Innovation & Counter Intuitiveness

The idea behind Innovation is to create something new, that has yet to be conceived. A lot of the times that requires Counterintuitive thinking and that can be a very difficult challenge because it needs to break the habits in our thinking styles. For me the essence of being a futurist is the essence of innovation, two concepts which cannot be separated.

Here’s a few counterintuitive thoughts just to help shift perspectives:

The cure for baldness is to slow down hair growth, not speed it up!

Nappies encourage young children to remain toilet Un-trained for longer (especially at night!)

The key to reduction in water consumption can be clearly tied to the length of your hair!

Email us should you want some more explanation or find out from others that have worked with Marcus Barber in a ‘Think Different’ session. There really is method in this counterintuitive approach πŸ™‚

Unlocking the promise of ‘teleworking’

Nov 19, 2013

One of the great things about technology (especially of the instantaneous ‘social’ kind) is the ability to attend a conference without leaving your office. Which is a salient point because yesterday I followed a number of the presentations looking at the idea of tele-working or remote workers, and did so by following the tweets of…

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Keeping your Future, grounded to Reality

Nov 18, 2013

About once a week I get a call from a client or a media group asking if I can tell them what the future will be like. The conversation usually goes something like this – Me: can I ask what you’re trying to discover? Journalist: Oh you know, something really catchy, about how the world…

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The 2013 Melbourne Cup – a Futurist Decides

Nov 13, 2013

Now before any of you rush out and stick your hard earned on anything I say here, please note that a) I’m answering this because I get asked every year and b) My track record is appalling. Still I’ve put a bit of thought into a near term prediction to see who you might like…

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Celebration of Hope fundraiser for Brain Cancer

Oct 17, 2013

Tonight I have the privilege of being the MC for Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope Gala Ball at the Manningham Function Centre in Doncaster. Blackwood 8 raise funds to find a cure of Brain Cancer and are strong supporters of Dr. Charlie Teoh’s Cure for Life foundation. With a crowd of around 300 it’s going…

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Marcus Barber’s Presentation from the V21 Digital Conference in Melbourne is available

Oct 2, 2013

‘ve just spent a delightful day learning about digital issues at the v21 Digital Conference at the State Library and my presentation at that conference is now available at the link below. My all too brief summary of presentations is also provided   Sessions have covered Branding, Blogging, case studies, education & health; future of…

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The ever increasing computing power replacing jobs by the thousands

Sep 23, 2013

When it comes to ‘anti-technology’ thinking, a term often thrown disparagingly at people is ‘Luddite’. Luddites were indeed anti-tech BUT contrary to modern day thinking, they had a particular dislike for technology that would put people out of work. If technology helped keep people employed or created more jobs they were all for it. Which…

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Australia’s 2013 Election – LNP in a Landslide

Sep 6, 2013

Or is it? …Over the past six years, the mainstream media polls have consistently shown the Liberal Party /National Party Coalition as well ahead of the Australian Labor Party. Those polls turned out to be wrong last time around when Tony Abbott failed to get enough of the vote to defeat Julia Gillard. Or should…

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Looks like some Soaps kill off more than Germs!

Aug 19, 2013

In my view ALL futures thinking about ‘big issues’ starts with futures thinking about personal issues. The idea that we take for granted the way our lives operate has for millennia been shown to be a high risk assumption. From the food we eat, to where we live, to products we use (and how we…

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For a Futurist, Focus is a Key Issue

Aug 16, 2013

What you look at, how you look at it and where you find your information are critical elements for developing far more effective strategy.Β  Futures work is about removing the organisational blinkers to increase awareness of risks and emerging opportunities often through Environmental Scanning (ES). Β ES comes in all sorts of guises and the key…

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Innovation has to start somewhere, but where?

Aug 5, 2013

How do you innovate? Where do you innovate? Why do you innovate? How do I start innovating? These and a truckload of other similar questions are often tied to the idea that innovation is the silver bullet or panacea to mediocrity in organisations. And maybe it is. There’s a whole raft of ways in which…

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