Advertising pioneer John Wanamaker once quipped, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
As a futurist, I’d like to put my own spin on this quotation and modify it by saying, “Half of the predictions I hear about the future are wrong; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
This might seem an odd statement coming from a futurist but, as I have said before and will say again, no one can predict the future.
Rather, I like the modification because it reinforces the more important idea that we must all maintain a healthy dose of humility with regard to the future.
Since no one can predict the future, we must strive to remain flexible enough to adapt to whichever “half” of the predictions about the future do come true.
One good way to remain humble and flexible is to embrace ambiguity.
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