By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

The Second Law of Thermodynamics [SLOT, also known as the law of entropy] is the general tendency of the universe to move from order and structure to lack of order and lack of structure. I believe the Second Law of Thermodynamics partially holds true in societal and business spheres as well. I believe that moments of equilibrium - what Henry Ford referred to as “saner and sweeter” times - are inevitably followed by moments of disequilibrium. H. James Dallas, the just retired Chief Operating Officer at Medtronics, labels such moments “wilderness moments -times when you don’t know what you should be doing but you definitely know that you need to be doing something else.” Wilderness moments are to be expected. Of concern to us here is that following each wilderness moment comes the leadership responsibility of recalibrating governance [i.e., setting in place the processes that ensure that institutions are doing the right things the right ways].... Read more

By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

Our species has an unhealthy addiction to certainty. Certainty and lack of doubt are way over-rated. Let me give you a quick and admittedly superficial example. Imagine that you were coming to an event featuring a bow-tie wearing futurist as keynote speaker. Would it be preferable to not be 100%, absolutely certain what the speaker had to say, or would it be preferable, as is the case of so many sic “thought leaders” on the rubber chicken circuit, to know exactly what they are going to say?... Read more

By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

In next generation flight simulators, while you watch the simulator, the simulator watches you back. While this has proven to be a fantastic tool for quickly and affordably creating pilots with superior judgment and impressive flying skills, in other use cases the role of machine “eyes” observing human behavior is surfacing questions.... Read more