INTERVIEW
To uncover the secrets that drive long-term trends, we should stop reading newspapers and go to the library instead
An idea that’s been around for 700 years is likely to be around for 700 more. You can use the very old to evaluate the long-term future
products. It seems like there’s no upper limit. But I think we have to take into account that there will be a readjustment of the economy yet again in the coming few years – possibly even more severe than 2008 – and this will give a lot of problems to premium providers. “We’re also running out of emerging
market runway. For the past 10 years, many big brands could afford to be quite lazy, because there was always some city in China with some money laying around where you could open an outlet. We’re now running out of that runway. “But if we look specifically at the
fitness sector, if we put together the technological opportunities and the macro economic landscape, the coming 10 years can be quite transformational if we want them to be. “However, we mustn’t forget that
people are analogue creatures. We enjoy drinking fermented grape juice, just like the Romans did. We enjoy killing animals and barbecuing them like the Vikings did.
A lot of what we do doesn’t change, so we must be careful not to see the gym of the future as some kind of white, space- age facility with droids and wearable tech. A lot of fitness will still be about sweating and feeling pain. It’s very unlikely we’ll get away from that. When I speak to pharma companies today, I always like to ask them: ‘Will we be able to work out by taking a pill?’ And they tell me no, because fitness doesn’t have one molecule or one chemical, so it can’t be about one pill, one cure. “In fact I believe, when the world
changes, you can always retreat to the ancient, and this is something I took from Nassim Taleb’s book Antifragile. An idea that’s been around for 700 years is likely to be around for 700 more years. An idea that’s been around for 20 years is unlikely to be around in another 700 years. You can use the very old to evaluate the long-term future.” So if Lindkvist had to offer the fitness sector one piece of advice, what would
48 Read Health Club Management online at
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it be? “Think Finland! That’s my advice. Radically the most crazy, creative country in the world. They have ‘carry your wife’ world championships. They have air guitar world championships. They have Angry Birds, they have Supercell – Clash of Clans. It’s the way they come up with ideas and the kind of ideas they come up with – that crazy creativity anyone can benefit from. Think Finland, immerse yourself in Finland. Go to Finland. That’s my advice.” ●
WANT TO HEAR MORE?
Magnus Lindkvist will be speaking at the IHRSA International Convention & Trade Show, which takes place in Los Angeles next month – his keynote is on Thursday 12 March. For more information, visit
www.ihrsa.org/convention
February 2015 © Cybertrek 2015
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