Event Archives

Date: Friday, February 12, 2016
Location: San Francisco

Some look to the ever-changing future with trepidation. Not Eamonn Kelly. Over the course of his enthralling keynote discussion on February 12th to Alliance members gathered at the San Francisco Bently Reserve, it was clear that Eamonn looks at the future and sees beautiful, sometimes scary, awe-inspiring and ultimately beneficial comings. He aptly quoted Bill Gates’s wisdom: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” Consider, he urges, that fifty years ago 50% of the human population could not read or write. Today, over 90% can. Or think that a half century ago, the first microprocessor was invented. Now they carpet the planet with billions of devices.

Eamonn Kelly is the author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World and the Chief Strategy Officer for Deloitte. He advises senior leadership at leading corporations across multiple sectors, public agencies, as well as philanthropic foundations. His specialty is helping current and future leaders acquire the knowledge, judgment and skills needed to win a complex and unpredictable future. In his talk, Eamonn reiterated the power of shifting demographics in defining the contours of the future. Consider, for instance, the older generations that passively receive data, services and experiences from technology. Then, consider the digital native, who actively creates entire worlds in a social and networked environment. This shift alone is having profound impacts on businesses and their go-to-future strategies.

So knowing that the world does change remarkably in one’s lifetime, how do we position ourselves for success? According to Eamonn, a key component in winning in the era of disruption is the creation and ownership of data. In fact, Eamonn likened data to “the new oil – but better.” By 2020, humanity will have produced 44 zetabytes of data, the equivalent of 1.5 billion years of HD video. Beyond controlling data, future winners will create and capture value by owning the customers, like Google’s Gmail, and also controlling the platform, like Twitter. Companies that own all three of these assets – customers, data and the platform – will be in the best position for success.