Te one deliverable I have been able to make profitable is keynote speaking. I came out of management consulting, which is a very process driven, as opposed to the world of futurology, which is ideas driven. I prefer the purity of ideas as opposed to helping VPs process and accept certain ideas. I started doing this as a hobby in 2003, writing books, giving talks. It’s similar to the music industry. I was a failed wannabe rock star, where you’re in the doldrums forever until you have a hit. While I never got to that point as a musician, I knew that if I soldiered on in my speaking engagements, something good could happen. It took me about five-six years before I made a living. Both futurology and keynote speaking are quite silly job titles, and so I have always worn them with self-deprecation.
During the pandemic I tried to retrain as a policeman. I spent time at the police academy in Sweden, where I realised that my only real love is future thinking. Every industry is unique and though this is going to sound insincere, I’ll say it anyway, the casino industry is one of the most unique industries I have met. It is a blend of optimism and pessimism. Tey have unique legal challenges, but they are doing well in spite of them. My perception coming into the ECA Forum is that I’m a very light slots player – I’m not a gambler - though I am a huge computer gamer. I play slots for the annual sum of €100 . I have been to Las Vegas several times and seen European casinos from the outside. I knew this was going to be a European twist on that, and I still have that perception.
In German, the word for debt and guilt is the same. Te European way is often about guilt, whereby you must not give way to your inner most urges. If you compare European desserts to American, ours tend to be lower on the sugar, more refined and smaller. Whereas in America if you want it sprinkled with cannabis and marshmallows – why not? I think even though Europe and Las Vegas each offer gambling, it’s a bad comparison to make. I’d be more interested in using European examples.
For a long time Apple was the darling brand if you think about innovation, but it’s actually not the most relevant brand in terms of innovation. Te same is the case with Las Vegas, as America and Europe are very different. Americans are world champions in conceptual thinking – “let’s put a man on the moon.” Europeans are world champions in process refinement. Doing the same things over and over and making it a little better each time. If you look at Europe, the most famous, well known brands, be they Italian fashion or German engineering, French luxury goods, they have been doing the same things for generations and refining that process all the while.
I would love to see that model applied to the strange blend of hospitality, gambling and socialisation that is casinos. It is a strange creature. In France you see countryside out-of- town locations, compared to Sweden, which is confined by the state monopoly, but in prime real-estate locations. Each is confined by location and regulation, but the ‘MacGuffin,’ if I can use that crime fiction word, is that everyone keeps talking about online gambling and I don’t see it as the same market. Online
Magnus Lindkvist Futurologist
Magnus Lindkvist is a trendspotting futurologist and author who weaves together important current trends to forecast what life, society and business might look like in the future.
It is the fantastic timing, storytelling and politically incorrect humour that keep the audience – a global audience – laughing and talking well after his talk ends. He has given in excess of a thousand keynote speeches over the past decade to everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs and civil servants in the Middle East to anyone looking to be inspired and enlightened by trendspotting and future-thinking.
As a writer, Magnus Lindkvist is driven by a relentless curiosity about our mental space where the outside world collides with the human brain. His book Minifesto (2016) tells us why small ideas matter in the world of grand narratives. By sharing a vision of the future we can strive to surround ourselves with as many strange, conflicting ideas that we can in order to immerse ourselves in future possibilities and possible futures. His next book, The Reset Book, will be published in 2022.
With a Master of Science in Business and Economics from Stockholm School of Economics and a degree in film production from UCLA, Lindkvist weaves together the worlds of quantitative insights with the imaginative storytelling of Hollywood. His talks are often described as ‘shows’ or ‘performances’; he calls it ‘intellectual acupuncture’ with the expressed intention of changing our minds with needles of insight, examples and observations.
He has won several awards for his ‘performances’ on stage and for his books, but perhaps the best acclaim ever given was from an HR director in the UK who said ‘Magnus Lindkvist is the best Swedish export since ABBA and meatballs.’
gambling is a frictionless market. You can do it at home naked in bed, or at the bus shelter - clothed or not. On the other hand, why do you want to travel to an ECA member’s casino? Tere must be a reason to get dressed, get into my car and go to this building tonight – not tomorrow. If the answer to this question is only gambling then you have failed; you have already been beaten by someone offering a frictionless alternative. We have seen this change before. Record stores thought that they were only about selling packaged music. Te ones that survive are now special community shops selling vinyl, in-store concerts by indie
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