Michael Rogers The Practical Futurist

Cognitive computing is the latest and most potent expression of artificial intelligence.   Software and robots can now learn from experience and then reason and act upon information--often coming up with insights that humans might not reach.  Because they are “cloud-based”, these powerful thinking tools will be accessible even to small organizations and individuals.  The result will be new efficiencies and surprising new intelligent services that will change the very nature of work and challenge us to identify what skills are uniquely human. 

For this popular speech, Michael—who is also a best-selling science fiction writer— does an interview to learn more about your business, practice or discipline. He then creates a realistic scenario of what your profession or business may be like at the end of this decade. He’ll identify potential new products, new customers and new challenges. He’s done it for lawyers, health care professionals, transportation companies, retailers, educators, financial services companies and more—even a luxury goods manufacturer!

Over the next decade, more and more of our work, what we care about and how we interact with others will involve the Internet, intelligent computers and the Internet of Things. If you think that’s already happened...just listen to what Michael predicts is next.  Add to that the rise of a new generation of “digital natives” who are remarkably comfortable with virtual relationships. What will this mean for how our businesses and organizations must evolve in the years to come? How will products change to meet new needs and what will companies do to reach their customers?

Never before has management’s life been so...interesting.  Business, government and society are all creating a vast new digital infrastructure, from smart sensors and cognitive computing to wearable computers, extended social networks and virtual workplaces. That puts leaders in the midst of not just technical challenges but broader social quandaries such as the nature of privacy, white collar automation, reskilling workers, the rule of law in cyberspace--not to mention the strategic direction of the enterprise itself.  How can successful managers discover and implement innovation while still meeting the daily challenges of business?

We’re all educators--either as professional teachers, or as managers, team leaders, mentors, or parents. In the future, we will be permanent students as well. The online world represents a powerful opportunity for education to reach a wider, more diverse audience.  But it’s also a challenge to the future of both teachers and campuses.  And there’s a second issue: what do we teach? Now that young people live with one foot in the virtual world, how does that impact education and employment?  What skills will our students initially bring (or not bring) to campus, and what skills will they need to make their way in an increasingly automated world?  Michael has spoken to educators worldwide ranging from K-12 to college, law and medicine. 

The future is bright for medicine: telemedicine, wellness monitors, personal genomics, electronic health records, and more. Plus: “big data” and smart computers will choose the best and most efficient treatment options based on actual outcomes.  All this progress will come with caveats, of course: how do we keep the human element in healthcare?  What are the privacy implications of personal genomic data?   How do we fund the latest technologies while still making sure that basic healthcare is affordable? Michael has presented this topic to pharmaceutical companies, hospital networks, health insurers, medical educators and more.