Flash Foresight

How to see the invisible and do the impossible

 Lao Tzu

The only thing that is permanent is

change.
 Start with Certainty
Cyclic change - change that does cycle
back on itself (what goes up must come
down)
planting and harvest

birth and death

day and night

tides and phases of the moon

seasons

migrations

stock prices

economic recessions

building and real estate activity

seasonal sales

interest rates
 Start with Certainty
Linear Change is acyclic and progressive.
It does not cycle back on itself but
progresses forward in one direction (what
goes up doesnt necessarily go down)
aging (of individuals)

growth in the earths population

increase in data, information, and knowledge

increase in worldwide literacy

increasing number of patients and inventions

acceleration of computer processing speed

convergence of features and functions

globalization
 Start with Certainty
Linear change is where the real action is,
precisely because it is not a repeating
pattern and therefore creates entirely new
and unique circumstances and
opportunities.
It is what makes the future fundamentally
new, and grasping this type of change is
what allows you to begin making the
invisible future become visible.
 Start with Certainty

A Soft Trend is a projection based on statistics that

have the appearance of being tangible, fully
predictable facts - but in actuality is something that
might happen - a future maybe.
 Start with Certainty

A Hard Trend is a projection based on

measurable, tangible, and fully predictable facts,
events, or objects that will happen - a future fact.
 Start with Certainty

If you can recognize the difference you will be

enabled with the ability to know which parts of
the future you can predict accurately.
It provides the insight to start with certainty - a
future fact versus a future maybe.
 Anticipate

Being proactive is agile; being pre-active is anticipatory (Talk about the

Tsumani and the ocean taking a breath )
 Anticipate

Discuss

crisis management versus opportunity manager

(Effective crisis management skills are important for a manager to possess, but should
not be the day to day life experience of the manager. The old saying that a
problem is just an opportunity in disguise no longer holds true in todays fast-paced
world. A problem today is an opportunity if you can see it before you have the
problem. An opportunity manager creates change from the inside out by looking at
problems before they occur Anticipate.)
 Anticipate

STOP
LOOK
LISTEN
 Anticipate
The Eight Pathways of Technological Advancement
dematerialization

virtualization

mobility

product intelligence

networking

interactivity

globalization

convergence
 Anticipate

Dematerialization

As technology improves we are reducing the amount of material it takes to build the tools
we use, subtracting atoms from them even as we improve their capacity and
performance. Whatever is made can be dematerialized if desired. Dematerialization
does not necessarily mean smaller. How can you make a car use less gas - Make it
lighter by dematerializing it
 Anticipate
Virtualization

Virtualization means taking things we currently do physically and shifting the medium so
that we can now do them purely in a weightless representational world. Simulation is
an example of virtualization whereby physical functions are converted into software
models. Time from product concept to reality has been reduced significantly with
vastly improved design.

Todays newer crash dummies for example are so sophisticated they have a pulse, blood
pressure and other vital signs .

After a simulated crash a virtual autopsy can be performed to let the designers see what
happened to them internally during crash simulations.
 Anticipate

Mobility

With the advance of wireless technology (along with progressive dematerialization), we

are rapidly being de-tethered from everything.

Traditional videoconferencing for the few is shifting to full-fledged visual communications

for everyone. The degree of mobility has changed, and the degree of practicality and
productivity in a mobile context has been transformed. Think of what this means to
emerging nations who have made little to no investment into infrastructure.
 Anticipate

Product Intelligence

Is the degree to which we can now add intelligence to practically any product. Any
tangible thing can be made smart. All we have to do is put a sensor on it and give it the
ability to communicate through a network
 Anticipate
Networking

Prior to the invention and proliferation of telephones, we built such networks as the
highways of ancient Rome, the shipping routes of Phoenicia and Great Britain, the
railways of America. These networks connected us in space but left us still separate
in time. Telephones were the first truly modern network, in that they allowed us to
start intercommunicating at great distances in real time.

Today we are capable of carrying on several conversations at once, without losing the
thread of any one of them. As networking increases in its scope, speed, and
accessibility, we are also enlarging its meaning and application, working not only in
the media of text voice but also in video and even 3D video. This acceleration is
creating fascinating new capabilities and huge opportunities.
 Anticipate
Interactivity

Interactivity is the continuing process of opening up all our media to become dynamic and
gaining the ability to interact with everything. The more you interact with something,
the more engaged you become.

Todays social media applications such as Twitter, YouTube, blogs and Facebook have
rocked the foundation of the new industry, transformed politics and the nature of
democracy, transformed marketing and advertising and has made for an entirely new
world environment.
 Anticipate

Globalization

Weve has some degree of globalizing for ages, through trade routes, the postal system
and the telegraph. Radio introduced us to modern globalization, since we didnt
need roads or wires but could operate through the air. However, we are only
beginning to grasp the true implications of globalization.

The globalization we are experiencing is not a political shift, nor will it be the result of
some governmental or bureaucratic initiative and hopefully will not be the result of
who wins the next world war but is being driven by technological advances. We are
globalizing because we now technologically have the ability to achieve globalization.
 Anticipate
Convergence

Convergence is when the pathways of technological advancement overlap and interact

which is serving to drive the acceleration of technological advancements. In fact,
convergence has itself become a pathway of technological advancement.

The IPhone is a wonderful example of convergence - how many products have converged
into this small box? telephone, e-mail, calendar, contact list, camera, video camera,
calculator, not to mention the applications that can be downloaded (a level, restaurant
tip calculator, and literally endless examples of other applications)
 Anticipate

THE THREE DIGITAL ACCELERATORS

Processing Power
Bandwidth
Storage
 Anticipate

Being pre-active means anticipating the future

before it happens. Being anticipatory allows us to
change from the inside out.
Biggest Problem - Skip It

Take your Biggest Problem - And Skip

It.
 Biggest Problem - Skip It

Peeling the Onion (Ask yourself Why? 5 times to get to the center of the onion).
 Go Opposite

Cooperation versus Collaboration

Cooperation contains within it the assumption that your interests and mine are inherently in conflict, but we will
temporarily set aside those cross-purposes to find some cautious tactical common ground. Really,
cooperation is about protecting your piece of the economic pie and doing everything you can to make
your own slice bigger. Win - win may be the result as long as I win.

Collaboration is working with everyone - even your competitors, to make a bigger pie for all. The move from
scarcity thinking to abundance thinking, from zero-sum competition to one-hundred sum collaboration, is
not just a nice or maral idea. In the twenty-first century, its plain good sense. Scarcity says, Im going to
keep all my ideas to myself and sell more than anyone else. Abundance says, By mentoring coaching
and sharing all our best ideas, we are going to create a powerful tide that raises all our ships and well all
sell more as a result.
Redefine and Reinvent

Redefine and Reinvent

 Redefine and Reinvent

New Rule: Skip ahead of your competition by

redefining and reinventing anything and everything
you produce - focus on the future needs of your
customers and do what your competition cannot do.
 Redefine and Reinvent
Here is a partial list of things you can compete on:
price

reputation

image

service

quality

design

time/speed

values

customer experience

innovation

knowledge

loyalty
 Redefine and Reinvent

Find Your Core

What is your core? The career created that is built arounds your gifts and
aligned with your talents that support your gifts. Ask yourself what is
really the core of your business or self?

In my industry - tourism - my core is not transportation and reservations - it

is making memories.
 Direct Your Future

Future view
 Direct Your Future

Managing Future View

 Direct Your Future

The Lion City