When I was a Regent University doctorate student, I often wrote my assignments toward publication. As I took my courses, I always tried to write on similar themes to reduce my research time and make me more efficient. I would look at the environment thinking what topics would be growing issues. Yet, many of my peers were only looking at the near term (getting a passing grade to move on).
One article, “The Evolution of Leadership,” produced unintended consequences. While in graduate school, I had this article published and forgot about it. One day a tutor in the university’s writing center mentioned she recognized my name. The tutor stated that students were quoting me in their academic papers. Once we graduated, many of my classmates did not want to revisit past assignments for publication.
I soon learned the consequences of looking ahead. With over 6,000 views and picked up by more than 30 websites and publishers, my article, ‘The Evolution of Leadership, is now being used as a reference globally. That is the power of looking beyond the current situation.
With the economic crisis, many people have lost their courage and do not want to seek opportunities in emerging markets or new ventures. Countries near and abroad are having financial problems. Europe needs to double the size of its bailout to $1.3 trillion to shore up its banking system and stop the spread of its debt. Americans watch their earnings decline as the cost of food and gas spirals upward.
Some people look to the government for help while other individuals leverage the goodwill of businesses to provide trickle down offerings from capitalism. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 1.8 million of the United States 73 million hourly workers earned the financial wage in 2010; many workers are in the retail, restaurant, and hospital sectors.
Taking with a visionary stance to look beyond today’s pressing issues is a utilized by highly successful people. Noted trend watcher Henrik Vejlgaard argues that it is possible for individuals to spot emerging trends and take advantage of them.
Vejlgaard explains, “Although the world is changing all the time and this flux may eventually affect the patterns behind the trend process, these patterns are deeply rooted in human behavior….By investigating the people who have started trends in the past, where trends frequently start, how trends emerge and grown, and why trends happen, we can define some rules for spotting trends.
Failure is always a possibility of leaping while others stay on the shore. However, the biggest risk is doing nothing. Charles Schwab, author of New Guide to Financial Independence, understands how to take risk in unchartered waters. He started investing in 1957, and he became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business in 1974.
He notes, “I’ve heard it said that people are motivated by hope of reward or fear of punishment….Truth be told, we’re all investors. Each day we invest time and energy and intelligence in our children and our work. Investing for our future is just another aspect of it, but a critical one.” Therefore, any success should be couched with some common sense and calculated risks.
Discuss an emerging trend and how you or your organization can capitalize on this trend.
© 2012 by Daryl D. Green
Nu Leadership Revolution Blog 
In my opinion, the fastest emerging trend is the knowledge worker. Every company in America needs and hopes to hire knowledge workers. The term knowledge worker is defined as workers who make decisions rather than physical items and work with ideas rather than with objects (Knowledge Worker, 2011). In my company the knowledge workers are the project management team. They must take in information, analyze the data, and solve the situation for the customer. Our customer expects their project manager to be a skilled problem solver and handle any situation that may arise. Education is one of the best ways to create a foundation towards being a knowledge worker and then next best way is experience in the industry.
Reference:
Knowledge workers. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Int-Loc/Knowledge-Workers.html
Chris,
Good observation! Knowledge workers are the buzz of the town. Dr. Peter Drucker was a key guru on this subject.
With the rising cost of education and outsourcing on the upswing in America, where do you think this leaves the concept of knowledge management & knowledge workers over the next decade?
Professor Green
Over the next decade the knowledge worker will be a very important subject. Organizations are trying to find retention avenues for their knowledge workers, due to the baby boomer retirements. There are two differing thought processes to handle the knowledge loss within organizations. Many professionals and executives surveyed indicated that they would likely fill future critical talent gaps by relying on an aggressive recruiting program for new employees. A significant number of organizations, however, are likely not to hire new employees at all, but will instead outsource the work, use fewer workers overall or fill the organizational needs through the use of specialized “for hire services (Holtshouse, 2009). This leaves firms either looking to fill the knowledge worker gap by aggressive screening and hiring process or by firms remaining lean and outsourcing the knowledge to other countries. My hope is an aggressive screening and tries to keep knowledge workers jobs in America.
Reference:
Holtshouse, D. (2009, August 28). The future of knowledge workers, part 1. Retrieved from http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/News/News-Analysis/The-future-of-knowledge-workers,-Part-1-55779.aspx
The days of it ain’t broke so don’t fix it may be over in the business world. Today consumers are more frugal than in the past. The recession has forced many Americans to look closely at the items they are spending money on. This has lead to a reduction of consumerism. With consumers buying less, businesses trying to sell more, the two ideas stalemate with each other. Companies of all sizes will need to re-evaluate old business assumptions and adapt to new conditions (Zahorsky, 2012). Businesses must reduce costs by streamlining their supply chain, value engineering their products, while trying to keep quality up. This will be difficult for businesses moving forward but a challenge that all businesses must face.
Reference:
Zahorsky, D. (2012). Business trends emerging that will rock the world. Retrieved from http://sbinformation.about.com/od/bestpractices/a/business-trends.htm
Chris,
Your comments are very insightful. Businesses must retool.
Yet, a manager’s own experience can work against him or her because the market situations are new.
Professor Green
I believe that the internet is a trend we need to look out for. WIth financial problems all over the world, entrepreneurs find it easier these days to start internet businesses. It is cheap, and easy to manage, and people are not afraid of the internet anymore. In the past year at least 4 of my young friends have started their own internet business, from their own bikini range to a company that delivers fruit to the work place. If you have an idea, create a website post it on Facebook and it will sell. Just typing in internet Moguls already gave me many articles about young people starting their own internet business. The UK paper The Guardian posted an article in 2011 introducing 7 young Brits that had successfully started their own business. Young people that have an idea, now realize their idea’s on the internet. When my grandfather started his business, he saved money rented an office and started working from there. Now, if I wanted to start a business, I would buy a domain name and start from there. If I need to find something, I go online to find it. This ranges from food, to clothes to books. Why wouldn’t you start your business online first if that is where people are looking for things already.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/06/young-british-entrepreneurs)
Fascinating point of view. Now i’m curious to help feel the type of effect this could get around the world? From time to time people receive a minor disappointed with world wide growth. I shall be about before long to check out your reaction.
There is a famous saying “trend is your friend”. If you go with the trend, you will have prosperity. If you go against it, you will lose and fail.
In the medical field, going electronic has slowly emerged in the field of medicine. It has become more prevalent to communicate with patients through their own personal smart phones. Physicians are much more connected now. The physician who I was shadowing answered some patients questions through text message! The game has changed. Also, long gone are the days where you would have to locate information about a patient in huge case files or not be able to read what the physician wrote in the records due to poor hand writing skills. Hospitals and clinics are going electronic with the electronic health record to make things easier to communicate and access.
Hoffman, R. (2012, March 20). Electronic records in medicine have both pros and cons. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/electronic-records-in-medicine-have-both-pros-and-cons-617093/
Wagner, H. (2010, February 10). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0210/Investing-Quotes-You-Can-Bank-On.aspx
As a molecular genetics major, a future physician, and a lifelong student of biological sciences, the most interesting emerging trend to me is that of personalized medicine. Genes are segments of DNA, which are found in every cell of your body. A basic gene can have many different forms. For instance, consider the gene that determines hair color. Normal variations of that gene determine specific hair color, such as brown or blond. More importantly however, your genes can determine how you react to certain medications and treatments. For example, a person may have a genetic variation that makes a drug stay in their body longer than usual, causing serious side effects. Conversely, a person can have a variation that makes the medication less potent. We live in a world where medicine is manufactured in a one-size fits all manner. With the emergence of personalized medicine, a person may be able to test which genetic variation they have and accordingly choose the best course of treatment. Significant work still needs to be done in the field but the world of personalized medicine is here to stay.
Mayo Clinic Staff. Pharmacogenomics: When Medicine Gets Personal. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/personalized-medicine/CA00078