How much time do you spend thinking and preparing ahead? Do you find yourself making a “to do” list for today or jotting down your goals and plans for 5 or even 10 years from now? Time never slows. We are fast approaching 2030 and beyond. Then it will be on to 2050. I always love to think about the megatrends likely to impact society, people, our work and personal lives. And of course ourselves and our families and communities. To lead well now and into the future, I encourage you to take a look at the trends that are going to have impact.
What is a Megatrend?
Megatrends are shifts reshaping the world we live in. The today as we know it will be very different to the today in 2030+ Although you don’t have a crystal ball, it is possible to think ahead (and plan ahead) taking account of these predictive megatrends. We’ve leaned on the work of global consulting business Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) to remove the guesswork. Read on for the 5 Megatrends they have identified.
5 Megatrends towards 2030+
Megatrend 1 – Climate Change
| Overview | Key Question |
| While humanity is trying to figure out ways to reduce carbon emissions, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere are worsening, global temperatures are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe. | What will it take to solve the climate crisis before the damage is irreparable? |
Megatrend 2 – Technological Disruption
| Overview | Key Question |
| Transformative technology changes how we function in the world and how we understand humanity. It enables huge value creation, but harmful consequences are – and will increasingly be – difficult to mitigate. | What does it mean to be human in a world in which technology increasingly overlaps with and augments what humans do and how to use technology to improve life without causing undue harm? |
Megatrend 3 – Demographic Shifts
| Overview | Key Question |
| The median age in all countries around the globe is increasing, but at different rates and from a different starting position. This demographic change is causing some countries’ social systems to break down and a lack of workers in critical areas, whereas other countries face skyrocketing un- and under-employment, weakening economies from emigrating citizens, and strain on social safety nets. | How to help groups of people with different needs when money, experience, power, ambition and capacity are distributed differentially? |
Megatrend 4 – Fracturing World
| Overview | Key Question |
| The world is fracturing and becoming multi-nodal as more nation states are competing for influence, with the rest of the world aligning around them and some states acting as destabilisers. Countries are increasingly turning their focus inwards, prioritising their national resilience and further localisation. | What does it mean to live and thrive in a multi-nodal world? |
Megatrend 5 – Social Instability
| Overview | Key Question |
| Massive pressure – resulting from social and economic polarisation, disruption, demographic change, and eroding trust – leads to greater social unrest. | How to create a thriving economy and simultaneously remediate the significant social issues in the world? |
What should you do with these Megatrends?
Megatrends provide us with issues that reach from a global to a local level. What’s even trickier is that they don’t exist in isolation. It’s the relationships between them that can make them difficult to identify and work with as they are so interrelated. This sees many people put the thought of the future and megatrends into the too hard basket and return to the trusty daily “to do” list. I hope this post encourages you to give some thought to megatrends and how understanding them and their likely impacts will influence decisions you make today.
Questions to ask yourself about Megatrends
- What megatrend resonates with me the most? Why?
- Which megatrend has the potential to impact my work / business the most? What can I do about this?
- Which megatrend has the potential to impact my community the most? Do I have a role to play here? What is the role?
Over to you
I hope you keep the idea of megatrends in your thinking when you are planning and making decisions about your future, your work, business and or community. As I said earlier, there’s no crystal ball but these megatrends can serve as guideposts or things to consider. Take a google of megatrends and see what you can find as they do change (and at an incredible rate).
Good luck. And please feel free to reach out to me here if you think I can help in any way.
Until next time!
