We’re entering the most cataclysmic decade in human history. 5 things you must do to get ready.
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We’re entering the most cataclysmic decade in human history. This next 10 years is going to be more change, of epic proportions, than any decade in human history. With biogenetic engineering, and cloning, and 3D printing, and social media, mobile, and global connectivity. We can’t keep thinking the way we’ve been thinking, because the way we’ve been thinking does not prepare us for change on this level. — Randy Gage, Mad Genius
Randy has been a great friend and mentor to me, so I got to review an advance copy of Mad Genius about a year ago. I’ve had a YEAR to snuggle up to these notions and, knowing Randy, I started the book with a pretty good idea of what to expect, but there were some “grab you by the collar and rattle your brain” statements in there even for me. Ultimately though, Randy has done the research and put into words what I’ve sensed to be true. And that statement above is what he said to me the last time we chatted when I asked him what his highest hope was for the book.
What went through my head as we talked was basically, “Darn it. And we thought U.S. politics, global warming, racism, and an escalating refugee crisis were the worst things we had to worry about in this ‘mad, mad world. But’ the most cataclysmic decade in history kind of feels like an immediate threat.
Because for most of us, in our comfortable, warm (or cool depending on your zone) houses, with our digital devices, THOSE aspects of our mad world seem survivable. Or at least distant. But Randy believes we’re going to face cataclysmic change IN THE NEXT DECADE!
The level of thinking that Randy’s talking about is the SAME level of thinking required to create personal abundance through a business or create global abundance through social change.
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Not some of us, not the “others” of us, not the black, white, male, female, rich, poor, “them” of the population. But ALL of us. We, as humans, are going to face changes of epic proportions in how we go about our daily lives. Technologies that used to sound like science fiction — cloning, 3D printing, robots (anyone watch Humans? Randy predicted that in his last book, Risky is the New Safe) are now yesterday’s news. And we’d better get prepared for what that indicates for tomorrow.
I have some clients in the industries he mentions and they’re excited about the changes they’re a part of, but other clients (me too a little bit) are feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. Randy calls this book a “Manifesto for Entrepreneurs” of which I am one, but to many it might feel more like the “mad, mad world” is run by an “evil genius” than an invitation to be more successful as entrepreneurs, let alone as global change agents.
But here’s what you’ll learn by reading Mad Genius, out this week. The level of thinking that Randy’s talking about is the SAME level of thinking required to create personal abundance through a business or create global abundance through social change.
That’s right. Same – same. In my chat with Randy he’s what he offered as proof.
Challenge the Premise
Our minds have been hijacked by so many memes. Randy talks about this on his Periscope broadcasts and Prosperity TV Youtube vids all the time. So even when we think we’re thinking for ourselves, usually we’re making decisions based on some long-expired, or at least unexamined premises that were handed to us long, long ago. These foundational assumptions govern our behavior and our results, but they’re probably no longer valid. And in a decade of “cataclysmic change,” you can BET if they’re valid today they won’t be valid in the next year, or maybe in the next month.
If you want to REALLY unleash your Mad Genius to create “mad success”… you have to be willing to question any and all core foundational beliefs you have. About EVERYTHING.
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Of course entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of closed minds. According to Randy, we don’t even have the luxury of simply objective minds. If you want to REALLY unleash your Mad Genius to create “mad success” in your own business, or as an “intrapreneur” working in someone else’s business, you have to be willing to question any and all core foundational beliefs you have. About EVERYTHING.
Guess what, if you want to create significant change in your community or the world, you’re going to have to do the same thing. And that doesn’t mean challenge everyone ELSE’S foundational beliefs. It means challenge your own.
Welcome Failure
This has always been true. But in a world where nothing is going to stay the same for long you must encourage people to fail. Yourself and your team. Make sure you are all failing regularly. The only way you truly unleash the creative genius in yourself or others is to embrace the understanding that not every at bat will result in a home run. If people think that failing results in losing they never take risks. And risks are where the breakthroughs live.
Entrepreneurs, and the investors who finance them, strive to look around corners, pull substance out of clouds, and imagine what could be. And of course that is the language of social change.
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Risks are where breakthroughs live when you want to be an influence and agent for good in the world too. That goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. Standing up for equality of any kind is going to scare a lot of people whose “memes” tell them that equality threatens their superiority. Risk it anyway. Fail regularly. Hit home runs sometimes. That’s how it works.
Check Your Address
In Mad Genius Randy calls it “Decide Where to Reside.” And he doesn’t mean where you park your car at night. He’s talking about your mind. He says people’s minds live in one of these neighborhoods; Mediocrity, Good, Great, or Mad Genius. Last decade we thought Great was good enough. But in the decade we’re in now, it won’t even come close. Not in business, or in global change.
See the Intangible
Randy says, “Every great breakthrough is created twice — first in the mind of the visionary, and second in the physical world.” Entrepreneurs, and the investors who finance them, strive to look around corners, pull substance out of clouds, and imagine what could be. And of course that is the language of social change. From Dr. King’s “I have a dream,” to Malala Yousafzai’s demand that we give girls a chance, the vision comes before the reality.
Psychotic individuals are said to display a capacity to see the world in a novel and original way, literally, to see things that others cannot. – Wikipedia, Creativity and Mental Illness
Yeah, like that.
Embrace the Madness
If the old definition of insanity was to “keep doing what you’ve done and expect a different result” (which Randy points out was from a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet not Albert Einstein) that definition is no longer true in this rapid fire world. I asked Randy how he’d define insanity today.
“To keep doing what you’ve done and expect the same result.“
Right. In a world where technology and global connectivity change the perceptions and possibilities of an entire population almost overnight it would be crazy to think that what worked, for you or anyone else yesterday, would work the same way tomorrow.
We have to move our minds into that Mad Genius “neighborhood.” Not just as a place to visit, but as a place to live.
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Photo: Getty Images