"Everybody has the capacity for anything!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Want some inspiration today? Take a quick look at this PDF here - "Everybody has the capacity for anything!" Need more? Try this one: "Everybody in every industry has the capacity for tomorrow!"
What's up?
I've been busy writing my series about 30 megatrends, and made it to #25 yesterday.
However, there's a brief pause before I set off to finish it with the final 5 items next week, sometime. We are off to a wedding for some wonderful friends of ours, and also have some wonderfully personal events unfolding in our lives. I want to make sure I'm giving full attention to these things that matter, while also being respectful to the depth of trends I'm covering in my Megatrends series. I plan on getting back to it next Tuesday.
That said, I'll be writing some 'shorter' posts tomorrow and Monday.
Today's post? Does everybody have the capacity for anything? That phrase came from my folder of inspirational thoughts - I've got a few thousand of them in my email account. I'm constantly watching and learning from the world around me, and as soon as I see something that inspires me, wham! It goes into the folder.
I was thinking about this phrase in the context of what is happening with AI in many workplaces today - the trend seems to be clear. Countless organizations are making the decision-or perhaps the word is mandate-that AI should be used by everyone in everything they do. It was notably initiated by Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke back in March. In a memo that was first leaked and later shared publicly. Lütke's memo established a clear "AI-first" ethos at the e-commerce giant, with the thinking being that "using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify."
Many other companies have also been jumping on board. While we can endlessly debate the pros and cons of such a move, I won't do that here. I will note that as part of my journey of learning, research, and trends observation, I've been busy trying to assess the trend by integrating AI into almost everything I do. Including today, this particular post.
I fed the original idea - 'everybody has the capacity for anything' into Google Gemini, along with every single blog post I've written since 2002. I asked it to come up with an overview of many of the inspirational ideas I've shared over the last 23 years. I then took the results and fed them into Gamma - my current AI slide generation tool of choice.
The result was kind of magical - I've shared a lot of inspirational stuff! If you find yourself in need of a motivational quick hit today, grab the PDF here. As the deck noted, it's "a journey of discovery about the unlimited potential within each of us" and "an exploration of human capacity and how we can unlock our hidden abilities."
I was inspired simply by reading my inspiration! Here's a sample of what I've covered in one way or the other over the years, albeit rewritten with a little help from Gemini.
Everybody has a capacity for brilliance
Brilliance isn't about having all the answers—it's about seeing possibilities where others see limitations. A global pharmaceutical company demonstrated this by recognizing that healthcare's future lies in "bio-connected" monitoring.
Your brilliance emerges when you connect dots others don't see. It's that moment when you rise above conventional thinking and glimpse a better way forward. This capacity exists within you, waiting to be activated.
Everybody has a capacity for greatness
Greatness isn't determined by circumstances but by how we respond to them. When faced with overwhelming change, those who achieve greatness see a massive opportunity rather than a massive threat.
Your path to greatness begins with a choice—to embrace change rather than resist it, to see possibilities where others see problems. This perspective shift is available to everyone, including you.
Everybody has a capacity for kindness
In our fast-paced world, obsessed with efficiency and advancement, kindness might seem outdated. Yet it remains the foundation of a strong, prosperous society.
Your acts of kindness—however small—create ripples that transform communities. When you choose decency and respect in your interactions, you tap into this universal capacity that connects humanity across all differences.
While working on that, I was also thinking about the disruptive trends perspective of what I have written about. I reworded the prompt, seeing insight into the same idea but from a different perspective. That led to a different slide deck, right here.
Everybody in every industry has a capacity for tomorrow!
Within that document, there are 51 ideas as to how individuals in many different industries can align themselves to the trends and opportunities of tomorrow.
Everybody in product development has a capacity for rapid prototyping.
Generative design and additive manufacturing now allow product development timelines to collapse from months or years into mere days or weeks, making rapid prototyping a core business competency.
Everybody in logistics has a capacity for anticipatory logistics.
The future of commerce is shifting from a reactive to a proactive supply chain, using predictive analytics and AI to forecast demand and pre-position goods, collapsing delivery times from days to minutes.
Everybody in the supply chain has a capacity for autonomous execution.
The deployment of robotic systems, including aerial drones and ground vehicles, allows companies to execute the final leg of the supply chain with a speed and efficiency unattainable by human labor.
What's the point of all this?
I've become convinced, as have the CEO of Shopify and many others, that we are now on the edge of a very unique voyage. It's implicit on those of us with an open mind and an open curiosity to explore its boundaries, assess its impact, and determine its pros and cons. We can only do that by getting fully involved.
And in that context, everybody has the capacity for exploration of this strange new world! Join us!
Futurist Jim Carroll is a big believer in the power of aligning with future trends.