Futurethink: How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change

About half-way through the book and it was a true eye-opener. It's very generic in its focus but applicable to all of life. I will enjoy the rest of this book. God bless!

Future Think - is a significant book for anyone wishing to think clearly about business or personal ventures in our currently changing world. It provides new insights, expands thinking and assists in overcoming the mind traps that sometimes plague us all. I recommend this book for anyone who is seriously seeking to develop foresight for a business or experience a higher quality of life. The book is very well written and provides examples that clearly illustrate the major points.

Thought provoking and instructional, Weiner and Brown's FutureThink shares the thinking tools to keep an organization's offerings relevant in a contstantly transforming world. I found it particularly helpful in innovating consumer experiences with services. Vance LaVelle, Former Chief Marketing Officer, PNC Financial Services Group

According to Weiner and Brown, their book "defines the ABCs of clearly seeing patterns, weighing choices, understanding trends, getting the future right, making good and innovative decisions about the future, and, indeed, influencing what that future will be." Frankly, my own crystal ball imploded many years ago but, that said, I am grateful to Weiner and Brown for providing some truly unique and thought-provoking perspectives on how to "think [more] clearly in a time of change." Weiner and Brown respond to a number of critically important questions: 1. How can (and do) "personal traps" such as individual biases prevent us from recognizing and then understanding change? 2. How can (and do) "organizational traps" also do so? 3. How can we avoid (or extricate ourselves from) these "traps" in order to see what Weiner and Brown characterize as "The Big Picture"? 4. How can we use metaphors to help us to "see" more...and to see it more clearly? Rather than "give away the plot" by attempting to summarize Weiner and Brown's responses to these questions, it would be more appropriate for me to provide some brief excerpts from their narrative. In Chapter 2, they suggest: "The important thing to remember is that both trend and countertrend present opportunities for profit. At the fork in the road, businesspeople should not merely ask which is the best road to take. We should also ask how our assets and constituencies can be used to our advantage on either or both roads." Why? "Not realizing that every trend creates a countertrend will leave you confused and surprised by unfolding events and changes ahead. Understanding the existence of countertrends will untrap your mind and allow it to process change much more accurately." For example, understanding disintermediation which involves bypassing traditional channels for the delivery of goods and services, offering lots more options, choices, and sources of information. Then in Chapter 7, Weiner and Brown example the mental trap of entropy which can be especially difficult because its requires thought and action which most people prefer to avoid. What to do? "Give up many `sacred cows' and start over...Pick your fights more wisely...Lose the fear of experimenting, particularly with less significant things...Be more aware, active, and informed politically...Give up relying solely on the best practices of others in running your business...[and finally] Stop trying to fit every opportunity or challenge into an old framework." Weiner and Brown conclude Chapter 14 with a recap, noting that "football is a useful metaphor for how sellers must approach the modern marketplace. There's first down, which is some combination or price, quality, convenience, and assortment. Second down is personalization or customization. Third down is company reputation. Fourth down is the punt (giving up and going on defense), the field goal (a business-to-business strategy), or the touchdown (the relationship)." Granted, these

Economists and historians predict the past, while futurists, well, they predict the future. There are pitfalls for both. For those who want to prepare for, understand, or capitalize on the future, Future Think is an extremely is a valuable tool or weapon. Weiner and Brown are fearless as to how to identify, measure, and apply current happenstances to possible future consequences, trends, and events. This is critical for those who work in institutions where they must convince traditonal or freightened decision makers that their new vision is well founded. Future Think offers numerous methods of how to assess the future including Trend/Countertrend. This is when two contradictory effects emanate from the same cause. They suggest instead of denying either side of the contradiction, try to understand and apply the lessons from both. They also cite specifics trends regarding ageing, technology, and social behavior. These can be employed by just about any profit and non-for-profit entity. Future Think is not an amorphous compendium of tenuous suppositions and tedious equations but a valuable and conversational guide for the mining and refining of information