Rebecca Costa discusses her journey out of college leading to establishing her marketing firm and later, becoming a futurist. She generously shares her experiences and advice on creating innovative cultures while touching on some challenges emerging around COVID-19.
“What you find in fast adaptation in critical situations, two things occur: Complexity goes up and the amount of real data you have that’s relevant to making a decision goes down… when COVID hit, complexity went way up. Think about it: the velocity of change, the urgency of decision making, new demands, new stakeholders. I mean all of this goes up suddenly overnight and historical data wasn’t that relevant.”
Rebecca draws lessons from the diversity we find in nature and how organizations need to think to not only survive, but to innovate and excel.
Rebecca D. Costa is an American sociobiologist and futurist. She is the preeminent global expert on the subject of “fast adaptation” and recipient of the Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her career spans four decades of working with founders, key executives, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Author of The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse & On the Verge. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, SF Chronicle. www.rebeccacosta.com
