According to Weiner and Brown, their book “defines the ABCs of clearly seeing patterns, weighing choices, understanding trends, getting the future right, making good and innovative decisions about the future, and, indeed, influencing what that future will be.” They provide some truly unique and thought-provoking perspectives on how to “think [more] clearly in a time of change.” More specifically, how to respond to a number of critically important questions: How can (and do) “personal traps” such as individual biases prevent us from recognizing and then understanding change? How can (and do) “organizational traps” also do so? How can we avoid (or extricate ourselves from) these “traps” in order to see what Weiner and Brown characterize as “The Big Picture”? How can we use metaphors to help us to “see” more...and to see it more clearly? In Chapter 2, the authors suggest: “The important thing to remember is that both trend and countertrend present opportunities for profit. At the fork in the road, businesspeople should not merely ask which is the best road to take. We should also ask how our assets and constituencies can be used to our advantage on either or both roads.” Why? “Not realizing that every trend creates a countertrend will leave you confused and surprised by unfolding events and changes ahead. Understanding the existence of countertrends will free your mind and allow it to process change much more accurately.” Then in Chapter 7, Weiner and Brown examine the mental trap of entropy that can be especially difficult because it requires thought and action that most people prefer to avoid. What to do? “Give up many ‘sacred cows’ and start over...Pick your fights more wisely...Lose the fear of experimenting, particularly with less significant things...Be more aware, active, and informed politically...Give up relying solely on the best practices of others in running your business...[and finally] Stop trying to fit every opportunity or challenge into an old framework.” In Leading Change, Jim O'Toole examines various barriers to change, suggesting that the worst of them is what he calls “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” Presumably, Weiner and Brown agree. In FutureThink, they suggest in fact, there are no effective barriers to the process of natural selection and that the velocity of this process continues to accelerate rapidly and irrevocably. What decision makers do now to avoid or extricate themselves from the personal and organization “traps” they have identified may not be wholly sufficient in years, perhaps even in months ahead. At least understanding the “16 proven mental paths to insight and foresight” which are recommended in this volume will help them to respond to change in the future, whatever its nature and extent may prove to be.
According to Weiner and Brown, their book “defines the ABCs of clearly seeing patterns, weighing choices, understanding trends, getting the future right, making good and innovative decisions about the future, and, indeed, influencing what that future will be.” They provide some truly unique and thought-provoking perspectives on how to “think [more] clearly in a time of change.” More specifically, how to respond to a number of critically important questions:
In Chapter 2, the authors suggest: “The important thing to remember is that both trend and countertrend present opportunities for profit. At the fork in the road, businesspeople should not merely ask which is the best road to take. We should also ask how our assets and constituencies can be used to our advantage on either or both roads.” Why? “Not realizing that every trend creates a countertrend will leave you confused and surprised by unfolding events and changes ahead. Understanding the existence of countertrends will free your mind and allow it to process change much more accurately.” Then in Chapter 7, Weiner and Brown examine the mental trap of entropy that can be especially difficult because it requires thought and action that most people prefer to avoid. What to do? “Give up many ‘sacred cows’ and start over...Pick your fights more wisely...Lose the fear of experimenting, particularly with less significant things...Be more aware, active, and informed politically...Give up relying solely on the best practices of others in running your business...[and finally] Stop trying to fit every opportunity or challenge into an old framework.”
In Leading Change, Jim O'Toole examines various barriers to change, suggesting that the worst of them is what he calls “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” Presumably, Weiner and Brown agree. In FutureThink, they suggest in fact, there are no effective barriers to the process of natural selection and that the velocity of this process continues to accelerate rapidly and irrevocably. What decision makers do now to avoid or extricate themselves from the personal and organization “traps” they have identified may not be wholly sufficient in years, perhaps even in months ahead. At least understanding the “16 proven mental paths to insight and foresight” which are recommended in this volume will help them to respond to change in the future, whatever its nature and extent may prove to be.
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