It is the afternoon of 20 September and the Teatro dell’Arte of the Triennale di Milano Museum is buzzing with greetings and handshakes, with 500 people, A-People, customers, partners and newcomers, ready to experience our “becoming the future”.
A glance from behind the scenes to savour the lively and suffused atmosphere a few minutes before the countdown marks the start: we are ready for our journey into innovation.
To dedicate a corporate convention to the future or, should I say, the first in the history of Altea Federation, may appear to be a courageous or ambitious choice but, in our case, it represents the starting point, the official ceremony marking a transformation process that began some time ago and of which we are the proud interpreters.
However, every journey stems from an inspiration, a light bulb that goes on, an unexpected encounter, something we read that opens up unexplored horizons and so it was with us, catapulted 30 years into the future by the words of Kevin Kelly in his work “The Inevitable”.
The US author (author’s note – the authoritative source of other blog posts of mine), has fascinated me personally to such a point as to make me imagine the extraordinary power of the human-tech partnership, by providing an interpretation that is as realistic and tangible as possible.
Becoming in fact refers to a process that is “evolving”. Without realizing it, we are already living in the future and we need to be aware of this.
We are living in an age characterized by an unstoppable acceleration of technological growth; the boost towards innovation is incessant, devices are constantly being updated and we are all feeling the impact.
We have to be mindful: we are at the start of a radical change in society and global business.
Owing to the continuous development of technology, we are immersed in a constant stream of updates which, in most cases, are effected automatically without us even being able to grasp their “evolution”.
“In the future, the technological experience will consist in an infinite series of updates, in ascending progression.” (Kevin Kelly)
How do we feel? What do we perceive? What impact does this generate in our lives and organizations?
With humility we must simply admit to being Newbies or beginners, tackling ever new and different technologies every day. More than ever before, in this phase, it is dangerous to adopt the arrogant presumption of those who believe they know it all when it comes to technology, the super expert, because we are not experts… and we never will be.
No matter how long you have been using a particular tool, the infinite number of updates inevitably make us inexpert and there is not enough time (there will be even less in the future) to master anything before it is replaced. For example? The lifecycle of technologies is decreasing exponentially: the average life of an app for our phone is just 30 days!
no longer live in a linear world or a local world in which everything is certain. The only certainty we have is that of being and experiencing a state of uncertainty. - Andrea Ruscica – Becoming The Future – Altea Federation – September 2018 Click To TweetWhat does this perpetual state of instability and slight inadequacy trigger in us?
The impulse of technologies drives us to pursue the most recent ones which inexorably vanish, overtaken by the next and even newer ones and, in this way, satisfaction continues to be unattainable.
At the same time, we are neophytes, meaning that we wish to know and experiment new things, we approach the new functions released in the software with curiosity, and neophobes, that is to say, we fear novelties, we prefer to put off any updates until they become strictly necessary for the correct working of the device.
However, there is another side to the coin, there is another possible vision of the state of uncertainty in which we live, a different way of opening up to change, by fully exploiting its potential.
“You must cultivate the Beginner’s Mind to lead the transformation” (from the words of Faisal Hoque, during the master class organized for our customers a few months ago).
The mind of the beginner, the pupil, is a proper attitude to cultivate for leadership in the digital era, a mode of approach to experiences devoid of any prejudice or preconception: it is an empty box waiting to be filled with information; it is a catalyst of intuitions which springs from the curiosity to experiment and the ability to find our way around new territories; it is the optimistic vision of those who believe in ongoing improvement and lay the foundation stones for prospering in an unpredictable world.
The incessant change in which we are immersed brings about a constant and everyday minor upgrade for each one of us, albeit imperceptible. Think about it. In actual fact we are not aware of it but if we adopt a retrospective attitude, we clearly realize how much better today is than yesterday, with an incremental and constant trend.
It is an improvement that passes unnoticed, because it is a slight progress that is almost invisible but which generates almost as many new advantages as there are new problems. A cyclic expansion of problem types takes place (deriving from the success of past technologies) followed by solutions (ever more innovative and human-tech driven). That is to say, we continue to invent new things which generate new desires and new gaps to be filled.
Moreover, we do this thanks to technologies by combining and recombining devices, algorithms, intelligent sensors, exponential technologies, to make the entire ecosystem cognitive… in a recombining process of innovation which opens up infinite transformation possibilities.
To define this state of our existence, Kevin Kelly uses the term “Protopia”, a scenario which moves away from the utopian vision of an excellence of unlikely attainment, equally far-removed from the dystopian idea of a destructive future for mankind. Rather, Protopia is a process in the making which changes constantly as everything else varies and which transforms itself at the same time, by growing and evolving.
So it is here that the human-tech partnership – the unique twinning between mankind and technology – releases its maximum energy, backed up by the situational awareness of a constant incremental evolution.
A union of different yet well orchestrated elements, whose sound is increasingly interesting and engaging, which enables different arrangements, as in jazz (to quote a consideration of Matteo Giovanditti, CEO of Alterna), enabling organizations to grow and evolve outside the box, as they demonstrate their uniqueness, originality and innovative spirit.
An ever more successful team play, as in a well played volleyball match, therefore “to perceive the team as an organism in which all organs are vital and directly related with each other” (to quote the notes by Roberto Gemma, CEO of Altea UP) symbolizes the principle of complementarity between the elements and the importance of assigning the right tasks and roles within the new hybrid teams, in a combined (human) act of judgement and (robotic) capacity for prediction.
An acquired capacity to interpret reality, in the same way as a snapshot captures a moment in time and allows us to “learn those technical notions which enable an idea to be transferred in an image, while focusing a viewpoint on the world”: this is the lens through which to observe the becoming future (to reveal the shot taken by Laura Massironi, CEO of Nextea).
A race at the speed of change, in which to insert an action “that extra sprint needed to cross the finishing line before the others, to overcome what we thought were limits, thanks to a winning partnership between people and technologies”, as we place the individual at the centre of transformation once more (to face the human-tech challenge with Stefano Boaretto, CEO of Altea IN).
It is with this assertive optimism regarding the future that we orient our compass, to interpret the impacts of technologies and to trace a path of business transformation together with our customers.
#becomingthefuture becomes part of our story, like a motto and an invitation to grasp the numerous opportunities in the making which stem from the perfect partnership between people and machines.
And I am ready to live through the next 25 years of Altea Federation with the same passion as ever.
For an initial inspirational overview, I am sharing the slides of the opening Keynote that I presented to #becomingthefuture.
BIO
For 26 years, Altea Federation has been working alongside the global leaders of technological innovation through a holonic-virtual business model which embraces the professional approach and high degree of specialization of a federation of companies under one brand: different yet complementary worlds which reinforce each other while preserving a strong Group identity and an unmistakable approach to the challenges posed by new paradigms in the ambits of Consulting, Technology, Digital and Operations.
