Prepare for Your (Unknown) Future

A Dozen Comments and Questions

All of us are reeling from the impact of Covid-19 on our industry, business, and lives. This pandemic is an event that none of us were prepared for (although it was predicted) and hope to never face again.

However, Covid-19 is only the latest (although nastiest) surprise we have faced and certainly not the last we will face. The future keeps sneaking-up on us and we often find ourselves unprepared.

Think not? Consider the following examples of “unpreparedness.”

• Was the U.S. auto industry prepared for the Japanese auto companies and their emphasis on quality?
• Was Motorola prepared for Nokia and was Nokia prepared for Apple?
• Were the department stores prepared for Amazon?
• Were newspapers prepared for social media?

We, collectively, need to be better prepared for our sometimes-unknown, but often-ignored, futures.

I’ll examine the four parts of the cycle shown above in the coming week. By the way, the “D.E.W Line” is an artifact of the cold war. Stay tuned, I’ll explain.

We will launch a pilot course in January focused on helping managers and professionals be better prepared for their future. Like our recently competed pilot, The Pragmatic Strategist, this course will be a hybrid of reading, videos, group discussions (via Zoom) and workbook exercises.