Building Future Communities – the ethos

So what’s the ethos of Building Future Communities all about then?

In simple terms, if we are to succeed as both a thriving innovation area of business and a healthy society, then we need to work together as a community delivering what both sides need to survive….

So, if we look back at the points on Building Future Communities, then we can easily see how the ethos comes about and what is needed in moving forward. Thus, let’s break those three points down further…….

“Firstly, forget all this hype that you are hearing from people about you must do this and you must do that because you need to be on this platform and that platform doing this and that as otherwise, your Social Media presence will be non-existent – NNNNOOOOOO!!
This is wrong because Social Media is DEAD and started to die around 2012 and climbed into its deathbed in 2014 but is still clinging on via it’s life support machine that is those people selling you Social Media courses, events and training sessions!!!
The reason it died, is quite plain and simple – it’s all about the world around us and what we’ve done for hundreds/thousands of years, we communicated!! This is where real world crosses over into the world of technology and innovation with Social Business! So hence, this is where and what you need to be doing. (You can discover this more in this article Social Media is dead – so why are you still using it?).”

The world of Social Business is what we do in everyday life and yet we seem to ignore all this when it comes to our work life – why is this?

In most cases, people jumped on the bandwagon of what was the migration through technology from the worlds of direct marketing (whether email or mailing) and cold calling, to enable businesses to target their potential clients. As these people decided to migrate this way, they really hit on the word “Media” out of “Social Media” and starting broadcasting like it was open season! And thus, even when a calculated well thought out new way of marketing was implemented, it was immediately classed as SPAM and thus, people really took a dislike to this!

Today, we are seeing this grow further into our lives when it comes to Television too, and with the rise of “Cord Cutting” and “Ad Blocking” – did we bring this on ourselves?

Well of course the answer is yes and that’s because we are getting very greedy!!

After all, Media is another form of broadcasting whether it be Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Cinema or Television, we are pumping out advertisements left right and centre, bombarding the audience with what we feel they – the audience – need and not listening to whatever they are saying!

So, in life we use the word “Social” but not in work life – we ignore the thoughts of those we want to work with!

That’s why big business saw that the public was switching off and started to look various new methods to engage with their audience – do you remember 3D glasses for some Television adverts and shows? What about scratch and sniff cards to match the adverts we were seeing (isn’t this just an extension of perfume/aftershave adverts in magazines)? And what about the Pepsi Challenge too (showing adverts of people taking apart in actual challenges mostly at train stations or shopping centres)?

Thus, we started to see the shift from Social Media to Social Business and the key word is “BUSINESS” !!

Social Business is all about Engagement and the basis it works from is what we work with in everyday life and yet no one really knows they are using Social Engagement each and every day in our lives EXCEPT for big business and large corporates who tapped in to this immediately and now we need to play catch up…..

“Secondly, what you really need to understand, it’s not how you should be thinking about your sales today, tomorrow or this year but how you will be doing your sales or operating your business over the next twenty, thirty and forty years ahead!! And yes, the future is the future and doesn’t pay your bills today but it’s very key to making you money today and moving forward. If you aren’t factoring the future into your business then the issue arises, if you aren’t looking at Future Technologies, Advancements and Innovations, your peers and competition will be and in turn, moving further forward than you.”

Just have a look back at what was around you, you played or you used as child – where are these now?

How much of it has changed with technology?

Most of society grew up without any computers or technology and their peers said technology wouldn’t change anything – how wrong were they now looking back?

Just look at the massive impact the Microwave has created since it was launched? In the beginning, it was just a way of cooking food but the food industry changed to make special meals that were for the microwave. Then we saw the likes of supermarkets offering “meals for two with a bottle of wine included for £10” !!

Are these two connected?

In way yes and much deeper in society too!!

Following on from how the microwave meal companies started doing a meal of three or more different ingredients in a single dish – one plastic tray in the microwave as opposed to several items used to prepare the meal plus the other items likes pans etc to cook the food on the cooker – made things much easy as it was that tray and a plate (unless you just used the tray!!

This may sound like and so, but how does this impact on me?

Well, look at what else happened over this period – more channels on the TV! How often do you sit in front of the television to eat compared to at the table? Just think, how many houses have and use a dining room anymore? Or even have a table to use for eating at?

No one foresaw this and what the wider impact this would lead to!

The perception was, the microwave meant less time cooking, more time to do things and potentially lead a more healthy life style by being more active. Yet the opposite happened and leading to us eating more in front of the TV, reheating leftover meals/takeaways etc, etc and then the evolution to the rise in our takeaway culture/junk food addiction!

Meaning we filled our spare time with other things, and instead of being healthy, we became a less healthy society and more overweight, obese and a huge rise in health issues. So, did anyone think ahead about what dangers the microwave would have on our health?

No because we didn’t have that mindset.

Yet today, now we have the mindset where we are thinking ahead and innovating. But, today we are thinking of ideas to make money over how we can work with others to produce a better community.

Look at food companies, if they had thought of developing several meal ranges years ago as opposed to just unhealthy food, how much would they had done to help society if they had introduced a healthy option at the same time?

Who would have thought people like weightwatchers would have stolen the match over food producers to produce a healthy food range?

So, have you thought of what future technology can do to business and the impact it will have?

Isn’t time you decided to think ahead? And really think ahead if your business will still be a business in say 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years times?

What other outside influences will impact on you?

Is there a way you can work with these influences to look at how you can survive or even grow?

“Third and finally, Future Technologies, Advancements and Innovations is what you are needing look at and not on your own but in collaboration with others. Over many years, you and/or your business have been pieces of a jigsaw all working on your own thinking you can be the whole photo on the box on your own! But to survive over the next forty years, virtually everything we do or need will be interconnected with many other companies or products and this is where you need to be – A COMMUNITY WORKING TOGETHER…….”

So, as hinted to above, by thinking of working with other companies that potentially could kill your business, is there a way you can really work together enabling you, both to be at the forefront much faster and keeping your business on a much healthier footing?

But, let’s not just leave it there, working with even more partners, there is a way to really improve society because whilst your two companies maybe making money, what is the wider impact on the society?

How can you improve this?

What impact can you produce?

The ethos of bringing School Children (14-16 years of age), Students, Unemployed, Employed and Companies together and getting everyone talking, thinking, planning and innovating across eight key core sectors allows for brainstorming of what future technology will deliver, who can deliver it and where you as a city or region are failing and what it means.

By looking at all these areas, you all come together to produce solutions that are going to impact on your community over the next forty years and what you need to do today to think and make changes.

With the rise of Electric cars, what is going to happen to all the petrol stations?

Car part delivery companies as with electric cars having less things that will go wrong, what will they do?

Due to less parts needed, less companies are need to make and supply the parts, plus this means vacant premises and what will happen to these?

The list of implications created by the rise of the electric car is huge, so what will the impact on society be? All these questions are the important issues that nobody is raising yet as they need to be! If these questions aren’t raised now, then people will be panicking after the event occurs and the cost to society will be huge as we will have to pay over the top playing catch up instead of preparing for it now at lower costs.

So, now it’s time to hack the future and make a difference today……

 

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