Business leaders must spend more time thinking about the future. To help make this a habit, I have developed the “Future 15”–a policy of taking 15 minutes once a week to think about the future. To make the habit simple, I encourage business leaders to follow the 6 “F’s”: Every Friday at Four Forty-Five (4:45 pm) set aside Fifteen minutes to Focus on the Future. To make the habit even more simple, posted below are Fifteen articles. Select one article and think about what it means for you, your business, your business model, or your customers.
Think: The Wired Guide to 5G. Fifth Generation (5G) wireless technology is coming. The time to begin thinking about what it means for your business is now.
Think Twice: Always think twice! Why? The answer is embedded within: Think Twice—you are on Thin Ice! Do You Value Attention Properly? Do you treat all of your customers the same? If you do, you’re wasting their attention–and time. You may also be on “thin ice.”
Think Historically: 31 Hilarious Ads That Tried to Predict the Future. As Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
Think Smarter: The AI boom is happening all over the world, and it’s accelerating quickly. The gap between science fiction and science fact is shrinking. You need to think about how AI is changing your business.
Think Harder: Get Ready for Edge Computing Rise in 2019. “Edge computing” processes and stores data locally and transmits only selected summaries to the cloud. This sounds esoteric but as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technology proliferate, companies are going to be able to transform customer experience in innovative ways. As a business leader, you must think harder about edge computing.
Think Like a Child: Orville Wright Did Not Have a Pilot’s License. Think about it.
Think in Questions: The Unintended Consequences of Gene-Editing Research. Gene-editing technology has great potential but, as this article explains, there is still much that scientists don’t know about the technology. A good question to ask is: What don’t I know?
Think 10X: The 10X Lesson. Achieving 10X growth is not about more effort, it’s about more insight.
Think Bigger: Amy Webb’s Annual “Future Institute Today” Letter. This wonderful overview will not only help you think bigger, it’ll broaden your thinking.
Think Faster: Nine Charts That Show How Fast AI is Growing. Please start thinking about how AI can change, disrupt, or improve your business.
Think Radically: 3 Radical Ways to Make an Idea Succeed. I am a firm believer in learning from anyone. Here is some sound advice from the founder of MakeLoveNotPorn.
Think Anew: Four Farsighted Futurists. Looking for some people who can help you think anew? Here are four who have helped me.
Think Sustainably: Cap-and-Trade is Coming for Cars in the Northeast. If you’re in the transportation business, the time to begin thinking about cap-and-trade is now.
Think the Unthinkable: The U.S. Military’s Crisis of Imagination. Although this article focuses on military policy, the “imagination problem” also confronts business leaders. It is imperative you take time to consider “unthinkable” events for one simple reason: Your competition is!
Want to think again? Revisit last week’s “Future 15”.
Until next week, remember: Don’t stop thinking about the future!
