Clint Eastwood, who is now 93. explained to singer Toby Keith his attitude towards aging - “I just get up every morning and go out. And I don’t let the old man in.”
Toby turned the words into a hit song for Clint’s movie The Mule
“Ask yourself how old would you be If you didn't know the day you were born”
I am a spring chicken compared to Clint but I thought long and hard about those words when I signed up for another 5 years at Deal Architect.
But honestly, I am even more impressed with Clint's wide body of work. He could have typecast himself as Monco in spaghetti Westerns or Dirty Harry but he also played Jonathan Hemlock, Red Stovall, Robert Kincaid and countless other roles. Importantly he has produced, directed, written songs, is a pilot, plays lots of golf and has played several civic roles.
I live in fear of becoming predictable. Like him I try to keep the old man out. Even more I try to keep the boring man out.
Every year, I look at new research areas and push vendors and customers to keep expanding their horizons. Other analysts focus on categories like ERP and CRM, we look at much broader, macro trends and their impact on technology markets.
As I discussed with Brian Sommer here and here we are researching 6 major areas - AI, verticals, reglobalization, accelerating customer base migration, broader automation to create much more productive ‘super workers’ and energy trends
We have long had a guiding principle. Make sure our personal voice is only a small fraction of our delivered materials. Do lots of primary research and quote lots of other smart people. And be unafraid to share what you find even if it is not the popular opinion
Our deliverables come in the form of books, blogs, videos, podcasts, slides, Instagram galleries and in person consultations. Lots of our stuff is delivered only to clients and not shared widely. But plenty is - see hundreds of our 2023 entries on Burning Platform, Analyst Cam , Instagram galleries and our YouTube channel
Next year we hope to introduce even more delivery formats. You will hear of them in the next quarter.
I like to say it is the most exciting time ever to be alive. Let’s experience more of it and focus on all the positives around us. And definitely keep the boring, cynical man out.
Happy holidays and here’s to a very productive and un-boring 2024!
