Day 16 – 24 January 2014
Apart from the occasional café the shop windows were still dark as I made my way across the old Town Square in Durham. I pulled up the collar of my coat. Even the brisk walk down from the station wasn’t enough to beat back the freezing air that bit into my neck. The swish of the electric doors as they made way for me belied the age of the ancient Guildhall. I smiled at the irony. Today was all about the future.
Enough of that, I’ve mixed my tenses up a bit. This blog is starting to sound like ‘from our own correspondent’ (or FOOC). Kate Adie will be a long in a minute.
Anyway, it’s important that we take time out to understand where we are going and so today we had a whole day in the Town Hall in Durham. What a magnificent building and it was amusing that we chose to talk about the way ahead in a place that is over 650 years old. The Guildhall was built in 1356 but there are the new bits at the back which were opened in 1851. It does have wireless though!! Those builders were certainly thinking ahead.
It also helps when you are thinking about the future to get someone else’s views. Gartner had offered to help us with one of their futurologists, which was nice.
And they were a great help. We talked about digital disruption and how everything is going to change. It will be like in Seinfeld when relationship George meets independent George – when world’s collide. The future is about people, about human evolution and we covered Joseph Alois Schumpeter’s waves and his concept of creative destruction (every so long something comes along that changes everything).
We thought about the fundamental shift we would have to make in how we think and deliver services when everything is on the internet. We talked about being chaordic, a mixture of chaos and order and I realised that we need to be more flexible, responsive, pre-active, work where the value is, concentrate on customers, buy more make less, focus on what works and build our narrative.
I am even more convinced now that the only thing that restricts us is our own belief in what we can achieve.
Spent 12 hours with my immediate team this week and the desk has gone from room 5/109. I officially don’t have a desk.
Learning points for today: Bob’s got a great line in turkey futures; The future is already here it’s just not very evenly distributed; Intelligent slippers are on the way and; Our team became great not when we stopped arguing but when we learnt how to argue.
Today’s enjoyment rating 10/10 – And a great lunch too.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 