Jim Selman

Living in a Real-Time World Jim Selman

How can we prepare for a future that we cannot predict, let alone control? How do we lead our organizations in this real-time world? The rate of change is accelerating, the future is increasingly unpredictable, and we're overwhelmed with mind-boggling complexity. We have less and less time to think, less and less time to get in sync with what's happening. We cannot trust conventional wisdom to guide us. We must resolve many long-standing paradoxes between long or short-term thinking, expedient or ethical choices, the individual or the collective. We must be prepared for whatever emerges. Fortunately, we are becoming less competitive and more aligned in generating creative solutions to the world's intractable problems. The Internet and social media allow for unprecedented levels of collaboration and mutual understanding. As the real-time world emerges around us, we can see the pluralistic nature of human society. Once again, we are reminded that human conversation is essential for our success and that anything is possible when we work together. LIVING IN A REAL-TIME WORLD explores six conversational capabilities that we can cultivate to navigate uncertainty and learn what we need to know when we need to know it. More art than science, these innate capabilities tune the way we experience our circumstances, our relationships, our past, our present, and our future. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in understanding what is happening today, preparing for an uncertain future, and living in a positive relationship with change.