Trends in 2019

Each year, I like to take a balcony view of what’s going on around the world in terms of consumers, technology, and more.

I find that if I take the time to really take a look around, that I will be surprised less and disrupt more.

Taking a broad view of the key trends also helps me innovate, especially as I learn how the combo of technologies are being used in new ways to create and capture value.

Note that this is no ordinary trends post.

How To Read the Mega-Guide to Trends in 2019

It’s massive.

Think of it like a “thick index.”

But you can skim it fast.

This will help you get familiar with the map of the key trends so you will recognize terms and learn key concepts.

Then you can circle back and read a little slower to start to internalize and really absorb the breadth and depth of the trends shaking up our world.

See What’s Next, Be What’s Next

If you slow down to really learn the trends, you will gain an extreme advantage in terms of seeing what’s next, so you can be what’s next.

I used to get surprised by things all the time, and now it’s actually pretty rare.

I found that all the things that were surprising me downstream, had left a bunch of clues up stream, but I just never knew what to look for..

So a few years back I started trying to create a balcony view of the coming year.

I would roundup all the trends I could find, filter them sort them, reorganize them, and internalize them.

I internalized them by trying to tell stories of how things are changing around us in relatable and pragmatic ways.

Trends are Your Fuel for Innovation

A lot of innovation comes down to cross-pollinating ideas across industries.

As you learn the key trends in 2019 you will see patterns that keep popping up and you will see interesting ways to combine technologies to create and capture value.

One of the toughest things to do to accelerate innovation is to build a shared vocabulary for ideas and concepts.

If you know the names and ideas behind key trends, it will help you mash up faster and you will be able to build on ideas better because you have a solid map of the innovation arena.

Trends are among your most powerful ingredient for finding and creating breakthroughs and driving innovation.

Trends Help You Navigate and Surf the Changes in  Work and Life

If you ask yourself, just one question, as you learn each trend, you will get more from everything you read.

Ask yourself, “How can I use this?”

And then look for examples.

By asking yourself, how can I use this, you will get your brain in the game, and it will have fun helping you find new and novel ways to use various trends.

If you think about it, trends affect everything from school, to work, to shopping, to business, to driving, to entertainment, and more.

So by learning key trends, you are learning how to navigate and surf the changes in your life.

I put a lot of work into creating this mega-guide to trends in 2019.

I hope it helps you in many ways you can’t even predict.

There are several habits and practices that separate the highly effective IT leaders from the ineffective leaders.

But there are 7 habits in particular that really differentiate the best of the best.

Here are the 7 habits of highly effective IT leaders:

1. Habit #1. Focus on Business Outcomes
2. Habit #2. Know your User
3. Habit #3. Plan for Value
4. Habit #4. Embrace Change
5. Habit #5. Build a Culture of Service
6. Habit # 6. Drive Insights
7. Habit #7. Build Raving Fans

For an explanation of the 7 habits of highly effective leaders check out the full article:

7 Habits of Highly Effective IT Leaders

What you’ll notice is that the most effective IT leaders are business savvy, they have financial intelligence, they see the big picture, they obsess about the customer, and they have empathy.

They have empathy for customers and they have empathy for employees.

It’s this empathy, balanced with business smarts and big picture thinking that helps these highly effective IT leaders drive better decisions for better results while navigating the toughest of terrains.

I was “head coach” of Satya’s Innovation team and I met him in person.

I get why he’s ranked number one.

He lives his passion, inspires with purpose, and creates clarity and energy with skill.

He’s a rare blend of a charismatic leader with strong business skills and strong technical skills.

If you want to learn more about Satya Nadella and how he’s been shaping Digital Transformation, explore these 10 posts:

1. Satya Nadella on Digital Transformation 2016
2. Satya Nadella on Digital Transformation 2018
3. Satya Nadella on How Success is a Mental Game
4. Satya Nadella on Live and Work a Meaningful Life
5. Satya Nadella on the Key to Longevity
6. Satya Nadella is All About Customer Focus, Employee Engagement, and Changing the World
7. Satya Nadella on Everyone Has to Be a Leader
8. Satya Nadella on The Future is Software
9. Satya Nadella on a Mobile-First, Cloud-First World
10. Satya Nadella on Empowering Every Person on the Planet

If you internalize his approach to leading Digital Transformation you will be well ahead of many others still trying to figure it out.

Enjoy!

The Power of Business Scenarios for Digital Transformation

It’s a serious post that distills a lot of what I’ve learned over the past several years driving Digital Transformation.

I learned a lot from my Enterprise Strategy days as well as when I was “head coach” on Satya Nadella’s Innovation team.  I also learned a lot from the past few years on the Microsoft Digital Advisory Services team, where we help business leaders around the world use technology to transform their business and to create and capture value in the Digital Era.

If you are an Agile developer (or want to be one), you may also find this to be a particularly helpful article.

Digital Transformation is one of the biggest changes in the software industry, ever. (see Satya Nadella on The Future is Software)

It’s how a lot of businesses will die.

It’s how a lot of businesses will be born.

And it’s how many businesses will be reborn.

And in my experience, Business Scenarios are ultimately the backbone and the building blocks for Digital Transformation.

If you are experienced in Agile and know User Stories, you will easily relate to Business Scenarios.

You can think of them as much bigger user stories, rooted in the pains, needs, and desired outcomes of the business leaders.

Business Scenarios are also the bridge connecting business and IT.

You can break Business Scenarios down into multiple “user stories” or “usage scenarios.”

In fact, in my mind, I actually picture a graph or constellation of hot spots where the Business Scenarios are the “Hubs” and the User Stories are the “Spokes.”

So if you are trying to break down the big challenge of Digital Transformation, then Business Scenarios will help you do exactly that.

Business Scenarios make Digital Transformation real.

When you know, “what got you here, won’t get you there”, and you change your approach, that’s agility in action.

Agile productivity is about getting better results by learning how to adapt and respond to the changing world around you.

By adopting a growth-mindset, playing to your strengths, and taking a whole-person approach to productivity you change your game.

By creating effective feedback loops, and using your learning to change your approach, you raise your game.

That sounds easy, but the implementation can be challenging.

Fear not, simply follow a few free courses that will put all we know about getting better, faster, easier, more meaningful results on your side …

7 Days of Agile Results (Free Course)

This is 7 days of self-paced mini-lessons where you learn how to implement a simple habit for high-performance – the Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday reflection pattern from Getting Results the Agile Way.

Here’s what you will learn over 7 days:

1. Proven practices to master time management, motivation, and personal productivity
2. Discover the one way to stack the deck in your favor that’s authentic and works
3. How to embrace change and get better results in any situation
4. How to focus and direct your attention with skill
5. How to use your strengths to create a powerful edge for getting results
6. How to change a habit and make it stick
7. How to never miss the things that matter most, and achieve better work-life balance
8. How to spend more time doing the things you love

Start your 7 Days of Agile Results (Free Course).

30 Days of Getting Results (Free Course)

I find that picking a theme for the month, and focusing on daily insights or improvement is a great way to make breakthroughs.

This is 30 days of self-paced productivity lessons that could very well lead to your greatest breakthroughs, ever.

Here’s what you will learn over 30 days:

1. How to double or triple your personal productivity (if not more)
2. How to use your strengths to amplify your impact
3. How to motivate yourself with skill and find your drive
4. How to change a habit and make it stick
5. How to make the most of your your moments, days, weeks, months, and years
6. How to use a simple system to achieve meaningful results
7. How to master the art and science of work-life balance
8. How to focus and direct your attention with skill
9. How to master time management
10. How to spend more time on the things that really matter to you
11. How to write your story forward

Start your 30 Days of Getting Results (Free Course).

With Agile Results you’ll improve your focus, master your motivation, develop a growth mindset, and use your strengths to compound your results.

It’s effectively a whole person approach to productivity to help you realize your full potential while making progress on meaningful results.

I did a major overhaul of Getting Results the Agile Way:

GettingResults.com

I made a lot of changes so I’ll try to summarize them here.

You’ll notice a very simple tag line:

“Better energy, better results.”

You’ll find it easier to get started with Agile Results:

Get Started with Agile Results

You’ll enjoy a much simpler menu experience that organizes the entire site:

Articles | Books | Courses | Topics | Resources

You should find it way easier now to browse resources by key topics.  I created Hub Pages for the following topics:

• Action Hub Page
• Focus Hub Page
• Goals Hub Page
• Motivation Hub Page
• Planning Hub Page
• Prioritization Hub Page

You’ll find it easy to take a quick tour of Agile Results.  Here is my quick tour guide:

Quick Tour of Agile Results

You will find resources galore:

• Cheat Sheets
• Checklists
• How Tos
• Posters
• Solutions at a Glance
• Templates

There is even a manifesto for Agile Results:

Agile Results Manifesto

You will also find free eBooks:

30 Days of Getting Results Free eBook (PDF)

Getting Started with Getting Results the Agile Way Free eBook (PDF)

And there is even free training:

7 Day Agile Results Jumpstart

30 Days of Getting Results

Some of the most effective leaders I know, regularly draw from books for insights, inspirations, and new ideas to change their game.

Business is an interesting game, by the way:

“Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you’re in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.” — Sidney Sheldon

There is no shortage of books to read or new ideas to learn.

Instead, the challenge is finding the best business books that are worth reading – the books that you can use to accelerate and enhance your business effectiveness.

To find the best business books for building business effectiveness, I reached out to the most effective Microsoft leaders I know (past and present0 and asked them a simple question …

““What are the top 3 books that changed your life in terms of business effectiveness?”

Here are the results …

Top 3 Business Books for Improving Business Effectiveness

The top three business books that showed up multiple times were:

1.  Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy is a beautiful strategy guide on how to make your competition irrelevant. 

Rather than swim with the sharks in the red ocean of competition, find the blue ocean and swim with the dolphins.  

Learn how to expand the market to non-consumers by reducing friction points and pivoting around what’s truly valued by customers. 

Learn how to differentiate to avoid commoditization.

2.  Good to Great

Collins and his team researched 1,435 companies to find 11 companies that made huge improvements in their performance over time. 

What did the 11 companies have in common? 

Discipline. 

They demonstrated discipline in people, thought, and action. 

This is the book that made the Hedgehog concept famous. 

The Hedgehog concept is the intersection of three circles:

1. What can you be the best in the world at?
2. What drives your economic engine?
3. What are you deeply passionate about?

3.  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Normally I don’t like storybooks for business skills, but the fable format really works for this one. 

This book is about how to function as a unit by learning the five dysfunctions:

1. Absence of trust
2. Fear of conflict
3. Lack of commitment
4. Avoidance of accountability
5. Inattention to results.

I’ve experienced great shifts in culture by leaders who learned the lessons from this corporate fable and applied them to their teams.

The 36 Best Business Books that Changed Leaders’ Lives

Here is the list of the best business books that changed leader’s lives:

1. All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
2. Authentic Leadership
3. Blue Ocean Strategy
4. Built to Last
5. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
6. Fierce Conversations
7. First, Break All the Rules
8. Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street
9. Freakonomics
10. Good to Great
11. How To Win Friends and Influence People
12. Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance
13. Jack: Straight from the Gut
14. Leadership on the Line
15. Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box
16. Made to Stick:  Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
17. Memoirs of Hadrian
18. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
19. Pasteurs Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation
20. Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too
21. The Soul of a New Machine
22. Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle
23. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
24. The One Minute Manager
25. The Art of Happiness
26. The Art of Innovation
27. The Art of Leadership
28. The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
29. The Art of War
30. The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered
31. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
32. The Innovator’s Dilemma
33. Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
34. Unleashing the Idea Virus
35. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
36. Winning with People

For mini-descriptions of each, please see 36 Best Business Books that Changed Leaders’ Lives.

I’ve updated my round up of the best personal development books:

Personal Development Books

I read a lot of personal development books to explore and expand what I’m capable of and to help me realize my full potential.

Sometimes a book has only one or two actionable insights or ideas.

Other books are like a garden of great ideas – brimming with new methods and models to accelerate personal development.

I’ve arranged my personal development book recommendations into the following categories: 

• Top 10 Personal Development Books
• Getting Started
• Attitude, Character
• Body
• Career Development
• Communication Skills
• Courage, Self-Confidence
• Decision Making, Choice
• Emotional Intelligence
• Focus
• Goals, Achievement
• Habits
• Happiness, Feeling Good
• Intelligence, Thinking Skills
• Intuition
• Leadership
• Learning
• Motivation, Self-Discipline
• People Skills, Interpersonal Skills
• Positive Thinking, Optimism
• Productivity
• Purpose, Passion
• Relationships
• Self-Awareness
• Spiritual Intelligence
• Strengths
• Stress
• Success
• Wealth
• Work-Life Balance

Lastly, I provide a simple A-Z list of all the personal development books I recommend.

This is a deep list of the best personal development books that I’ve used to change my game.

Whenever I need a fresh perspective or new ideas, I go back to the books and experiment.

Productivity Books

I read a lot of productivity books to improve my speed, focus, strategies, energy, flow, and results.

Sometimes a book has only one or two actionable insights or ideas.

Other books are like a garden of great ideas – brimming with new models and ways to enhance productivity.

• Top 10 Productivity Books
• Getting Started
• Advanced
• Action
• Delegation
• Drive, Energy, and Motivation
• Focus
• Goals
• Learning and School
• Procrastination
• Strengths
• Teams and Organizations
• To-Do Lists
• Work-Life Balance

Lastly, I provide a simple A-Z list of all the productivity books I recommend.

It’s a deep list with the best productivity books that I’ve used to change my game.

Whenever I need to troubleshoot my productivity or reinvent my productivity, I go back to the books and experiment.

• Getting Started
• General
• Action
• Energy
• Focus
• Goals
• Habits
• High Performance
• Information Management
• Strengths
• Task Management
• Time Management
• Work-Life Balance