that the climate effects are also exponential.

Climate

Whatever way you feel about climate change, you can rest assured that climate is going to have a substantial impact on business models. Policy, consumerism and regulation will make that so. Natural capital cost (maybe at restorative levels), will become part of your cost pricing. You will have to pay full cost for pollution, carbon, water, soil erosion, plastic, health, etc. Making every business model we currently apply unsustainable. Particularly if we pay at the level of bringing it back to its original state. Which is very likely to happen. Expect class actions and lawsuits to every polluter. Monsanto and Urgenda are the tip of the iceberg.

Circular

We are also running out of raw materials. Sand, for example. That is going to be bad if you are building with concrete. Your supply lines are under threat. Which is why circular is becoming a trend. The only way to fully secure materials in the future is to go 100% circular.

Exponential

Let’s all hope that the exponential effect of technology will meet the exponential effects of climate change before we got to over 2 degrees. Because exponential is the way, you need to think. Exponential in nearly every technology you can imagine. And increasingly becoming interchangeable like lego, combining genetics with robotics, with AI, with biomimicry, with nanotechnology, with material science, etc. You can go on. Getting the weirdest outcomes. Anything goes. Science fiction is becoming science fact at lightning speed. Johnny Mnemonic, 1984 and the Matrix are already here.

Extreme

To prepare, you need to take things to their extremes. For example, how do you think the world of gaming is going to look like in 10-years-time? Think AR, VR, nano, synthetic biology and neuroscience. I will be willing to take a bet that in the future it will be a plugin the back of your mind that you can literally click in. Like the matrix, click, and you’re in the game. It will be as real as you can imagine, if not better than reality.

Pendulum

That is an example of an extreme. You need to realise that everything is action and reaction. There is a constant pendulum. You need to take a position on that pendulum as a company and as an individual. From the complete extremes of technology to all that is possible to the counter-reaction on the other side. For example, as a response to all the technology, we all have wood on our floors. As a response to technology, we are going back to nature. That pendulum effect is everywhere. Where does your company and where do you as an individual, take the position? It doesn’t matter what position you choose as long as you take one. Not making a choice makes you ruthless. It will also inform the way you look at the trends.

Abundance as a Trend

There is a growing movement that suggests that the economic models that are based on scarcity are no longer relevant. We are entering a world of abundance, which means that there will be an abundance of food, water, energy, etc. Instead of running out, all will be solved. Energy, food and water (and coffee) will be there in abundance. At a fraction of the cost. It is going to make business models difficult when everything is abundant and free.

Take a Position

The point is that you just have to take a perspective. And from that perspective, consider what the challenges and opportunities are going to be. Look at climate change or abundance as an opportunity. I think there are massive opportunities in water, food, energy and infrastructure.

Hard Trends

From your chosen position, you need to decide what the hot trends are. Or as Daniel Burrus calls it hard trends. Entirely predictable (as distinct from soft trends). Trends driven by technology, regulatory frameworks, policy, EU directives, statistics and demographics. AI is a hard trend. Elderly care is a hard trend. Health is a hard trend. Cryptocurrency is a soft trend. Blockchain is a hard trend. And you can go on. What are the hard trends in your sector? What are the technologies to watch?

Clock Speed

Peter Hinssen wrote The day after tomorrow. He talks about the importance of the internal clock speed within a company. If the internal clock speed within your company is slower than the speed of external developments, you have a problem. How quickly does information flow and how quick do you make a decision? If that clock speed is slower than the environment you operate in, you have a problem.

Dashboard

To speed up your clock speed, you need to develop a dashboard and increase the quality of your information supply. Here are some suggested sources. Follow these for a month, and you will never be the same.

TED

Stanford

MIT

Harvard Business Review

Science Alert

Futurism

Abundance 360

Singularity University

Live Science Essentials

Technomy

Fast Company

Big Think

Axios Future

Futurity

Gaia

Interesting Engineering

McKinsey

Strategy+Business

Nano magazine

Transformative Purpose

There is a book called exponential organisations. A cracking book on how to grow and scale. What is increasingly proven is that the transformative purpose of a company is the most critical success factor. Not purpose or mission. Transformative purpose. Preferably a big one. BTP. If you have a truly big transformative purpose, you are much more likely to scale. You will attract the millennials, the talent and the clients.

Innovation Capability

Innovation is a muscle. A muscle you need to train. The innovation that you’re looking for is probably in the fringes of your network. You need to start looking for the weirdos and rebels inside and outside of your company. You should read Loonshots. It suggests that to survive, you just have to do something completely crazy. Take on a few loonshots. Not big projects, but small projects. Pick tiny little projects, something that really excites your staff. Pick a demonstration projects. Car companies build rally cars for a challenge. What is the rally car challenge in your business?

Intrapreneurship as an Option

I have a particular interest in intrapreneurship. It seems to make a lot of sense. Everything a startup needs, such as money, clients, talent, channels, systems are already available in abundance in an existing business. There are a wide number of playbooks available. My favourite is Zone to win. About how to manage the organisational conflicts between optimisation and efficiency and unpredictability, uncertainty and creativity. Managing solid, fluid and superfluid.

Culture

Culture is a buzz word. I prefer family. If you follow German companies in particular, and if you follow family businesses, especially, they are a lot more resilient. Create a sense of family as part of your culture. That is the cornerstone of resilience.

Legacy

A book that combines purpose and culture is Legacy. A book about how the All Blacks changed their culture rediscovered their purpose. The fundamental question is whether you are leaving the company, or are you leaving the world in a better place? Are you proud of the shirt you are wearing? And are you leaving the shirt in a better place, then be there before joined.

Trends

I wrote an article about the 100 trends. From AI, IoT, blockchain, 3D printing, material science, synthetic biology, artificial reality, virtual reality, nanotechnology, etc. I did this as a presentation in Holland, and I was told that this was a complete bullshit Bingo. They were absolutely right. Because it is difficult to make sense of all of this. The filter you could use to simplify is what we call a strategic box

Your Narrative

In summary, I think engineering the future is nothing to do with technology and actually start with engineering yourself. Taking the Lindy effect into effect. A healthy mind, a healthy body, a strong mind and a focused mind. Applying the rule rubbish in rubbish out. If you can tell yourself (internally and externally) a good story with a vision and purpose you, you will be doing fine. If you are running a business, make sure there is a collective and shared narrative.

Move

Realise that what got you here, won’t get you there. You need to constantly look for new things and unlearn the old ways because they are just no longer relevant. It is the only way to keep up with exponential change. It’s not about navel gazing, but it’s all about movement and action. A shark will die the minute it doesn’t move anymore. You need to keep on moving.

The Number

Finally, when we work with entrepreneurs and companies, we translate everything into numbers. Preferably one number based on a focus and a theme. That is then translated into a hundred-day plan for everybody in the company. Where every staff member knows what the number is for the next hundred days. To get to a vision in 10 years, you need 40 hundred-day plans.

Free Your Mind of Being Yourself

The Greatest Habit You Can Ever Break Is the Habit of Being Yourself is a great book about your mind, brain imaging, neuroplasticity, epigenetics, psychoneuroimmunology, quantum entanglement, neurochemicals, and meditation

The Power of the Mind

You need to embrace the concept that your (subjective) mind has an effect on your (objective) world. The latest research supports the notion that we have a natural ability to change the brain and body by thought alone. In fact, your thoughts have consequences so great that they create your reality.

Quantum Physics

The most fundamental components of our so-called physical world are both waves (energy) and particles (physical matter), depending on the mind of the observer. What quantum physicists discovered was that the person observing (or measuring) the tiny particles that make up atoms affect the behaviour of energy and matter.

Observer Effect

In other words, a particle cannot manifest in reality—that is, ordinary space-time as we know it—until we observe it. Quantum physics calls this phenomenon collapse of the wave function or the observer effect. The subjective mind has an effect on the objective world. An observer can affect the subatomic world and influence a specific event, just by collapsing a single electron from a wave of energy into a particle.

Quantum Entanglement

Quantum entanglement will tell us that once two particles can be initially linked in some way, they will always be bonded together beyond space and time. That means that since we too are made up of particles, we are all implicitly connected beyond space and time. What we do unto others, we do unto ourselves.

Everything is Every

The atom is 99.99999 per cent energy and .00001 per cent matter. Think about this: everything physical in your life is not solid matter. Instead, it’s all fields of energy or frequency patterns of information.

Mindful Attention

At the subatomic level, energy responds to your mindful attention and becomes matter. Energy is the very fabric of all things material and is responsive to mind. Everything in the physical universe is made up of subatomic particles such as electrons. By their very nature, these particles, when they exist as pure potential, are in their wave state while they are not being observed. They are potentially every-thing and no-thing until they are observed.

Everything is Potential

Thus,