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Terence Mauri, founder of the future trends think tank Hack Future Lab and author of ‘The Upside of Disruption,’ says the future isn’t just about tech or trends. It’s about mindsets and choices, too. Today’s leaders navigate an increasingly complex and volatile world that changes by the minute, facing uncharted forces from AI-driven disruption to talent scarcity and geopolitical risk. Yet – according to Terence Mauri – we often overestimate the risks of bold decisions and underestimate the downside of standing still. We spoke to Terence to find out more about this and to hear more about his new book, ‘The Upside of Disruption’. Tell us about ‘The Upside of Disruption’ and what led you to write it. I feel that, as humans, we crave the comfort of certainty. It’s like a warm blanket: It makes us feel safe and secure. While that’s a good thing,
it sometimes means that we miss opportunities: The opportunity to renew ourselves, the opportunity to grow, the opportunity to eliminate something. That’s not working for us on a business level or a personal level. So, the big idea of the book is that when uncertainty is high and volatility is high, not taking a risk is a risk. How do business leaders traditionally respond to disruption? How can this inhibit success? When we think of disruption, we automatically think of change, and we are often resistant to that. I want to reframe the word disruption a little bit. For me, disruption is a source code for learning, for renewal and for courage over conformity. What I mean by that is when we have courage, we embrace ideas, new ways of thinking and new ways of working that challenge the status quo. When we have cultures or mindsets of conformity, we reject ideas that challenge the status quo. So, whether they are working in politics, public sector, non-profit or the private sector, I think everyone can learn to reframe their relationship with disruption and look at it as a way of taking ownership of their future. In your research, what were some of the most surprising or counterintuitive insights about the companies or leaders who thrive in disruptive environments?
What I discovered is that, despite the proliferation of AI and automation technology, a lot of the way we work still needs to evolve. For example, two out of three people surveyed said they were still over managed and under-led. Moreover, one in two workers said that they did not get to put their top skills to work in a meaningful way which seems like such a wasted opportunity and wasted talent. We also uncovered the growing issue of ‘boreout’. Boreout is the opposite of burnout – it means cognitive underload and it is on the rise. In fact, there was an example of an employee in France successfully suing their company for boreout. Another counterintuitive finding was that most organizations right now are prioritizing what we refer to as ‘cold AI’ – that is AI that is laser focused on efficiency optimization and profit maximization. This is often at the expense of well-being and humanity. Of course, it is very logical for CEOs to invest in AI, but they should really be looking at warm AI – technology that provides both efficiency and empowerment. Yes, it’s about cost reduction, but also human maximization. I think it’s a really interesting finding that isn’t really being discussed by businesses at the moment.
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