Strategy

Spatial Shift is a Thing, Slowly then Suddenly.

When I first created the brand called Spatial Shift in 2007, the words “spatial” and “shift” did not really go together. In fact, for the next 11 years my Google Alert rarely, if ever delivered an exact match to that word combination other than mentions for my company. It was a lonely place to live out on the edge, continuing to believe that one day this edge will start to become the home of early adopters.

Slowly, I have begun to see new alerts becoming actual matches. Today an alert arrived in my in-box for a speech by Dr. Pritam Singh from Oxford school of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford delivered in Islamabad, Pakistan. His speech entitled "Sustainability implications of the spatial shift in global capitalism: An eco-socialist perspective", was delivered to an audience dealing with the shifting dynamics of climate change and the social economic impacts across geo-political boundaries.

I have also observed several other “Spatial Shifts” starting to appear as we begin to see the true impact of exponential technologies. Peter Diamandis, a co-founder of Singularity University and founder of Xprize has been writing about the emergence of the Spatial Web and how that is going to drive the next era of work, humanity and creativity.

In 2017, CBInsights CEO Anand Sanwal gave a keynote presentation on the notion of Gradually then Suddenly to a room full of executives. This has now evolved into one of their product offerings as a way to look at shifting curves impacting industries, businesses and competitive evolution. It appears that Spatial + Shift is now becoming a candidate for the “gradual then suddenly” mental model.

Spatial Storytelling has emerged over the last decade as game narrative and exponential technologies have come to the forefront of the digital native generation. McAfee and other cyber security companies are now looking at gamers as a natural line of defense in managing cyber security breaches by building solutions using AR/VR constructs mapped to data leaks, as a way to navigate and protect cities and companies under siege from the dark side.

The original idea for Spatial Shift was born as a result of being a parent with a special needs child who was IDD (intellectual developmentally delayed). I was fascinated with how his brain worked. How we would create an environment where he could learn and become the best possible version of himself in a new normal world. That led to many books on neurosciences, cognitive and emotional sciences, behavior sciences, social sciences and narratives associated with his world.

Thirty years later, I find myself a Modern Elder. An individual driven by curiosity and thirst to learn more now, then ever before. Yet, it is also a period of great unlearning. Rewiring, as Chip Conley so eloquently states in his latest book Wisdom at Work. This has led me to connect dots between my youthful ambitions and dreams, my realities of life as a husband, father and provider, with the desire to see Spatial + Shift become a slowly, then suddenly phenomenon that leaves the world a better place then I found it.