Limited only by imagination

I recently interviewed a colleague for a podcast and asked him:

Where do you see the focus of technology in the next 5 to 10 years? His response I thought interesting:

“Technology has come so far that businesses are no longer limited by technology, only by their imagination”

As a species, we’re no longer waiting on innovations in technology to help us make strides in how we advance. Imagination is our only barrier. Pretty out there, right?

He believes today’s technology offers infinite possibilities and value, if only we know how to tap into it. Whether you believe we’re yet at the point of boundless possibilities or not, he does have a valid point.

Consider the Elon Musk’s, Mark Zuckerberg’s, and Larry Page’s of this world, did they allow technology to hold them back? No. They started by imagining the possibilities and went from there. Today we’d refer to them as disrupters.

It’s at this point I contradict myself somewhat. Disruption is something that has been happening for an age. It’s not a new thing.

Think back to the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell – they never allowed technology to limit their imagination. The difference between then and now is data.

Imagination together with data forms a heady mix of possibilities. We can now imagine with a greater certainty of outcome.

Thanks to data, the future is whatever we want it to be.

Best, Michael