Jared Weiner

EnterPrizes – The Future of Web2+ and Web3
Despite the challenging global circumstances of the last few years, certain business indicators (e.g., M&A volume, tech startup valuations, supply chain investments) are off the charts. Firms in all sectors now face an inflection point. Today’s fertile business environment provides a generational opportunity for firms to invest in emerging technologies that are rapidly becoming pillars of the economy. Those technologies fall into two broader categories: what we call “web2+” and “web3.”

Web2+ builds upon web2, while evolving its breakthrough apps (e.g., the metaverse). Web3 is a more decentralized version of the internet, built atop distributed ledgers (blockchains). Leaders will need the discipline to avoid investing heavily in these technologies merely to participate in the land rush. They should instead strategically evaluate which mix of these technologies to invest in. This era will be characterized by firms pursuing big tech-fueled wins we might refer to as EnterPrizes.

The Emerging Executive Skillset (& New “C-Suite”)
The characteristics imperative for effective leadership are evolving in real-time. Conventional talks about “leadership” are a dime-a-dozen. By contrast, our goal is to closely examine a handful of essential and new characteristics that will define successful leaders of sustainable teams and organizations in the future. These characteristics include, but are not limited to:

1) Rise of the CEEO (The Chief Ethical Executive Officer): Going forward, all major business considerations, e.g., AI integration, utilization of customer data and workplace conditions will be evaluated through an ethical lens.

2) Rise of the CCO (Chief Climate Officer): Separate from sustainability, this risk management capability is geared toward anticipating all future disruptive climate-related events (incl. pandemics) and preparing for any potential impacts on the organization.

3) The Discerning Leader: Discerning leadership will be characterized by the ability to distinguish between good and bad information in a world permeated by MDM (mis-, dis- and mal-information) and misleading indicators.

The COVID Trend Accelerator (& The Future of Work)
How the world would look as we collectively moved through the pandemic was not completely unknowable. In many cases, the circumstances of the global pandemic accelerated many already developing trends at an exponential pace (e.g., distributed workforces and the growing importance of design in all aspects of innovation). Ultimately, one of the most important trends to consider is how the pandemic accelerated (or even necessitated) the reality that software, AI and robotics will disintermediate sectors of human labor in areas like retail, learning, healthcare and transportation.

Escape Velocity – An Imperative for Rapid Innovation
Talk of an eventual “return” to the way things used to be is unrealistic. Nothing will be the same after everything that has happened these past few years. Instead of preserving our ways of doing things, we must adapt quickly, and in real time to a new world. We have long talked about templosion, defined as big things happening in smaller chunks of time. Are our orgs easily liberated from the slog of bureaucracy, marathon R&D protocols and outdated thinking? If not, we must reengineer our innovative capabilities so that we can not only respond, but thrive, in disruptive future scenarios.

Silver Linings – “Short-Termism” Has Been Exposed
It is staggering to consider how many reputable and well-regarded companies – and, in some cases, entire industries – were caught unprepared by the circumstances of the last two years. This speaks to a long-building epidemic of short-termism among the leadership ranks when it comes to both strategy and innovation. Symptoms include insufficient risk modeling and, perhaps most importantly, too much of a focus on immediate stakeholder returns instead of on a long-term plan of sustainable innovation that truly supports an organization’s vision. The businesses set to win both now and in the future are those with the discipline to engage in truly long-term thinking.

The Competency Tree
The COVID Accelerator effect is changing what it is that we value in the workplace – and the skills and competencies required to future-proof organizations. To ensure that we have the thinking required to solve the big issues that will arise in the future, we need to start viewing and training for these skills and competencies as interconnected. This goes beyond the confluence of ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and people (interpersonal skills). A more fitting visual is that of a tree – with branches that go off in many directions. Our proprietary Competency Tree is both a conceptual framework for visualizing potential arenas for future jobs – even ones we have yet to imagine.

Generational Compression: Understanding Cybrids
Another area of focus is on generational trends – particularly from a values and attitudes perspective. Generations have long been grouped in birth year cohorts of 15-20 years. But generations are now seemingly refreshing every two-to-three years. Technology is changing so rapidly that kids only a few years apart struggle to have the same cultural and technological frames of reference. Today’s youth are not just “digital natives” – they are Cybrids – cyber hybrids, who have a fully symbiotic relationship with the digital world from the moment they were born.