The New Now: Preparing for the 10 Trends that will Dominate a Post-COVID World

By Michael McQueen

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it is that the forces shaping tomorrow can easily blindside us if we're not prepared for them.

As we enter a post-pandemic world, scores of trends are set to arrive ahead of schedule. In the words of Shopify VP Loren Padelford, "Covid has acted like a time machine: it brought 2030 to 2020." The very changes Padelford is describing represent enormous opportunities for those that are ready.

And that's the very purpose of this book, "The New Now". It is designed to help you get a clear sense of what the future will hold so we can start gearing up for it.

The book's author Michael McQueen has spent over 15 years analyzing trends and identifying patterns before they become disruptions. "The New Now" explores the 10 megatrends that will reshape our world, recast our economy and redefine everyday life in ways many of us can scarcely imagine.

These include:

1. The Acceleration of AI
2. The COVID-Conditioned Consumer
3. The Priority of Personalization
4. The Post-Millennial Marketplace (Gen Z)
5. The Triumph of the Tiny (Nanotechnology)
6. The Reworking of Work (Virtual and Hybrid)
7. The Reign of Blockchain
8. Trust as a Commodity
9. The End of Ownership (Everything-as-a-service revolution)
10. Sustainability Takes Centre Stage

London Business School Professor Gary Hamel put it well when he observed that "You can't outrun the future if you don't see it coming." This book will give you the insights and strategies to help you prepare now for what is coming next.

To watch a short video overview of "The New Now", visit: https://youtu.be/BDpQhT1YlRs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9780646836911

Book preview

Title

Copyright © Michael McQueen 2021. Published by The Nexgen Group Pty Ltd

www.michaelmcqueen.net

ISBN: 978-0-646-83691-1

Cover Design by Julia Edwards

Typesetting and layout by Raphael Gideoni Albinati Batista

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced to a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Endorsements

"Michael has a rare ability to pinpoint what’s occurring at a global level. The New Now offers fascinating and thought-provoking insights into the critical themes emerging in COVID’s wake."

Debby Blakey

CEO, HESTA

This thought-provoking book offers a lightning-bolt of inspiration for future-proofing any brand. Michael’s insights are super fresh and are the perfect jump start for strategic planning.

Victoria Brown

Marketing Director, Swarovski

"The New Now is a must-read book. In his characteristic style, Michael offers powerful insights into the things that will shape business, life and culture in the years to come."

Neil J. Solomon

Vice President, Asia Pacific/Latin America, UKG

"The New Now is a compelling read for anyone who wants to understand the way the world has changed post-COVID. Michael gives readers the tools necessary to remain relevant into the future."

Russell Zimmerman

Past Executive Director, the Australian Retailers Association

"The New Now is essential reading for anyone who wants to navigate the future with confidence. Michael brings refreshing simplicity to complex concepts."

Maria Voronina

Strategic Planning Manager, Chobani

Michael has a succinct way of dissecting trends and their real-world application to the business world.

Sue-Lin Tin

Head of Digital Solutions & Innovation, CBRE

Introduction

Celebrated author and political theorist David Rothkopf once observed that the ability to anticipate the future is something that doesn’t come naturally to most of us. He suggests that as humans, we operate with a range of biases and we expect the world to confirm them. As a result, we mishear, misread and misinterpret events around us. We live in a world where 85% of the time today’s weather is the same as yesterday’s and as a result, we tend to let the immediate past shape our expectations of the future.¹

And yet the future is going to be very different from what any of us have known. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it is that the forces shaping tomorrow can easily blindside us if we’re not prepared for them.

London Business School Professor Gary Hamel puts it well when he observes that You can’t outrun the future if you don’t see it coming.

As we enter a post-pandemic world, scores of trends are set to arrive ahead of schedule. In the words of Shopify VP Loren Padelford, Covid has acted like a time machine: it brought 2030 to 2020. All those trends where organizations thought they had more time have been rapidly accelerated.² The very changes Padelford is describing represent enormous opportunities for those that are ready.

And that’s the very purpose of this book, The New Now. My goal is to help you get a clear sense of what the future will hold so we can start gearing up for it.

Having spent over 15 years analyzing trends and identifying patterns before they even become disruptions, I’d suggest that the coming decade will be dominated by 10 tidal shifts. These megatrends will reshape our world, recast our economy and redefine everyday life in ways many of us can scarcely imagine.

Here’s to preparing now for what’s next.

Michael McQueen

Trend forecaster and business strategist

www.michaelmcqueen.net

About the author

Michael McQueen has his finger on the pulse when it comes to emerging trends shaping society and business and has worked with some of the world's best-known brands. He is a bestselling author of nine books and his work has featured in publications ranging from the UK Daily Mail to Medium.com and the Huffington Post.

Michael is a familiar face on the international conference circuit having shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates, Dr. John Maxwell and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. He has presented to over 500,000 people across 5 continents since 2004 and is known for his high-impact, research-rich and entertaining conference presentations.

Having been named Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year in 2015, Michael has been inducted into the Professional Speaker’s Hall of Fame.

To find out more or book Michael to speak at your next conference or event, visit www.michaelmcqueen.net or email [e-mail].

Contents

Trend #1: The Acceleration of AI

Trend #2: The COVID-Conditioned Consumer

Trend #3: The Priority of Personalization

Trend #4: The Post-Millennial Marketplace

Trend #5: The Triumph of the Tiny

Trend #6: The Reworking of Work

Trend #7: The Reign of Blockchain

Trend #8: Trust as a Commodity

Trend #9: The End of Ownership

Trend #10: Sustainability Takes Centre Stage

Trend #1: The Acceleration of AI

For many of us, the very mention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) conjures up futuristic notions of Skynet and the malevolent robots that rose up to destroy humankind in the Terminator film series.

In reality however, Artificial Intelligence is already here and it’s not out to kill us. In fact, AI is saving lives and revolutionizing the world of healthcare - and that’s just the beginning.

When we talk about Artificial Intelligence (or learning algorithms, deep learning or machine learning, as it is sometimes labelled), it’s important to clarify that it exists in various forms across a wide spectrum.

For the purposes of our discussions here, we’re going to discuss AI in terms of three broad categories:³

1. Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI). A long way from the sort of rudimentary AI that beat chess players in the late 1990s, ANI is ‘narrow’ only because it is specialized to the function for which it has been developed. Just because ANI has a limited scope does not mean it is of limited potency or significance. Much of the tremendously clever technology running our smartphones, guiding our online purchases and underpinning our social media apps is in fact ANI.

2. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This second level of AI is where things get even more interesting. AGI is generally referred to as ‘human-level AI’, because it describes the capacity of a computer that is as smart as a human across the board — a point often referred to as ‘Singularity’. This is the stage where computers possess the ability to plan, reason, problem-solve and comprehend abstract and complex ideas. Once we have conquered AGI, computers will possess the power to learn from experiences and develop intelligent conclusions as fast as, or perhaps even faster than, the human brain.

3. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). Now this is the scary Skynet stuff. ASI is the point at which computers possess an intellectual capacity far greater than that of human beings. Furthermore, they would possess the capacity for social skills and general knowledge that would increase exponentially over time. It is this level of Artificial Intelligence that worries many of today’s leading thinkers, including Elon Musk, Frank Wilczek and the late Stephen Hawking.

As you can probably gather, right now we are on the verge of moving beyond the first level of AI, where computers aid and assist us as willing servants, to the point where they will equal our mental capacity and perhaps one day even surpass it.

Just how long it will take to create AGI is a source of much debate. Some, such as Google’s director of engineering and pre-eminent AI expert Ray Kurzweil, believe computers will reach AGI by 2029 (followed by ASI in 2045). In case you are unfamiliar with Kurzweil’s name and reputation, he is definitely someone worth listening to. In addition to being a celebrated inventor, engineer and entrepreneur, Kurzweil has been awarded 20 honorary doctorates as well as the American