Patterns - they are ever where and will lead you to what is next!

Pattern emergence - seeing the future now

Published on September 25, 2015
The views, thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog post are solely my personal opinion and thoughts, no way reflects any connection to past or current employers. These thoughts are for discussion purposes with industry peers as an open forum for sharing ideas that are non-proprietary in nature.

I am often asked, " How do you know what is next, the simple answer is you look for it. Seems easy right - you just read the tealeaves and they tell you what will be the next emerging trend. I know I sound glib but it is a skill that you can teach yourself. While there are trend spotters out there, I am referring to a strategic approach that will provide a steady flow of possible paths for you to grow your business. I will share how to find these next opportunities; I will not be sharing which exact resources I use to determine what is next for my business.

"Seeing the future now" is a mantra we use in our industry to identifying the next segments, products, concepts and process for our business. The key to success is to see patterns emerging in any give topic, subject or genre that you have determined to look for in the great wide world. Which is much easier now with the Internet, you can visit the world on a virtual basis within an hour and spot possible emerging channels, paths or new ideas that you can use in your business.

How do you see what is next before it has gone mainstream, look for a pattern of emerging ideas. Observation is the single most important skill to develop for you to be successful. You have to travel, either virtually or physically to make these observations. Watch for clues and common themes that are all around us. To truly be able to see the future now you have to look everyday and watch for the subtle changes in the ether. I spend one to two hours everyday observing and cataloging what I am watching or seeing in the global market place.
Where do you observe? Everywhere, the broader you cast your net for observations the more likely you will see patterns forming and emerging. Developing this skill will allow you to become very good at identifying new opportunities for your business. Identifying early adopters is an important key to where a new idea/ product is in the market place cycle. The harder part is getting others to believe or buy-in to what you have identified. Unfortunately the only way to do that is to build a solid track record by providing examples of your predictions becoming reality. Once you have built credibility it is much easier to get buy off on the new ideas you have uncovered. Sometimes you have to track these observations and note what you see to even proven it to yourself. Most times it can take three to six months to identify an emerging idea, maybe longer. The final determining factor of whether you should pursue the new idea is the level of risk/ reward your organization embraces. This is the decision point of whether you are an innovator or someone that simply talks about innovation. In most cases in the restaurant industry, innovation is talked about not embraced as part of the culture. We tend to be very risk averse since we work with very narrow margins. To truly be an innovative company you have to live the mindset each and everyday. Pattern emergence is one of the tools of a successful innovator that creates new channels or disruption that creates growth.
So here are the steps to seeing the future
Define goals or strategies
Observe
Catalog observations
Look for patterns – they are there
Define patterns you see
Track patterns
Decide the tipping point for the idea
Prototype the emerging idea in the context of your business
Present to team for buy in
Rapid test the idea to fail fast and forward (learn and adjust)
Risk/ reward analysis
Implement
Measure impact/ success

Welcome to the new frontier of business creativity

New thoughts can have impact in the world

Hello everyone - I have started this particular blog to talk about all things creative and how to create an environment to let creativity thrive and drive business. Too many times people add creative people to their companies but have little understanding how to best leverage them for the benefit of growing a business while still nurturing the talent they have hired. I hope to provide some insights gained from about 20 years of using creativity to add value to companies I have worked for in the past. Some of these thoughts are based around the amazing people I have worked for and with in a number of companies. My plan is to share some of the interesting data I come across on a daily basis that is the fuel that drives the engine of my innovative mind. I hope this starts a conversation, provokes a thought and encourages others to share openly about what they are learning. In my field there are a number of new and young players working their way into the circle, some great raw talent. Some of them can benefit from a strong mentor to help be a catalyst for the rapid growth.

So take the challenge to challenge the way you see everything everyday. Not everything we do is going to be innovative but the way we approach everything should be innovative in our thinking!