Original 2021 statement: The arrival of a faster future means the arrival of new insurance risk - and insurance companies will have to ensure for forms of risk that don’t even yet exist, not even knowing what they are insuring for!
What Jim has written about this
From “Daily Inspiration: “It’s time to move from triage to tomorrow!”” (January 2023)
As I close out this series of 23 Trends for 2023, I’ve been thinking long and hard as to what the final, all-encompassing trend should be; to be honest, I’ve had several. But they’ve all had a common theme - all of us finally have the chance to look forward to what’s next , rather than just concentrating right now on what we need to do to get through. In a conference call with a client the other day, I was given a gift when he mentioned that in his mind, they weres finally able to move away from triage - fast, quick steps to simply survive - to thinking about their future again. That’s it!
My last 3 events before Covid were firmly linked to the opportunities of the future. The American Truck Dealers Association brought me in for a keynote that took at the electrification of their industry, the arrival of hyper-connected trucking technology, and the potential for autonomous technology. Syngenta, the global agricultural company, had me in for a talk to key dealers on how farmers were aligned to fast-moving science trends with fast genomics, autonomy, the potential world of 24-hour farming, and more. The Canadian Golf Superintendents Association - my very last in-person event in March 2020 - took a look at the future of the golf industry, some of the new technologies, concepts, and ideas coming into the game, and how that might influence their work.
Machines are starting to think on their own a bit more. We don’t yet know what this means.
From “20 Trends into 2030: Are You Ready for The Massive Transformation of Just About Everything?” (December 2019)
Insurance: We used to get insurance coverage based upon our historical behaviour or past actions. Now, insurance policies are written and adjusted in real time based on real time data and activities - so rather than looking back to assess and underwrite insurance risk, we increasingly do so by looking forward based on what we know right now. P&C, life and all other aspects of insurance have been dramatically impacted by the arrival of continuous real time risk monitoring technology! Not only that, but the very concept of risk has changed - we’ve learned that the faster arrival of the future means that we now see the faster emergence of new risk issues, which in and of itself requires different forms of risk assessment. This has led to shorter “instance oriented policies” - or what we might call “just in time insurance.” AI based risk assessment has also taken on a huge role, with the emergence of real time risk assessment dashboards.
Education: We’ve gone from the concept of “foundational degree knowledge” to just-in-time knowledge - most people in the workforce have now mastered the skill of getting the right knowledge at right time for right purpose. The concept of the career has disappeared as most people transition from project to project at an absolutely furious pace - there is a continuous arrival of new careers, the rapid obsolescence of old careers, and the fleeting arrival of short term “micro-careers.” We used to train for a career that would take us through most of our life. Now, we live a life that takes us through multiple careers - by constantly reinventing ourselves. The education industry has figured out how to build platforms for the delivery of knowledge that does not yet exist for careers not yet invented - in essence, designing knowledge delivery for what comes next in a world of great knowledge uncertainty!
The Unknown Industry: Last but not least, we saw the emergence of a new industry that we simply could not conceive of, and which did not exist on January 1, 2020. That’s because some companies appeared that made products or services that did not exist, based on ideas and concepts that weren’t yet around, with methodologies that had yet to be invented, using material not yet invented. We were in awe of the concepts that appeared with the birth of this massive new, mutili-trillion dollar industry.
From “Daily Inspiration: “It’s what you know that should exhilarate you. But it’s what you don’t know that should absolutely terrify you!”” (June 2021)
The challenge? Our new world of hypercharge, driven by technology, the Internet of Things, accelerating science, and other issues is leading us quickly into a new world of unforeseen legal challenges. Somehow, we need to minimize our risk from legal issues which we do not yet know exist. That’s a pretty tall order.
How do you mitigate against risk when you don’t know what that risk might be? How do you guard against legal issues that don’t even yet exist? How do you guard intellectual property for products you don’t even yet know you will invent? That’s the challenging reality of our new world of risk today.
Want some fun? At one of these events, I put up a list of 40 new areas of legal risk management that did not exist 10 years ago. Protecting shared 3D printing models of your new products that could be easily counterfeited. Drone technology and surveillance law. Genetic counseling laws, LGBTQ issues, fantasy sports league management, organic certification, and laws involving cannabis use in the workplace and place of business.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: “It’s time to move from triage to tomorrow!“
20 Trends into 2030: Are You Ready for The Massive Transformation of Just About Everything?
Daily Inspiration: “It’s what you know that should exhilarate you. But it’s what you don’t know that should absolutely terrify you!”