September 14, 2023, 11am-12:00pm
CITI-IMMAA Seminar: Jeffrey Cole, Director of Business Strategy, USC Annenberg
Disruptors at the Gate: How Technology Changes Everything
Using twenty-five years of research from the Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg, Jeffrey Cole will look at why disruption causes fear and paralysis in governments and organizations, seldom (almost never) leading to good decisions. Disruption always comes from an unexpected place: the disruption of retail should have come from Wal-Mart, not an upstart book seller in Seattle; the disruption of the automobile business should have come from GM or Toyota, not a South African immigrant with no background in automotive. Not recognizing what is happening leads to bad decisions and doubling down on old ways.
Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communications technology issues in the United States and internationally for the past three decades. An expert in the field of technology and emerging media, Cole serves regularly as an adviser to governments and leading companies around the world as they craft digital strategies.
Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of computer and Internet technology, a study conducted in over 35 countries. At the announcement of the project in June 1999, Vice President Al Gore praised Cole as a “true visionary providing the public with information on how to understand the impact of media.”