What is your single most important capability when facing adaptive challenges? How do you learn and adapt at pace when there is so much information to absorb? How do you know what is going on when change can happen anywhere at any time?
Loops and insights
From the late 1700s until the early 1990s, the multi-volume Encyclopedia Britannica was the trusted source for learning for millions of people around the world. The vastness and linear nature of its content was reflected in the achievement of American author and businessman Amos Shirk, who claims to have read the entire 23-volume 1911 edition from cover to cover in four and a half years, devoting roughly three hours per night to the project.
Three waves of technology accelerated the collapse of the traditional Encyclopedia Britannica market. First came personal computers shipped with CD-ROMs complete with sound, video and animations, which transformed learning in households traditionally visited by the famous door-to-door encyclopedia sales force. Then, internet search engines and, more specifically, Wikipedia democratised knowledge acquisition and ended the dominance of Britannica and the CD-ROM.
Today, the third wave of large language learning systems such as ChatGPT is sweeping across and disrupting industries such as education, finance, healthcare and media.
When Captain Sullivan ...
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