The Google Machine is in charge (Darn!)

So, I have been spending months thinking about and designing a new hybrid course and I really like my cool title – Intercept the Future: Don’t be Taken by Surprise. However, my friend, Robert Clark (founder of Elevate.ac), decided to see what the Google machine has to say about my wonderful title. Bottom line? It stinks! My wonderful title has all the appeal of “Edsel” for an automobile. Nobody has been searching for such a thing.

Fortunately, he also played with some other terms, and we discovered that “strategic foresight” gets lots of search hits. Guess what? The tentative new title for the course is Build and Use Strategic Foresight: Don’t be Taken by Surprise.

The Lesson

This is embarrassing, but I fell for one of the thinking traps I warn against – don’t fall in love with your ideas. Vet them.

My glib excuse is that “I’m only human.” But I should know better than to fall into such an obvious trap. I should have “let the data speak.” In this case, Google would have given me early warning that my cool and beloved title was not considered cool and beloved by potential clients.

A detour – not a change in destination

The following graphic is an overview of the course. Note the four questions and my four (brief) answers.

I’m in the midst of defining the deliverables for the course and will send them along next week. I’ll also provide a link to get on the “I’m interested” list for the pilot running of the course.

Cheers,

Bill

​