The concept
Practical knowledge accumulated through trying, experimenting, making mistakes and learning before certainty arrives.
Why Daily Inspiration matters to the lineage
A named concept rarely arrives fully formed. Daily Inspiration gives us dated evidence of the language, examples and applications surrounding the idea as it developed.
The entries below are not presented as proof that every use is identical. They are a concept genealogy: places where the underlying thought appears, is tested, is applied to a different context, or becomes more explicit.
Evolution through the series
2011-12-21 — Ten Great Words You NEED for 2012!
A few years ago, right around the approach of the New Year, I wrote a blog post that I called ‘10 Great Words.” Since that time, this inspirational post has become one of the most heavily tracked pages on my Web site; it also happens to provide the structure for the closing of most of my keynotes on stage. In a few other years, I’ve updated the concept with other lists of inspirational words, and the meaning behind them. It’s always been a good way for me to clarify to my readers, and to my audiences while on stage, what they should be thinking about if they truly want to embrace the future and be an innovator.
2017-03-28 — Daily Inspiration: “A suggestion box? That’s the best way to trivialize the concept of innovation!”
“A suggestion box? That’s the best way to trivialize the concept of innovation!” - Jim Carroll Why Suggestion Boxes are a Stupid Idea. 10 Powerful Lessons for Innovation!
2017-07-10 — Daily Inspiration: “Fail once, and you have a failure. Fail twice, and you have two failures. Fail three times and you have developed an asset for the future: experiential capital!”
“Fail once, and you have a failure. Fail twice, and you have two failures. Fail three times, and you have developed an asset for the future : experiential capital!” - Futurist Jim Carroll on #innovation In a world in which Apple generates 60% of its revenue from products that didn’t exist four years ago, it’s critically important that an organization constantly enhance the skill, capabilities and insight of their people.
2018-02-23 — Daily Inspiration: “Success is the byproduct of multiple, continuous failures!”
“Success is the byproduct of multiple, continuous failures!” -Futurist Jim Carroll After a keynote, there’s often a Q&A. And one of the most frequent questions is, “so what should I do right now?” And that’s where I bring up my concept of ‘experiential capital.’ There is so much going on with so many trends - so many new ideas, concepts, business models, technologies - that it can be difficult to know which ones will work, and which ones will not. So with that in mind, the “start small” aspect of my innovation mantra kicks in - try a whole bunch of small things, not to necessarily succeed, but simply to build up your experience.
2020-01-13 — Daily Inspiration: “Play on purpose - simply to boost your ‘experiential capital!’”
“Play on purpose - simply to boost your ‘experiential capital!’” - Futurist Jim Carroll Today’s theme in my series “Insight 2020: Leadership Insight for the Era of Acceleration” - #6 of 20 - is “Boost Experiential Capital!” Learn more about the series here: https://insight2020.jimcarroll.com – it runs through the month! Let me explain the context: it’s a story that I started telling on stage about 1999 or so, when it became evident to me that many organizations were unclear of how to prepare for the faster, more complex world around them. One bit of my advice came to be built upon a personal philosophy that I have long subscribed to: buildmor
2021-11-11 — Daily Inspiration: “Innovation is all about not yet knowing how to do something - but doing it anyway!”
“Innovation is all about not yet knowing how to do something - but doing it anyway!” - Futurist Jim Carroll Let’s talk experiential capital! It’s often better to try to do the new things you don’t know how to do instead of keep doing the things that you do know how to do! Say again?
2022-06-13 — Daily Inspiration: “The thing to remember about failure is that it should be used to take you to where you need to go! ”
“The thing to remember about failure is that it should be used to take you to where you need to go!” - Futurist Jim Carroll Back in the olden days before times - say, about 2009, when social media was in its infancy - there was a popular social media network where the cool kids hung out known as MySpace. Sensing a trend, Walmart created their own social network for teens known as The Hub - their thinking was kids would join and talk about the cool clothes they found at their local store. D’oh.
2023-08-30 — Daily Inspiration: AI and Moving Forward - “The only way to figure out how fast the horse can go is to get on and ride!”
“The only way to figure out how fast the horse can go is to get on and ride!” - Joe Wingerter Joe Wingerter is a pretty observant guy, and I only met him yesterday. That’s because in my session yesterday for a global construction company, he had one of the most brilliant observations I’ve ever seen about ‘how to innovate in the face of uncertainty.’ From Omaha, Nebraska, his delivery of this line, delivered with a bit of a Western drawl, certainly captured my attention, and certainly that of everyone in the room. Let me share the story.
2024-11-12 — Daily Inspiration: On Resilience - “Fear is a liar. Choose courage instead.”
“Fear is a liar. Choose courage instead.” - Futurist Jim Carroll Today I want to write about resilience - why it’s important, and why chasing resilience instead of giving in to fear is to important. To do that, though, I need to tell you how I got to today’s quote.
2025-01-17 — Daily Inspiration: An Innovation Action Plan Framework - “Maybe you should do more than have a plan to create a plan!”
“Maybe you should do more than have a plan to create a plan!” - Futurist Jim Carroll My news clipping service recently picked up this gem of insight from a Conference Board leadership survey: “Outside of Japan, few CEOs are looking to raise prices in 2025. Instead, the focus is on innovation, tech, and product development. Innovation leads: Worldwide, 37% of CEOs say innovation is a top priority for growing profits, followed by introducing new products/services (29%) and investing in technology, including AI (26%).” This was a bit of music to my ears since it’s always good to see an indication that one of the most important actions for future
2025-03-31 — Decoding Tomorrow: Your Daily Future Inspiration – “The future is an attitude!”
“The future is an attitude!” - Futurist Jim Carroll I mean, why not have an image where I’m staring up into a teleportation portal? It’s my future, and I get to imagine it! You should do the same thing.
2025-09-19 — Decoding Tomorrow: Your Daily Future Inspiration – Accelerating Your Creativity: “Don’t wait for the perfect moment; take this moment and make it perfect.”
“The Secret to Creativity: Don’t wait for the perfect moment; take this moment and make it perfect.” - Futurist Jim Carroll As someone who has spoken on the topic of innovation worldwide, I’ve long understood creativity to be one of the most important skills we can have. But how do we build it, nurture it, develop it, and protect it? There are many ways to do this!
2025-10-03 — Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Future Inspiration - Your future self is watching. Build a version of yourself that you would be proud of.”
“Your future self is watching. Build a version of yourself that you would be proud of.” - Futurist Jim Carroll I’ll be back with my The Way Forward series on Monday. In the meantime, here’s a PDF that covers all 8 industry trends covered so far.
2025-12-16 — Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #19 Optionality Architecture: “Throw out the roadmap. Build a portfolio of instant pivots instead.”
“Throw out the roadmap. Build a portfolio of instant pivots instead.” - Futurist Jim Carroll Build options, not plans! We are on Day 19 of this series and have covered a lot of ground.
2026-02-10 — Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration - Future of Manufacturing: “Shift your mindset from why you can’t to why you must!”
“Shift your mindset from why you can’t to why you must!” - Futurist Jim Carroll It was an honor to present at the recent BIFMA 360 Leadership Conference in St. Petersburg, where I took a hard look at the “era of acceleration” currently transforming the manufacturing industry. From the rapid integration of AI and robotics to the emergence of “swarm factories,” the message is clear: the future is coming at you faster than you think.
2026-02-13 — What Goes Into a Highly Customized Keynote? THIS!
As someone who has been a main-stage keynote speaker for 33 years, one of my points of pride has long been the degree of customization that I’ve put into my work. I’ve delivered massively customized keynotes for organizations in the agriculture, insurance, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, construction, and other sectors. Many of the speakers bureaus that book me know this; many of the folks who find me directly and book me comment that’s the reason they’ve decided to work with me.
2026-05-13 — Decoding Tomorrow: The Infinite Pivot Series - #34 “Pivots are often made years before they happen.”
“Pivots are often made years before they happen.” - Futurist Jim Carroll Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, based on 36 lessons from his 36 years as a solo entrepreneur, working as a nomadic worker in the global freelance economy. The series is unfolding here, and at pivot.jimcarroll.com. Every pivot you have ever admired looks like a single moment - it’s a big decision, a sudden leap, a brave day.
What the lineage shows
Across these dated receipts, experiential capital belongs to a recurring way of thinking about adaptation: notice change early, challenge inherited assumptions, learn through action and build the capacity to move before circumstances remove the choice.
Strategic question
Where does this concept show up in our own operating model, and what evidence would tell us it is becoming more important?