Great Leaders Don’t Predict the Future – They Invent It

Erika Andersen written by Erika Andersen

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay, 1971

I spent the day yesterday with one of my favorite client groups.  They’re the senior team of part of a major media company, and they are smart, funny, curious, talented and kind people. The quote  above was on the introductory page of a deck they had put together outlining their vision of change for the coming year.

In addition to the fact that they’re such delightful human beings, I love working with this group because they’re actually operating according to this quote.  While lots of people in media (and many other industries) are wringing their hands, refusing to engage in real planning because the future seems so unpredictable, and others are blithely setting aggressive financial goals, expecting that doing the same things they’ve always done will somehow get them there, these folks are making the future their own.  They’re saying, in effect, “Here’s the direction we think things may be heading – and here’s our response to that.” 

 

 

 

Comments are closed.