We have all heard the phrase “Life Imitates Art”. It points to the fact that artists are often in that space between imagination and the current society in which they live.  While most members of society are busy doing, working, acquiring and toeing the line of social norms, artists are often detached from such behavior. In this space of detachment they take a look around and ahead and, through their creative process, come up with art works that challenge society to look at things differently.

This challenge often provokes a negative response, as society often does not want to face itself, particularly if the image is less than flattering.  At other times, the artist’s vision is embraced because it is a thematic call to action that resonates with a leading part of society.  When this occurs, the artist is providing a valuable gift, as it can both show us a view of the future and deliver a powerful emotional message that shifts the consciousness of the person experiencing the art.  This thinking was prompted by two separate experiences this past week.

There is a new, massive public art exhibit currently on display along Chicago’s lake front.  The name of the exhibit is “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet”.  It is comprised of 124 globes, all five feet in diameter, that each present a way to fight global warming.  In addition to these globes, there will be 200 mini-globes placed around the city during the summer, all with this same theme …

We live in a time of great shift and transformation.  I have written here about disintermediation and other trends that are reshaping the economic and cultural landscapes.  It is increasingly important to consider these forces when making major life decisions, especially as it pertains to work, business and the economy.

As a member of the baby boom generation, I have seen many people my age change careers at least once during middle age.  We are all living longer, move more often and of course are all living in a much faster paced world than the one our parents lived in.  This leads to a lot of us choosing to do more than one thing in our work lives.   These career changes are usually fed by a passion, by disillusionment or some unforeseeable event that changes our lives.  My fiancé left a successful business career as a comptroller to serve humanity as a compassionate therapist, going back to school in mid-life and committing years to this effort.  A good friend of mine was a successful media executive and decided to reinvent the world of wine retailing.  Another good friend who has successfully built and run media companies  decided that he could be happier, and more financially successful working solo from home, taking time to smell the roses.  In all of these cases they followed their passion, listened to their heart and applied developed talents or learned new skills or complete new areas of knowledge and expertise.

The key driver in a mid-life …

Book Expo America is the large annual convention of the book publishing industry.  For the past few days, thousands of people descended on the Javits Center in New York for the annual ritualistic gathering of the tribes of this 500 year old business.  As regular readers know, this year I have attended the Consumer Electronic Show, the NATPE television convention and the Chicago Auto Show.  Once again I found myself navigating an annual convention of a business that targets the consumer [BEA is primarily for the ‘trade’ or consumer part of the book publishing industry].  I look to see what the industry trends are, and how the business is reflecting and adapting to the radical changes going on in society today. Finally, as a futurist, I look at the business through my own filter of what I see the future to be to gauge whether the business is doing what might be necessary to expand and thrive in this new age we live in. 

The book business is a mature business, which would be expected since Gutenberg initiated it more than 550 years ago.  It is certainly not a growth business.  I attended a Trends 2007 presentation which provided a detailed snapshot of the industry today.  Year to year revenue growth, current and projected out to 2011, is in the 2-3.5% range, but year to year unit sales over all is less than 0.5%.  In other words, any growth is due to increased prices.  Factoring in population growth, …

Last week it was reported that the ratings board of the motion picture industry is now going to factor in cigarette smoking as part of the overall rating of a film.  Films with excessive smoking will now certainly get a PG-13, if not an R rating.  The goal is to cut down on the influence on teen smoking behavior.  There is clear correlation between the glamorization of cigarette smoking on screen and people smoking.

While this development is certainly to be applauded from a public health point of view, it does seem to be off the mark if the goal is to lessen unhealthy behavior in young Americans. Excessive drinking, use of guns, corporate theft and deceit, physical and sexual violence are also bad for this country’s health and they are also widely depicted on the big screen.  It is absurd to think that a scene depicting gun violence or a robbery might get a less restrictive rating if the actors are not smoking. There is no need for me to dwell on this aspect of the topic, as Marshall Herskovitz, the accomplished Hollywood producer, has written a great piece on this development.

This news story did get me to thinking about cigarette smoking, but from a more historical point of view. It could be argued that, in the United States, cigarette smoking is a habit largely contained in a single century.  At the beginning of the 20th century, cigarette smoking was not widespread.  In the middle of the century it …