One person I now strongly recommend is Dr. Eric Topol, the author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care. While our respective speaking styles are different, our core message is the same: The health care industry needs to change and it needs to change now!

For a simple comparison, here are some helpful links:

Videos by Eric Topol:
TedX San Diego: Digitizing Man
CES 2012

Books by Eric Topol:
The Creative Destructive of Medicine

Past Speaking Clients (Eric Topol):
CES
mHealth Summit
Future Health

Informative Articles by Eric Topol:
The Wireless Revolution Hits Medicine

Videos by Jack Uldrich:
Future Health Care Trends
Why the Future of Health Care Will Require Unlearning
TedX 1000 Lakes: Unlearning Possibilities

Books by Jack Uldrich:
Higher Unlearning
Jump the Curve
The Next Big Thing is Really Small

Past Speaking Clients (Jack Uldrich)
Verizon Healthcare/Telemedicine Summit
The New York Health Care Association
United Healthcare
The Utah Hospital Association
The Maine Hospital Association
The Tennessee Hospital Association
USC Division of Biokinesiology
The Maryland Hospital Association
The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Allina Hospitals

Informative Articles by Jack Uldrich:
Top Ten Future Healthcare Trends

Question #24: Do more people die jaywalking or in the crosswalk?

The answer is the crosswalk. The reason is because people are lulled into a false sense of security due to the allure of existing rules such as painted crosswalks and flashing signs. As a result, they don’t feel as compelled to pay close attention to the actions of others. When jaywalking people are under no such illusion and remain vigilant and fleet-of-foot.

This lesson is appropriate in today’s business environment in two important ways. First, too many business leaders and organizations are lulled into complacency by tradition, existing rules and the power of the status quo. Like the white painted lines on a crosswalk, the protection their market position or brand offers is often non-existent. Worse yet, much as the flashing lights and warning signs provide a false level of security to a pedestrian, the signals customers send businesses also offer illusionary protection against an accelerating future. The problem is that by the time a person or organization realizes the danger they are in, it is too late and they are run over.

Clayton Christensen in his excellent and now classic book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, provides numerous examples of industry leaders refusing to heed the oncoming sounds of new threats because they were so attuned to the needs of their best customers—customers who were primarily focused on incremental product improvements.

This purportedly safe approach (i.e. “the customer is never wrong”) left them vulnerable to new competitors who were willing to ignore existing rules and opted instead to jaywalk in the direction of those “risky” fringe customers. Overtime, the niche markets serving these small communities mature and the product features or capabilities which were initially only demanded by those on the fringe come to be seen as valuable to mainstream audiences. Unfortunately, by the time this becomes evident to the existing players, it is too late and they ceded the marketplace to an upstart company. Think about how IBM was caught flat-footed by the personal computer in the 1980’s; large book retailers by the Internet in the 1990s; and the music industry by digitalization in the first decade of the 21st century.

What’s next?

Industries destined to feel a similar affect in the future include the energy, gaming and manufacturing industries. Advances in nanotechnology are fueling startling advances in solar and fuel cell technology. These technologies, many of which are now expensive and limited in capability, don’t appear to represent much of a threat today but as they improve they will create a vastly more decentralized energy distribution network and transform the energy paradigm. If existing leaders in the energy sector ignore these signs they will be run over. The same is true with how hand-gesture and 3-D technology will transform gaming culture, and advances in 3-D printing are poised to lead to radical new manufacturing and supply chain distribution models.

What then is a person or organization to do? Jaywalk. That’s right. Break the rules. Doing so will not only make you more aware alert to the dangers around you, you are also likely to chart a quicker path to future customers.

Remember unlearning isn’t risky. What is risky is playing it safe.

Homework assignment #24: Did you know that 80 percent of people over the age of 40 still believe yield signs are yellow and black. They aren’t. They are red and white and have been since—drum roll, please—1971. With this analogy in mind, identify at least one area where the rules in your business are changing and explain how a supposedly risky strategy might actually be safer.

P.S. If you would like to read 38 additional “unlearning lessons,” consider picking up a copy of my new book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future. The eBook is now only $2.99!

Unlearning Lesson #22: Lose Sight of the Shore
Unlearning Lesson #21: Know Doubt
Unlearning Lesson #7: Question the Wisdom of Experts

On Wednesday, I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota speaking to Missouri River Energy Services and I shared how SolarCity was now installing, maintaining and repairing solar cells on residential homes for no money down. In simple terms, SolarCity is making it very easy to say “yes” to solar cells by eliminating customer’s largest obstacle–the sizeable, upfront capital investment.

No sooner had I returned home than I came across yet another company doing the same thing, Sunrun. Sunrun, however, takes the matter one step further and, in a series of funny ads (posted below), shows viewers why there is absolutely no reason for them not to seriously consider becoming their own (partial) energy provider by installing solar panels.

As I said in my 2010 book, Green Investing, the future of “green” technology has less to do with the “greening” of the environment and more to do with the “green” color of money.

Enjoy the ads!

The license plate is red and has a distinctive “infinity” symbol.

It’ll take some time but the plates will start becoming more common.

Not infrequently, my responses would end at that last bastion of parental retreat, “Just because,” I’d say. (Now, I know what you’re thinking … that I’m bad and lazy parent. Perhaps this true but I have an excuse it because, well, it’s just because!)

As I was reading this article today (Tweens Secret Lives Online) about how many young children are accessing new social media sites against their parents wishes (and knowledge), this comment caught my attention:

When Ms. Schwab recently wondered out loud what the weather was like, her son responded, “Ask Siri.”

Today, Siri, can only answer rudimentary questions but, as with so many other technologies, it will grow exponentially more powerful in the coming years.

What then are the implications for parenting and our educational institutions when every child can get sound answers to their endless list of questions?

I’m not suggesting that either parents or teachers will be replaced. I do, however, believe it is our responsibility to begin thinking about the profound implications artificial intelligence will have on our ability to supplement and improve both our own — and our children’s — intelligence.

At a minimum, it’s imperative that we seek to harness artificial intelligence as a means to stimulate and encourage curiosity in our children and not use it as a tool to avoid that responsibility ourselves.

This is why it is wise to heed the words of Carl Sagan who once said, “The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”

Interested in some other ways to “see what isn’t there”? Check out these older posts from my School of Unlearning website:

See What Isn’t There

Own the White Space

Question #23: In 2003, what money-losing product far exceeded its sales projections for the year in spite of the fact that manufacturer made no material upgrades to the product and spent less money on advertising?

The answer is the Oldsmobile and its success was all the more surprising because its parent company, General Motors, had decided to discontinue the line after 2004 due to consistently weak sales. In retrospect, this paradoxical outcome was driven by the realization the Oldsmobile was only going to be available for a limited time.

The idea that something is special just because it is limited in number—or even rare—is worth unlearning on a limited basis. (It goes without saying that sometimes limited items and objects are special and deserving of our attention. Often, however, they are not.)

Consider, for example, sales of other products that are advertised as being available for a “limited time.” This time honored marketing tactic has been employed for one simple reason: it works. People fear the potential loss of the product more than the actual benefit it will deliver. If you have ever ended up with buyer’s remorse or wondered why you are donating a pair of shoes you never wore to charity, it is possible you fell prey to this trap.

The “scarcity principle”—the idea that since something might be going away it makes sense to buy it—is a play on the same theme. The problem becomes more pernicious when even more people are clamoring for the scarce item. If you’ve ever witnessed the insanity of a pre-holiday rush as a store’s patrons sprint to secure the last few remaining versions of a Cabbage Patch Doll, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Beanie Baby or the latest “must-have” toy you get the general idea. Many people are motivated by nothing more than the fear of being left empty-handed.

This habit of confusing scarcity with value leads to the unusual title of this unlearning lesson. During my sophomore year of high school, I recall being dragged outside during the middle of the school day to view a rare full eclipse. The only problem is that I wasn’t actually allowed to look at the eclipse as it occurred lest I do irreparable damage to my eyes. To avoid this cataclysmic fate, my fellow classmates and I were instructed on how to construct a “pinhole projector.” As I recall, we punched a hole in the flimsy piece of poster board and held the board up so that it blocked our view of the event and, in its place, cast a shadow of the eclipse onto the ground. It was, to say the least, a decidely unsatisfying experience.

I mention this because during high school I was never once advised or encouraged to get up early to enjoy the radiant beauty of a sunrise or to slow down at the end of a day to admire the magnificence of a setting sun—even though both are far more beautiful than a solar eclipse.

The relationship between quantity—or availability—and value is often tenuous at best and sometimes can be as weak as the shadow of an eclipse cast upon the ground through a make-shift pinhole projector.

Homework Assignment #23: While enjoying either an early morning sunrise or a late afternoon sunset, make a list of common items that have great value to you and compare it with a second list of those scarce items you possess but which hold little value.

P.S. If you would like to read 38 additional “unlearning lessons,” consider picking up a copy of my new book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future. The eBook is now only $2.99!

Unlearning Lesson #22: Lose Sight of the Shore
Unlearning Lesson #21: Know Doubt
Unlearning Lesson #7: Question the Wisdom of Experts

Question #7: Write the letter “E” on your forehead. (Go ahead, I’ll wait. You may also just trace the letter on your forehead if that’s more comfortable for you). Did you write the letter in a self-oriented fashion such that it would appear backwards to those viewing it or did you write it backwards so that it would appear legible to others?

In a fascinating study conducted by Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Galinsky and his colleagues found that the more power an individual possessed, the more likely the person was to draw the letter from their perspective—making it appear backwards to others. In fact, individuals assigned to a high power group were three times more likely to draw a self-oriented “E.”

The study concluded that power causes individuals to assign too much weight to their own viewpoint and makes them less capable of adjusting to, or even considering, another person’s perspective.

This finding is worth keeping this study when listening to any expert discuss a new idea. For instance, in 1899, Lord Kelvin, then recognized as one of the brightest individuals in the world dismissed the work of the aviation enthusiasts by saying “Heavier than air machines are impossible.” A mere four years later, Kelvin was forced to eat his words when two bicycle repairmen from Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, struck out from the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk and achieved flight.

In the mid-1980’s, a conference full of ulcer experts ridiculed the work of Barry Marshall when he proposed that ulcers were not caused by acid or spicy food—as ulcer experts assumed at the time—but rather were caused by bacteria. It took 10 years but eventually the American Medical Association (AMA) agreed and, in 2005, a full two decades after he first proposed his theory, Marshall and his colleague, Robin Warren, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

That experts should be threatened by new ideas is to be expected. After all, it is difficult to accept the notion that years of well-intentioned study, research and effort were misplaced. It is equally problematic to accept that the foundation of one’s power—one’s status and standing in the eyes of society—was based on a flawed premise.

What is even more troublesome is that rather than keeping an open mind and entertaining new ideas which may challenge one’s expertise, many experts do just the opposite and perform the equivalent of writing a backwards “E” on their forehead and refuse to consider new alternatives. Often, they’ll even go a step further and use their status as experts to ridicule and belittle the new idea in question.

The problem is further compounded because experts are often extremely intelligent and are able to lay out in articulate and plausible sounding—-but, ultimately, wrong—-arguments as to why the new ideas should be dismissed.

New ideas, by their very nature, challenge old ideas. It is dangerous, therefore, to cede sole control of the assessment of new ideas to the very group which would be most threatened by the adoption of these ideas.

It is, of course, entirely reasonable that experts be allowed a role in assessing new ideas but before anyone accept their word as “gospel” they should insist that the experts take a moment and write the first letter of “expert” backwards as a reminder that expertise doesn’t necessarily equal correctness and that they must stay open to new perspectives.

Homework Assignment #7: In 1933, what brilliant scientist uttered this famous quote: “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable”? Hint: His name began with “E” and he later publicly reversed his position in a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Extra credit: After the near meltdown of the global financial market in 2008-2009, what other group of experts might have benefited from entertaining a new perspective?

P.S. If you would like to read 38 additional “unlearning lessons,” consider picking up a copy of my new book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future. The eBook is now only $2.99!

Unlearning Lesson #21: Know Doubt
Unlearning Lesson #20: Mix Up Your Mind
Unlearning Lesson #19: Grow From Your Inexperiences

Question #22: There is a small town that has only one street. The street runs in an east-west direction and is exactly one mile in length. The town council recently granted liquor licenses to two taverns with the proviso the establishments be situated such that they are maximized for the convenience of both the town’s inhabitants and the tavern owners. Where along the one mile street should the establishments be located?

Did you say that the taverns should be positioned on opposite sides of the street at the half-mile point? This ensures both taverns will draw an equal number of patrons but the locations are not maximized for the customers benefit. To do this, the establishments must be located at the 1/3 and 2/3-mile marks. Under this scenario both taverns draw an equal number of people but no one in the town walks more than a one-third of a mile. The difference is that in the first scenario the tavern owners optimized the situation for their own benefit but that didn’t yield the best solution for the town’s residents.

The situation has comparable real-world implications and it is a behavior worth unlearning because it can lead to missed opportunities. In his book, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond writes that one of history’s greater curiosities is the fact that the large island of Madagascar, which sits only 225 miles off the coast of Africa, wasn’t discovered by Africans. It was discovered by peoples from Indonesia—a country thousands of miles to the east. Much the same dynamic is at play when large and established businesses miss big opportunities close to home.

W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue persuasively in their book, Blue Ocean Strategy, that one of the best methods for achieving success is not to go head-to-head with the competition—as in the aforementioned exampled of placing one tavern directly across the street from another—it is to delve in unknown market space or what they refer to as Blue Ocean opportunities.

This is precisely what Cirque do Soleil chose to do when it reimagined the circus. It didn’t try to compete with Ringling and Barnum and Bailey with longer trapeze sets or larger and better trained elephants. Instead it created an entirely new and unique experience that didn’t rely on any animals and rather emphasized theme and artistic music, along with a rich and diverse pool of dance and performance art.

In the beginning Cirque du Soleil was considered cutting edge and avante garde (and it still is). But by venturing forth into unchartered waters, it has redefined the meaning of circus and brought its art to millions of people around the world.

As was mentioned in Unlearning Lesson #7 unlearning requires a willingness to “see what isn’t there” and it is impossible to see far beyond the shore when you are tethered to the shore. Or, as Andre Gide more eloquently wrote, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Homework assignment #22: In 2008, Nintendo was able to recapture a large share of the video gaming market by developing a new gaming console (the Wii) which could be used by its non-customers (seniors). Today, the 55 to 65 year-old demographic is the fastest growing segment of the video gaming market. Consider and design a product for a group of people who are today not your customers.

P.S. If you would like to read 38 additional “unlearning lessons,” consider picking up a copy of my new book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future. The eBook is now only $2.99!

Unlearning Lesson #21: Know Doubt
Unlearning Lesson #20: Mix Up Your Mind
Unlearning Lesson #19: Grow From Your Inexperiences

One good place to look is on the inside of the newspaper.

For example, here are just four articles from the inside of today’s newspaper:

Article #1 discusses the driverless car.
Article #2 talks about the “officeless office.”
Article #3 notes that for the first time ever two online news sources won a Pulitzer Prize; and
Article #4 explains how a hologram of Tupac Shakur (who has been dead for 15 years) has just gone on tour.

I’ve quoted William Gibson before and I’ll quote him again: “The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.”

Looking for more proof of the coming disruption? Check out this article on The Strange Case of the Disappearing B’s.