Welcome to this 36th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. We discuss those trends and signals every Saturday at 9am EST on Clubhouse in the summer..

You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter here to get it directly by mail.

This is what I noticed this week, thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter to those who look into the future.

Competitive Intelligence

This week, we focus on tools and methodologies competitive intelligence professionals are using:

Google gives clearer picture of supply chain visibility using digital twin tech. Detecting Trucks in East Africa. Web scrapping and macros. Boutique Search Engines. A private search engine. Quantify your news bubble. Six Types Of Research That Can Unlock Consumer Insights.

Strategic blindspots

Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new opportunities and avoid missing emerging risks

The emerging business of authenticating sneakers. The deficit of psycho-therapists. Playful pivots and youth goggles. Pet food and carbon emissions. Retailers who ask customers to keep items rather than return them. Capital One drops overdraft fees. Retailers are selling ads. The Awesome Importance of Imagination and this quote:

Imagination helps you perceive reality, try on other realities, predict possible futures, experience other viewpoints.

We have scheduled the dates for our “Strategic Blindspots” course which will take place in Montreal, Canada, on January 18th and 19th, 2022. There are three seats left.

Our future

The store of the future is a communal space. The rise of e-sports will create a new type of hospitality venue. Disney to Spend $33 Billion on Content. The Design Legacy of Covid. Living robots made in a lab have found a new way to self-replicate. Six trends of non-fiction books. Seafood technology future. 15-minute delivery. Curated groceries. Years of Delays, Billions in Overruns.

Weak signals

Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?

Join randomly streamers who do not have any viewers. Learning from comics characters. Dating blind boxes. Identification of taste attributes from an audio signal, by Spotify. Canada taps into maple syrup reserves. The Park Bench Is an Endangered Species. Plastic wrapped pillows. The emojis of the year as an indicator of the global mood. The comfort creator. Old trucks, new money. Dumb phones.

The Zettelkasten Method, to record and process signals.

Join us to discuss those trends and signals every Saturday at 9am EST on Clubhouse. We have a panel of futurists that illustrate what those signals might mean, and an enlightened group of curious minds in the room.

Down the rabbit hole

This is a new section. It highlights a subject that lead me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors.

This week, I plunged into Everything about physics.

On our radar

I will keynote a conference in Charlevoix on January 20-21 on future consumer behaviors: 22 trends for 2022. Synaesthetics or how smells make shoppers spend more. Signals of business change. The consumer trends to know for 2022. Global consumer trends. Immediate Happiness And Comfort. Nobody is going to pay for smart. Where blockchain is going. How the Rise in Cyberattacks Is Changing Consumer Behavior. Hootsuite Reveals 2022’s Major Social Media Trends.

I am also keynoting next Wednesday, December 8th, the CPA Canada’s annual conference on the future of audit committees in the new digital risk environment and participate in a panel on December 7th for the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) in Washington DC on risks and governance. Will share insights next Friday not to loose the surprise effect…

Hodgepodge discovery

Articles and videos for the curious mind …

Introducing the idea of ‘hyperobjects’. Historic borders. Commute. What motivates life-long learners. Get back: how to create a single ( and creating creative workflows). Pushed around by stars. Effects of Design Aesthetics on the Perceived Value of a Product. The basics of learning curves.

Feeling Good

Every noise. All UN Heritage sites. Pillow fights. The food timeline. Wave any flag. Play the Game: Can You Get a City to Zero Emissions? Literature clock.