Remember the “close talker” on Seinfeld? I’m a “future talker,” the man who shows people how to see clearly into the not-so-distant future! My topic is how to plan for tomorrow, and my audience is sales leaders, marketers, corporate execs, theater personnel, car dealers, government officials, foreign business types, and others. I have to change my tack for each distinctive crowd...on the spot, without blinking.
When I ask people to amend how they face the coming decade, I am faced with skepticism. Each group, then, has something to teach me about approach, ideas, reaction, timing, and—mostly—humility! This year I learned that audiences, though desperate to understand a wiser future, won’t just take advice sitting down!
So what does the audience want to overcome before they leap into a new era—the one that follows this “mediocre” time? “You see,” I explain. “I don’t want to predict anything, really. I want to show you how to find what’s coming yourselves.” Confusion reigns.
“How?” I am asked. By becoming more interesting and less interested in what you already know, then sharing newfound knowledge with others who will, in a hyper-networked world, target the newly informed with their own new learning.
Think about it; predicting what’s going to happen is ridiculous. I forecast a range of futures for each group. Cyclically speaking, we are going to change radically! My job as a speaker is to create a mental map rather than a one-dimensional destination.
Most trend-thinkers build credibility by employing a tone of absolute authority and driving away any shadow of uncertainty. I find it egotistical to say “My way or the highway.” Yes, I talk about fields where I make credible projections or where there are accepted techniques for long-term forecasts. But majestic confidence is false—it’s fake. Looking into the future is uncertain except for those who read Magic 8-Balls with an uncanny ability.
“But, Richard,” the eyes, and sometimes voices, say, “how can you be so confident? Where are you getting anecdotal evidence that it’s all so darn mediocre today…?” From people who poll for a living, and from articles and other good sources, and others whose job it is to say where we are today. With the ever-flowing nonsense that passes for news these days, how can anyone say that anything is connecting us now?
One audience began peppering me with “What’s the future going to be for folks who have to change perceptions for a living?” I am nothing if not armed with data, and I show how communication as an art form will change.
A group of cynical marketing experts were anxious to know if my first trend book (2002’s trendSpotting) had correctly forecasted anything. I defend it a bit aggressively: Nothing in that book was supposed to be taken that seriously. I am not a big believer in cliches, and I’m a light-talking guy. That was a book about the start of the new millennium, I explain, knowing how important it is that the audience believes their speaker had authority.
I explained that trendSpotting taught us how to look ahead; intelligent, grounded speculation and professional expertise was the call of that day.
Peals of laughter follow as I proclaim, “I am not really as much futuristic as I am a show-off.” I point out how cellular technology, an infant in ’02, was written up as the savior it would become. They then relax.
Once I spoke in front of industry sales leaders who loved my step-by-step advice on how to become better informed, but quickly turned on me when I didn’t get into “the fun stuff to look forward to” quickly enough.
This crowd sought nothing but predictions. Easy-peasy. Eager to hear me spout the “dessert” to move you in a certain direction? I oblige. I can inspire those antsy collectives. Voila—I’m something of a raconteur:
- We all will work while we’re sleeping. Gosh, are all these new products going to be, ahem, utilized in hours when we’re supposedly adrift in our dreams? So no more wasted hours for us suckers!
- Self-involvement evolves into an art form. What used to be gross and looked down upon—self-aggrandizement—becomes in no uncertain
- Slow attention span takes precedence after ADD peaks! We begin to take a backseat to speed, and the sudden craze is, “Why rush? We have all the time in the world.” Some businesses are born; others are really down.
- Customer service becomes law. Enough of being put on hold. After years of thinking silently, a movement is afoot: It’s an adhered-to policy to take care of the paying folk!
- You can look forward to “Turn of the Decade Syndrome,” where we reboot our lives. Come January 2011, the start of a new decade means everyone prepares madly—like Y2K, only positively. Time to make the one change to themselves that they’ve been desperate to achieve. So quit, start, redo—and forgive.
I can back each one ’cause it’s what I do…
And there was the time last winter I presented to a group of government officials who wanted to know—with audible panting—how to get their message to “the masses” differently. The future of the future is scary and replete with hard truths. People will soon close their minds to being pandered to, and our government tends to spend a lot of time wagging their finger at the populace! I explained how the consumer of the future—“start thinking of constituents as consumers now”—would want transparency and not goobel-dy-goop or official speak.
Thinking on my feet (PowerPoint cannot think this way), I asked for suggested topics, and got them by the boatload. What a boat!
“What do we do with bad customers?” Businesses today know it’s cheaper to keep a current customer than acquire a new one. Organizations are going to start taking a harder look at the customer side of the equation in the future. Sprint dropped 1,000 subscribers when it discovered customers were calling its service department 40 to 50 times with problems unrelated to Sprint. Realizing it wouldn’t make them happy, they sent them packing. We’ll see more companies making this distinction and giving bad customers the boot.
“Is sleep good or bad?” Every sales professional knows they’re supposed to be getting seven or eight hours of sleep a night, but really, who has time to sleep when there’s so much work to be done? Volumes are written about how sleep-deprived we are, but we aren’t getting to bed earlier. That’s going to change. The business world in general will realize they are more insightful, creative and productive when they are rested. Corporate America will use the connection between sleep and creativity, adding a tremendous boost to the productivity of its base.
“Do I have to start speaking English?” In this era of text messaging, blogging and e-mail, we’ve become lazy. We tend to dash off notes without proofreading. We tend to use generic catch phrases like “seamless solution” and “superior service,” and why do we do it? Because it’s easier and quicker than taking the time to think, write, edit and edit again until it’s clear, compelling and precise. There’s going to be a backlash!
All right, now you know. It’s been a fantastic half a year of standing up for what I believe in: The future is going to be so bright we have to wear shades. I cannot take any one crowd for granted; this is their speech as much as mine.
