The insights shared in this interactive keynote come from 15 years of Flux Trends following Generation Z, all the way from primary school, into the workforce. This research culminated in the seminal “30/30/30” in-depth youth insights study conducted in parallel with Student Village, comprising 30 interviews, with 30 under 30 South Africans, 30 years on from Democracy. The results of which are a deep understanding of youth mindsets, strengths and weaknesses, values and aspirations, and approaches to the future or work.

At the same time, the world of work is changing dramatically thanks to new social norms (like remote and flexible working) and new technological developments (like AI). Skill half-lives are getting shorter, technological redundancy is a real fear, and team tensions around rights and responsibilities (who gets to work when and where) are growing – as are personal “life meaning crises” about the purpose of work at all.

This means Generation Z (who are already disruptive enough in their own right) are graduating into the workforce at the same time as the knowledge economy is facing an existential crisis of sorts, forcing us to reconsider the notions of “work”, “jobs”, “humanity” and “authority”. The result is a workforce divided, and in turmoil. This keynote is designed to build bridges between generations, between the past and the future, and between humanity and technology.

Join us on a life (and work) changing journey to join together to align your team vision and values towards your shared future.

In this keynote Bronwyn Williams explores three probable, possible, and plausible scenarios for what lies ahead for South African citizens, businesses and politics over the next 20 years .

Each scenario unpacks a different  “sliding door” covering a distinct set of economic, political and social future realities for South Africa, each based on past quantitative and qualitative trends and present reality unpacked using the Flux Trends T.R.E.N.D.S methodology.

• The Status Quo scenario looks at a continuation of dominant present trends into the future, and explores the most likely future ahead and challenges our apathetic acceptance of “normal” reality in an unequal and precarious society.

• The Lord of the Flies scenario looks at the possibility of a catastrophic break in our shared future, and gives pointers and weak signals to watch out for to avoid anarchy and nihilism ahead.

• The Bridgebuilders scenario is a renewal and transformation scenario based on what could happen if we take an active interest in growing and watering small hopeful seeds into shared existence.
  
  If you are interested in political, economic and societal probable and possible futures for South Africa, this keynote, presented by professional futurist and economist, Bronwyn Williams, will take you on a journey from what is, to what if, and invite you to be active citizens rather than passive passengers in our shared future.

Who should book this session?

Everyone who is invested in South Africa and its shared future – as a citizen, a tourist, a part time digital nomad, an entrepreneur, an educator, a leader, a business owner, a parent, or an actual investor.

Book this Trend Briefing to build the South Africa you want.

In this keynote talk, Bronwyn Williams unpacks what has changed (and what has and will not change any time soon) when it comes to the present and future world of work.

If you want to remain relevant – you have to add value to, and be valued by your market. This talk unpacks the future of human capital value exchange and gives you the actionable insights you need to invest in – personally and professionally – to ensure you will find yourself on the right side of the API (Application Programming Interface) curve’s future history.

Key trends and critical topics covered include:

• The shift from incomes to outcomes

• The implications of the “lying down flat” and “minimum effort Monday”movements.

• Play to earn “business models” of the future – and the new work-life balance.

• The importance of spiritual wellness and mental health at work.

• The Matthew Effect and the future of how to win in a “rockstar” career world.

• Global competition and local opportunity.

• The fiscal and physical freedom vs security trade off for employees and employers.

• Embracing the “portfolio career” world of work.

• Working with, not against “the machines” (using AI to your advantage, rather thanyour redundancy).

• Missing ladder rungs and intergenerational bridge-building.

• Rethinking education and lifelong learning with microcredentials and skillspassports.

• The importance of “ownership” – aka skin in the game.

• Key skills and careers of the future with the longest “half lives”.and much more.

By the end of the presentation, you will understand how the future landscape of work has shifted, and is shifting further still, and the biggest opportunities, threats, challenges, and solutions that lie ahead for workers, managers, and employers – and how each of these stakeholders can secure their own future value in the chain.

For over a decade, Flux Trends has been following Generation Z, all the way from primary school, and into the workforce. This research has culminated in our seminal “30/30/30 Project”, an in-depth youth insights study conducted in parallel with Student Village, comprising 30 interviews, with 30 under 30 South Africans, 30 years on from Democracy.

The results of this study are a deep understanding of youth mindsets, strengths and weaknesses, values and aspirations, and approaches to the future or work, which we would like to share with you and your team.

You will leave with a full take away deck of no less than 30 actionable insights to inform your business, future, including:

• The difference between apathy and disillusionment

• How to motivate a nihilist generation

• Working with fluid identities and multifaceted personal brands

• How naked optimism can be a strength and a weakness

• Where education is failing (and why we may have too much, not too little!)

• Career aspirations vs reality (and why that makes management such a challenge)

• The difference between a job, a vocation and a career portfolio

• How deep ties are South Africa’s secret strength

• Why we shouldn’t be so worried about social media

• Stories around saving, spending and social security

This briefing is aimed at:

• Marketing managers

• Ad agencies

• HR professionals

• Managers

• Entrepreneurs

• Policy Makers

• NGOs

• Business Leaders

This generation is changing the world of work as we know it, and you want to know about it.

This trend briefing looks at global socio-economic future threats that mark the journey to our imagined, created and shared future by taking a long-term view of how the current trends will unfold to build the foundation of the rights that will govern the future. 

5 minutes: Just the basics

The right to clean air and water – which are taken for granted – are under threat in an age of geoengineering, “clean air as a subscription service”, and where humans compete with AI data centres for clean water. To move forward, we need to get our foundations and priorities right!

5 years: Crossing the DNA divide. 

We are nearing a one-way crossing point, where for the first time in human history, as generative AI meets generative biology, we can create and recreate our bodies and our descendants’ bodies and minds through intelligent, self-directed design. But what does that mean for the right to remain “human”? And the future of inequality, at a cellular, not just a currency and country level?

And what about the “infinitely idealistic demand for healthcare” as present and future generations clash around rights to life-saving and life-manipulating technologies?

50 years: Beyond human

As we near the end of the century, how shall rights extend beyond humanity as we know it towards the rest of nature (and even, possibly towards semi / sentient AIs) – and the planetary bodies that surround us? As we embark upon lunar capitalisation and colonisation, the rights to our skies and stars need to be considered, now, to preserve the safety and sustainability of present and future generations.

Who should book this trend briefing?

NGOs, Policy Makers, Politicians, Community Leaders, Business Leaders and anyone who wants a clear view of the biggest global socio-economic future threats and the best ideas on how to solve them. 

This short keynote emphasises the importance of sustained, sustainable development for Southern Africa – development that balances human flourishing with environmental objectives and understands that we grow best and furthest when we grow together, in harmony with our neighbours and our world. 

Degrowth is not an option for Africa; but balanced growth is an imperative. The question becomes, how can we get more people what they need for less? Where are the shortcuts to sustainable transformation?

5 minutes

• From apathy to anarchy to activism – Gen Z grows up and gets involved in building their future (from Luh Twizzy to Shadow Boards and teenage politicians)

• Investing in the Alphas – the time is NOW to fix early childhood development and stop another generation from being physically and fiscally stunted. 

• Energy FROM all – from loadshedding and tax revolts to lights on – transformation beyond greening (or from “net zero” Karpowerships towards real economic emPOWERMENT through public and private partnerships (and oil endowments in Namibia))

• Optimism as a moral duty – investing in what we want vs hedging against what we don’t want.

5 years

• Closing the skills gap – fixing structural employment through skills and technology, using AI as an enabler rather than an adversary and avoiding technological redundancy

• The 6 pack secret to success – (high ROI Physical and Political infrastructure investment: 1. high savings, 2. access to healthcare, 3. access to education, 4. independent demography, 5. stable policy, 6. economic openness) 

• Beyond BRICS, towards African Unity – the opportunities of “friendshoring” in a bi-polar, divided world

• Metaversanomics – beyond the hype towards digital personal and national identity 

50 years

• Demographic dividend – keeping human productivity on the asset rather than the liability side of the state leger. 

• Feeding the future: unlocking the food-energy-water nexus, by planting today, as wise ancestors do

• Connecting the continent- meme, medium, map and money – opportunities for literally and figuratively connecting Africa to itself and the world, from rail networks to starlink to power grids and frictionless movement of talent and capital

• Moonshots – taking inspiration from Neom to Nairobi – and looking to the stars.

The annual Flux Trend briefing – The State We’re In – has become the definitive executive summary of where the world is, and where it’s going. 

Using the acronym T.R.E.N.D.S. – representing six trend pillars that will shape how we will live, work and connect in the coming year – Flux identifies new, game-changing trends and tracks the ripple effects from last year.

For the past three years it feels like we’ve been trapped in this state of limbo:

from a global pandemic to extreme weather, to not one, but two wars spreading geopolitical uncertainty. Adding insult to injury, Generative AI has been unleashed reinforcing this hallucinatory state.  

The past three years have required endurance but South Africans have practically written the handbook on resilience. We have grown accustomed to aftershocks.

But acclimatisation is equally dangerous. It’s time to seek new perspectives.

“Resilience” erodes mental wellbeing and “endurance” depletes energy and focus. New mantras are needed: Recharging, not enduring. Rewiring, not enduring. Reinvention, not endurance.

The Great Unravelling creates a window of opportunity to reimagine and rebuild.

Mindful optimism is required. We are witnessing the death of old ideas and the birth of the new. There will be more aftershocks, but also new opportunities.

Here are some key trends that will be covered in this trend briefing:

• T (technology): Generative AI has evolved into Interactive AI – when AI meets robotics. This evolution is ushering in the age of Artificial Generative Intelligence which will continue to blur the line between reality and fabrication.

• R (retail): The nature of retail in the past three years has changed so rapidly  that we are moving from a focus on multinational brands towards more community-centric retail that caters to consumers in their own homes.

• E (economy): The aftershocks of the polycrisis are pushing governments and financial institutions to adopt policies that focus on reducing the risks to a country’s economy from more black swans or a buffer to volatile geopolitics.

• N (natural world): We unpack how businesses and governments are bracing themselves against “green swans” and how climate change continues to affect supply chain logistics as well as policies around food security, town planning and migration. 

• D (diplomacy): “The longest democratic recession” in three decades has pushed nations to lean into an “à la carte diplomacy” – i.e. approval of democracy in principle but cherry picking elements from other political systems. Coupled with the growing global civil displeasure and integration of Generative AI into politics, this year is set to be a political twilight zone like no other. 

• S (socio-cultural): Generative AI continues to change the landscape of society through relational experiences by using chatbots to fill the space of companionship. This brings into focus other issues about grief and AI relationships when a service is discontinued and individuals are left with broken hearts. 

We will unpack these themes and much, much more in this trend briefing.

This trend briefing will help you see that The Great Unravelling creates a window of opportunity to reimagine and rebuild.

As “money” virtualises and trade and transactions move ever closer to the edge, a competitive moat simply is not what it used to be. In this talk we look at how emerging technological, regulatory and economic trends are intersecting with shifting consumer mindsets and changing the way the financial sector works, and the barbarians at the gate ready to run at the crumbling moats of the incumbent system. 

Key trends and insights covered include:

• The 4 M’s of power in the new 4D chess game : Muscle, money, medium and meme and the shifting 4d chess game of the political economy underlying the way the financial system works

• The tipping point from web2 to web3 explained – understating the creation and the commoditisation of of the digital commons

• All data is credit data – and all businesses are financial services businesses (and all governments are businesses)

• CBDCs – the centralisation of defi – are you ready to compete with your government?

• Soul-bound tokens, self-sovereign identity and open banking – how the financialisation and trade of identity is creating new markets 

• Deep stack denial of service risk and reward – the new “the strong take what they can, and the weak suffer what they must”

• Parallel universes – where and why businesses and DAO’s are building new systems instead of reforming old ones

• Generation Z – from hatejacking to consumer activism and finfluencers, how youth culture is changing the very game of capitalism

• From BNPL to last mile delivery  and the expectation of the democratisation of instant gratification for everyone

• From super apps and social commerce to play-and-earn gaming guilds – how everything from chat banking to influencer infomercials and WhatsApp payments is changing the way we trade

• The marginal fray at the edge – how and why “banking” (like digitisation) is becoming invisible, embedded and ubiquitous

• Leaping and lagging – where South Africa has a global advantage in fintech and finance – and where and why we are getting left behind

How does one go bankrupt? First slowly, then suddenly.

This talk will help financial sector players (recall, in the future, all businesses are financial services businesses) stay ahead of the ever-creeping API and the DeFi curves.