Seeing The Wider Context

Foresight is an important element that every organisation and business leader should  possess. Patrick Dixon in his book The Future of (Almost) Everything: The Global Changes that will Affect Every Business and All Our Lives  writes about the possibilities and scenarios that could take shape in the future and how they will impact the work we do.

Dixon is the founder and chairman of Global Change, a growth strategy and forecasting company, and his clients include bigwigs such as Google, IBM, Siemens, HP, etc. His talks and keynote addresses (“as many as 60 a year”) are widely attended by policy makers and company heads.

In his introduction, the author writes, “My job is to live in the future and treat tomorrow as history.” True to his word, Dixon  writes on energy, environment, healthcare, retail, supermarkets, pharma, media, e-commerce — you name it and he has put the scenarios in this book. Keep yourself informed, broaden your perspective, read the business papers, be curious to know how things work — these are some of the gems readers will be treated to and with meaningful examples.

Do not be under the impression that Dixon is a fortune teller; he does forecast events though. But if you are a CEO and have a 10-year plan chalked out for your company, it is important to know that simply strategising is not enough. Perhaps, creating space for a chief foresight officer will be relevant.  

(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 30-11-2015)