KC STORIES

KCADC is thrilled to bring Joshua Cooper Ramo to Kansas City as our 2009 KCADC Annual Meeting keynote presenter. Ramo’s book, “The Age of the Unthinkable,” highlights a number of concepts for all of us to consider as we move into an uncertain future. As we look toward Ramo’s visit to KC, we will bring some of these concepts a little closer to home.

KC has its own revolutionary dreamers and innovative thinkers who represent many of Ramo’s ideas already in practice. We will tell a few of their stories and how they reflect the following major themes in Ramo’s book:

• The unthinkable is inevitable – Ramo reminds us there is limitless opportunity for those that can adapt quickly to everything from exponential growth in technology to changes in foreign policy.

• Accept complexity and newness as our best allies – Ramo describes our new world as becoming increasingly complex. He urges us to be open to change and accept it as a competitive advantage.

• Think like a revolutionary – Ramo defines a revolutionary as someone that accepts and adapts to our rapidly changing and increasingly complex world by approaching it in new and imaginative ways.

• Be an early adoptee of newness and change – Ramo believes that change is happening at an exponential rate and urges us to adapt early and quickly in order to remain competitive.