Stephen Johnston's blog
Sometimes the point of brainstorming should be to focus on surfacing interesting questions, not on finding answers. This piece in HBR lays out the thinking and it makes a lot of sense. First some context. I spend a lot of time brainstorming and 99% of the time I enjoy it. I still have cold flushes […]
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today a new COVID-19 coordination commission, populated by senior business and political leaders, and this note suggests a way that might be helpful in structuring their work agenda. I’m glad to see this being delivered as a public-private, cross-party (?) initiative, rather than keeping this as a political cabal. […]
I’ve spent this week in Tokyo, guest of Nomura Research Institute, who were sponsoring the Japanese government’s ‘Well Aging Society Summit’ (WASS). Our flight arrived Sunday, just after the typhoon, and we were lucky to only have a 3hr flight delay – other colleagues were delayed for 20+ hours, or had flights cancelled entirely. I […]
I gave a presentation to the Care Quality Commission on Monday about some ‘disruptive’ ideas on the future of ageing. Obviously lots going on, so the hard thing is to come up with 3 topics rather than 33. Anyway, in the end I outlined three big shifts relating to individuals (becoming active stakeholders), technology (emerging […]
As cities take on disruptive challenges, in particular harnessing technological disruptions and managing aging populations (see earlier post about updating ‘age-friendly’ here), this note suggests a five-stage framework to guide cities along their innovation journey. It’s designed to be more descriptive than prescriptive – each city will implement in its own way and in line with […]
Keeping older people connected, independent and fulfilled in their communities of choice – thriving, not just surviving – is the goal of many innovators, public policy makers, and older people themselves. However, this is a complex challenge and delivering this can be challenging for two main reasons. First, everyone is different. Whether they’re 25 or […]
The world is being rocked by four uniquely powerful disruptive forces: aging, urbanization, technology and globalization. The WHO’s age-friendly cities and communities (AFCC) initiative – updated to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by pervasive, ubiquitous, exponential technology – could be a powerful platform to help cities adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world. The […]
Introduction Cities have become increasingly important in shaping the economic and cultural life of our societies. As the number of older people living in cities continues to rise, so does the role cities play in their quality of life. Today’s cities, generally not designed with older people’s needs in mind, pose a number of unique […]