“The years ahead will see consumers value trust, whether it be in a brand, person or entity above price, promise or experience. Those who can gain and keep trust, through transparency and values-based offerings, will thrive.”

In 2017, I had the chance to meet a speaker and author I have admired since I was a teenager. Having read many of Dr John Maxwell’s 67 bestselling books, I was excited to see what the legendary man was like in person. Speaking to him backstage at a conference, I was struck by something he said and has said many times in his various books.

“Credibility is a leader’s currency,” he suggested, “With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.” 

“Our trust in technology has rested in a confidence that the technology will do what it’s supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less.”

 “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.”  - Henry Ford

It has been a growing popular conversation over the last decade. Driverless cars – one of the sure symbols that the future has arrived.

“Only those committed to the risk and promise of uncharted waters will thrive.”[1]

In an age characterised by disruption and change, competition which breaks the standing paradigms and conventions of the past is not only rampant but important. Unconventional competition is the biggest threat to established businesses and industries whose practices and market seem set and secure.

For many of us, the very mention of Artificial Intelligence conjures up futuristic notions of SkyNet and cunning malevolent robots rising to destroy humankind in the Terminator film series.