If you are an insurance company or a personal injury lawyer, listen up. Your world is about to change. Your best bet over the next 10 years is to learn from the typewriter because your industries are about to fall even harder unless you make an intentional shift. Yesterday!

What are the ramifications of the next decade you ask? No more small lizard-like creatures telling us how to transform our financial status in fifteen minutes or less. No more phone numbers of all sevens or nines on billboards across America. No more free maps at AAA, and ouch… No more Flo. How shall we live without Flo?

Why?

Because the key to future success is forecasting market shifts well in advance and the automobile industry is about to radically change. Autonomous cars will change everything and the closer an industry is to the auto industry the more urgent the need for introspection. Automakers that fail to have an autonomous vehicle will disappear overnight or be relegated solely to niche markets. And while there is no excuse for an automaker caught unaware, there will be several other industries that will be saying; “I didn’t see that coming!?” Chief among them will be the three I mentioned; insurance, driver support, and legal.

That’s the great thing about entrepreneurship, it makes life better. With the imminent perfection of autonomous vehicles, personal auto insurance will fade away. Accidents will be so uniquely rare that insurances will be bundled with the vehicle akin to today’s extended service plan, that is if they exist at all. Law firms that guarantee customers huge payouts for vehicle injury will slowly fade away and in a third degree of economic impact affect the billboard advertising market outside of Las Vegas Nevada and every other big city littered signs of intense looking lawyers with easy to remember phone numbers. The world is going to change.

What’s the point? Your sector is going to change also. Will you be reactionary or proactive? When was the last time you gathered the team and asked these important questions?

What don’t we know that we need to know?

What trends are in our industry right now that could develop into trouble for us?

What trends in a related industry could adversely affect ours?

What does our organization look like in 5, 10, 20 years? Does it exist at all?

Who are the industry leaders and what are their strategies?

What steps must we immediately take to mitigate the damage?

You need to think about the transformation of the service or product that you provide. Once you forecast what developments and dangers the future has in store, go back and think some more. In our example of the automotive industry we can easily see how the changes mean a radical new reality for related industries. But, what if we take it deeper? What happens after cars are completely autonomous? I think I know. I believe we will probably, eventually, see the end to personal vehicle ownership. You will be able to take any car, to any place, at any time and conduct life along the way. Now, think about the industries will that affect.