Ever feel like the woman pictured in this post?
Are you tired of hearing about turbulence, and the pace of change, and that things are different?
Well, according to the latest research on the future, it is time to, as the Eagles say in their song, “Get Over It.”
When I first saw this, I thought, “Wow this is a really long-term forecast. Then I realized we are quickly closing the chapter on the first decade of the millennium!
So here you have the top six trends from a futurist in Ernst & Young's report, Business Redefined : A Look at the Global Trends Changing the World of Business.
Pay close attention to the title — business redefined — for a clue about how big these trends really are.
The report starts out, “More than ever, our prosperity — as organizations, societies and individuals — depends on the extent to which we can adapt to these forces and deploy them to our advantage.
In the current economic climate, we may be tempted to focus our attention only on immediate, fast-changing events, but we cannot afford to ignore longer-term trends if we want to be positioned for market leadership in the future.”
Here are the top six trends:
- The rise of emerging markets.
- Increasing focus on resource efficiency and climate change.
- The transformed financial landscape.
- The increased role of government in the private sector.
- The next evolution of technology.
- Fostering a global workforce in dynamic times.
The major takeaways I got from this report are these:
- Change — or more importantly, disruptive change — will be a major part of this “new normal” in the future.
- We must be thinking and re-thinking about how we can adapt to these changes, despite the pressures of the here and now.
- The regulatory pendulum has now swung over to government involvement for the foreseeable future.
This reaffirms a lot of conversations we have been having with CPAs as more than 2,000 MACPA members participated in town halls and professional issues updates last year. We characterize the change as a perfect storm led by the big three waves of change caused by globalization, technology, and demographics / workforce. This report adds to that sustainability, financial regulation and increased role ofgovernment.
Overall, it's a great piece and I encourage you to take a look. Here is a copy of the printable report.
Let's talk about it. Come out to one of our town hall meetings (four hours of free CPE) this fall and join the conversation.
Related resources on dealing with the turbulence:
- The one thing you need for competitive advantage
- What can we learn from large corporate CEOs?
- Do we need a Re-set and can the crowd help?
How are you planning to deal with these disruptive trends?