This is the latest volume in a relatively new series, the HBR Insights Series, which extends the scope and depth of articles originally published in HBR. If you were to purchase the eleven in this volume separately as reprints, the total cost would be about $100. Amazon now sells a paperbound edition containing all of them as an anthology for only $22.95. That's not a bargain, that's a steal.
In his Introduction to this book, Larry Downes points out that what he and Paul Nunes have characterized -- in Pivot to the Future: Discovering Value and Creating Growth in a Disrupted World (2019) -- as "Big Bang Disruptions" are innovations built on technologies that are both better and cheaper than existing offerings. "That powerful one-two punch guarantees rapid and chaotic reconfigurations of industries, some of which may not have experienced significant change in several generations of management."
However, "The chaos of Big Bang Disruption challenges the management abilities and institutional resilience of all businesses as they struggle for pole position in the emerging ecosystems that new technologies create...Such conflicts resonate strongly with us because technology is the defining feature of modern civilIzation. " It reflects and amplifies the best -- and the worst -- of human development."
As Downes correctly points out, the authors of the eleven articles in this anthology offer "concrete recommendations for how best to deploy these new innovations and how best to control them. They offer a balance, with techniques for minimizing costs and maximizing benefits."
More specifically:
o Reid Blackman explains how and why AI doesn't just scale solutions, it also scales risk.
o Jeanne C. Meister examines how various organizations use virtual reality to develop their workers' soft skills.
o Ariel D. Stern, Henrik Matthies, Julia Hagen, Jan B. Brönneke, and Jörg F. Debatin suggest that the future of digital health tools ("prescribable applications") may well be found in Germany.
o Vishal Gaur and Abhinav Gaiha explain how blockchain can enhance trust, efficiency, and speed by helping to build a transparent supply chain.
o Alexandre Gonfalonieri speculates on the impact brain-computer interfaces could have on the future of work
o Shohini Ghose thinks that unhackable encryption could be on the horizon.
o Matt Weinzierl and Mehak Sarang are convinced that private space travel "is just the beginning."
o Maëlle Gavet explains why she thinks the era of tech titans may be near an end.
o LeRon L. Barton explains what it's like to be a Black person in technology.
o Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffien explain why social media companies should self-regulate now, as several industries have already done so effectively.
o Sanjay Podder, Adam Burden, Shalabh Kumar Singh, and Regina Maruca urge business leaders to beware of digital technologies that make environmental problems even worse.
Those who read this collection of articles will be much better prepared to face the challenges that await in 2022. I also highly recommend The Year in Tech 2021 if you have not already read the HBR articles it provides. There is never a shortage of challenges to cope with, whatever the nature and extent of the given enterprise may be.
Keep in mind that challenges are best viewed as [begin italics] opportunities [end italics], and, that most tech issues are really [begin italics] business [end italics] issues. In Art of War, Sun Tzu asserts that all battles are won or lost before they are fought. Hence the compelling importance of preparation. It remains for each person who reads any of the HBR anthologies to decide which of the material is of greatest interest, of course, but will also be of greatest value.
Meanwhile, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....
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