We live in a time of great change

From IoT to big data serving both industries and consumers, humanity has never held so much power, knowledge and control at the tip of our fingers.

Technology is accelerating at a pace that humanity has never experienced before, edging towards a world soon to be enhanced by artificial intelligence and cybernetics, and quite possibly, to the precipice of the singularity.

Even Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos has been playing with rockets, going head-on with SpaceX in the race for intergalactic domination (and the future of mankind in space).

In the here and now, our smartphones have become an extension of our being, a secondary brain if you will, with the power to process and transfer information that is beyond our very mortal capabilities.

With Elon Musk announcing the Neuralink venture, we found ourself just a breath away from merging directly with the digital realm. Whether this is a scary or exciting thought, it depends solely on your appetite for change, and ultimately — progress.

Here are three things the rapid advancement of technology can teach us about adapting to change, and riding the giant (and scary) waves of progress:

1) There is opportunity in disruption

Convenience is something we take for granted these days — products and services are available with the swipe of a finger, from ride-sharing services to booking travel experiences around the world, everything is available at anytime we fancy.

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Tech upstarts from Airbnb, to Rocket Internet, have completely transformed the way we interact with products and services. All this innovation stemmed from the connectivity of Web 3.0 and the advent of the ubiquitous smartphone, which were regarded as relatively unknown and scary back in the day.

The lesson here? Change destroys the comforts of the past but offers a chance for us to write new rules for the future.

2) Be fearful of living in the past, not the future

The conglomerates of yesterday, as powerful and resourceful as they may be, can easily be replaced by the rule-breaking upstarts of today. With information freely available in our modern connected world, knowledge is king.

Nokia, a widely cited example, serves as a case study for the destructiveness of staying stagnant in the midst of rising tides. When Apple released the iPhone, it’s disruptiveness caused waves of fear and uncertainty amongst upper management, which decided against innovation on the basis of their dominance and establishment.

This, of course, was a move made in fear, which ultimately resulted in a 90 per cent drop off in company value across the short span of six years.

The key takeaway here is that the winners of today are those that bravely forge visions for the future, based on lessons from the past.

3) Embrace ambiguity

Having worked for multiple start-ups in the creative and tech industries, ambiguity is the common theme running across them all. Grappling with the evolving trends of the market, coupled with the constantly shifting paradigms of the industry means having to move your goalposts on a frequent basis.

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Pivoting is not only crucial for startups but also for large companies. Amazon is a fantastic example of how large MNC’s that think and behave like hungry startups find great success. Some even believe that Amazon could very well be worth more than a trillion dollars by the next decade.

This teaches us that the known may provide good returns, but it is the unknown that holds the jackpot.

See you on the other side.

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Image Credits: vladimirfloyd

This article first appeared on LinkedIn Pulse.

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