Decoding Tomorrow:
Futurism and Foresights Today

As a futurist, I frequently get asked to speak on digital disruption and future trends. What surprises me is the willingness of organisations to focus on the shiny new penny, and forget about the stuff in business that truly works. My firm belief is that the more some things change, the more other things stay exactly the same. 

Business leaders must remember that you cannot throw the analogue baby out with the digital bathwater. Let us take a look at some businesses that recognise that old is new again. 

I was recently speaking at a conference on #Digilogue in Hobart, Tasmania. After the event, branding guru, Dan Gregory, and I went for lunch and a drink at the Museum of Old and New Art, at the Moorilla Wine Estate outside of Hobart. This is one of the most interesting museums I have ever visited, which should make all Taswegians proud of the accomplishment of curator and investor, David Walsh who describes the museum as a "subversive adult Disneyland." What struck me most was the convergence of the old and the new, in a sense the meeting of tradition and technology. On entry, you're equipped with an iPhone pre-loaded with a lay-man's description of the art works or alternatively the more high brow, sophisticated "art-wank' as David Walsh calls it. The museum has the feeling of taking you through a catacombic tour of the underworld, and displays both modern and 'old' art side by side, in an interplay of the digital and the analogue.

I was left wondering what experiences businesses create today which combine the best of the old, and the most premium of the new? And I recognised that many businesses, in their rush to innovatie and challenge the status quo, forget about the old. As a neophile, I love the new, but I also believe that we need to respect people's need for credibility, history, and grounded story, something the MONA does extremely well. 

There is a sense that this museum remembers something we forget in business too often. For example, check out this article in Real Estate Business Magazine which I recently wrote on digilogue, for an insight into how this relates in a specific industry (pages 16-17). 

The more some things change for real, the more other things stay exactly the same. In your rush to innovate, what you are forgetting? Which old school bits of your business are you throwing out with the digital bathwater?

Take a moment and focus on the following...

• What currently works in your business?
• Which bits are analogue (high touch)?
• Which bits are digital?
• What communications efforts have most impact? Map them down and make sure you don't abandon them!
• But, equally important, what new things do you need to introduce?
• What future ways of communicating digitally do you need to introduce?
• What novel ways of connecting analogue can you introduce?

Think about digital marketing for a moment.

• What digital channels do you currently use to communicate your analogue expertise?
• Which really communicate in a digilogue fashion, your unique thought leadership?
• Do you feature more in social or professional media?
• How can you best incorporate your analogue story and brand, in a way that is digital?

What do you think?

How are you incorporating the old and the new in your business?

Check out some case studies of how Thinque's multinational clients are embracing the future, by retaining the best of the old school, now. 

Remember, don't throw the analogue baby out with the digital bathwater.