Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The buzz: "Shall we play a game?" -WarGames, 1983 film. Successful Fortune 500 companies anticipate—and often invent—the future before their competitors do. Why? They know that anticipating industry disruptions is predominantly a creative act. Their secret weapon? Competitive "war gaming" exercises that produce solid defensive strategies and innovative offensive growth strategies to help them proactively foresee new services, products, and business models. Whatever your company's size, maturity and industry, you, too, can benefit from designing, running and experiencing a disruptive war gaming session. We've got insider tips for you. Ready? The experts speak. Bryan W. Mattimore, Growth Engine Company: "Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas" -Erwin Rommel. Christopher Bishop, improvising careers: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic" -Arthur C. Clarke. Join us for Disruptive War Gaming: A Critical Tool for Today's Innovators – Part 2.

The buzz: "I want to be around people that dream…and do things" (Amy Poehler). Forty-six percent of US privately held firms are at least half owned by women and represent ~16 million jobs. But while female entrepreneurship is rising, male-owned businesses are 3.5 times more likely to reach $1 million in annual revenues. With just 2 percent of US women-owned businesses earning $1M a year, what resources, leadership skills and strengths do female startups need to scale to their full potential? The experts speak. Kerrie MacPherson, EY: "Women are powerhouse entrepreneurs. The research shows that when women entrepreneurs succeed, they drive economic growth and invest more back into their families and communities" (President Barack Obama). Kat Vorotova, Try The World: "Teach girls bravery, not perfection" (Reshma Saujani). Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP SuccessFactors: "I'm unstoppable because I don't know how to stop" (Tina Fey). Join us for Female Entrepreneurs: Overcoming Hurdles to Success.

The buzz: "Cities are never random." (Neal Shusterman) Cities around the world are on a mission: maintain a safe, clean, well-oiled, inclusive urban environment for residents, businesses, and visitors. The key is to perform mundane tasks more efficiently than ever. But how to automatically clear storm drains in a downpour, repair street light outages, keep traffic flowing efficiently 24/7? The solution: real-time IoT sensors. The experts speak. Meghan Cook, Center for Technology in Government, SUNY: "The power of storytelling is exactly this: to bridge the gaps where everything else has crumbled" (Paulo Coelho). Dina Dayal, SAP: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" (Will Rogers). Saj Kumar, SAP: "I don't think of myself predicting things. I'm expressing possibilities. Things that could happen. To a large extent it's a question of how badly people want them to" (Freeman Dyson). Join us for Smart Cities, Smart Streets: IoT to the Rescue –Part 3.

The buzz: "Shall we play a game?" -WarGames, 1983 film. Successful Fortune 500 companies anticipate—and often invent—the future before their competitors do. Why? They know that anticipating industry disruptions is predominantly a creative act. Their secret weapon? Competitive "war gaming" exercises that produce solid defensive strategies and innovative offensive growth strategies to help them proactively foresee new services, products, and business models. Whatever your company's size, maturity and industry, you, too, can benefit from designing, running and experiencing a disruptive war gaming session. We've got insider tips for you. Ready? The experts speak. Bryan W. Mattimore, Growth Engine Company: "Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas" -Erwin Rommel. Christopher Bishop, improvising careers: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic" -Arthur C. Clarke. Join us for Disruptive War Gaming: A Critical Tool for Today's Innovators – Part 2.

The buzz: The Electric Slide. News flash for Utilities: You can no longer be profitable on a one-sided business model providing power to customers. Enter the prosumer. While the consumer is utility-dependent and generates revenues, the prosumer and utility are interdependent. The utility needs the prosumer's commitment to reduce electricity use or supply it to the grid at specified times, and the prosumer needs the utility's kilowatts and gets a new omni-channel experience. The experts speak. Robert Thiele, OpenText: 'We used to live in a world where there are people, private citizens, a world where there are businesses, and now…people can become businesses in 60 seconds' -Brian Chesky, Airbnb. Jacqueline Robinson, DTE Energy: 'Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress' -Thomas Edison. James McClelland, SAP: 'Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake' -Napoleon Bonaparte. Join us for New Energy Era Prosumers: Utility-Customer Partnership.

The buzz: "Change is the law of life…those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future" -JFKennedy. The term "digital transformation" is ubiquitous, but what does it really mean? Easy answer: software and technology adoption. Not! Digital transformation is about changing everything else – business activities, models, activities, processes, competencies, organizations, operations. It requires deeper thought about strategic topics, plus even deeper commitment to adopt, innovate and achieve continuing success. Is your company on the right path? The experts speak. Jeremy C. Thomas, Carom: "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original" -Sir Ken Robinson. Jennifer Ford, SAP: "Don't loaf and invite inspiration: light out after it with a club" -Jack London. Charlotte Bui, SAP: "Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable" -Coco Chanel. Join us for The Future of Designing Innovation: Part 2.

The buzz: 'The unicorn is noble' -German folk song. Wow! Companies led by EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners are among the most successful in the world, generating 3T dollars in revenue, creating 13M jobs, outperforming the US market in stock returns and longevity. The majority go public at 300 percent the rate of US private companies. How did EY identify these 'unicorns'? What entrepreneurial lessons can your company learn from them about managing risk, finding talent, balancing growth with social purpose? The experts speak. Herb Engert, EY: "The greatest leader…is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things" -R. Reagan. Steve Strauss, USA Today: "Thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary…there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trimtab…call me 'Trimtab'" -R. B. Fuller. Steve Peck, SAP: "And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" -The Beatles. Join us for Learning from The Unicorns: EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.

The buzz: 'I'm gonna tell Mom on you.' Women remain under-represented in government, boards, C-suite and influential business roles, often due to unconscious bias. A man named John or David is more likely than a woman to be on a board. But the unintentional blame-and-shame messages in workplace diversity and inclusion programs often leave many men feeling excluded and alienated. How can we get past the gender-divide to value the entire workforce? The experts speak. Tinna C. Nielsen, Move The Elephant: "I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear: knowing what must be done does away with fear" -R. Parks. Nicole McCabe, SAP: "One of the greatest needs of mankind is to be lifted above the morass of false propaganda" -M.L. King, Jr. Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP SuccessFactors: "Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward" -N. Mandela. Join us for Diversity and Inclusion Minus the Blame and Shame.

The buzz: Mom, are we there yet? We're seeing a ground-swell of policy and practice discussions and activities about the under-representation of women in the boardroom, C-suite and high-growth entrepreneurship. The Lean-In Revolution has brought men into the conversation and spurred women's power networks. More venture capital firms, angel investment groups, and accelerator programs are aimed at female-founded high-growth startups. Have women in business arrived? The experts speak. Nicole Sahin, Globalization Partners: "I just love bossy women…To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading" -Amy Poehler. Tanya M. Odom, Global Consultant: "In a gentle way, you can shake the world" -Gandhi. Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP SuccessFactors: "The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing" -Amy Poehler. Join us for Gender Equity in Business: Is It the Age of the Woman Yet?

The buzz: 'Welcome to the future' -B. Paisley. Move over, 4th Industrial Revolution! Welcome to the 5th Industrial Revolution with intelligent robots, 3D-printed human organs, drones fetching warehouse orders, and driverless cars. Bhaskar Chakravorti describes it as 'the fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.' The experts speak. Jason Coffman, Deloitte Consulting: 'If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious s--t' -'Doc', Back to the Future, 1985. Sean Molloy, itelligence, Inc: 'I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance' -J.D. Rockefeller. David Parrish, SAP: 'The last time the Cubs won the World Series was 1908. The last time they were in one was 1945. Hey, any team can have a bad century' -T. Trebelhorn. Join us for Digital Manufacturing Part 3: Powering the 5th Industrial Revolution.