Adam Gordon on Being Future Savvy

Running Time: 14 minutes 05 seconds 

Canadian Management Centre is excited to present the American Management Associations strategic planning podcast Being Future Savvy with special guest Adam Gordon.

Futures analyst Adam Gordon has spent a lifetime deciphering changes and trends in a variety of industries. His book Future Savvy (AMACOM) is a hands-on guide for how to evaluate the business, social, and technology forecasts in both the mainstream media and specialized reporting.

In order to succeed in their industries, decision-makers today need to anticipate the future outcomes, not only in their own industries, but also in society and technology as well. And, with so much information thrown at us every day (through the internet, newspapers etc.), we often start questioning what information is reliable. We need to ask, What is the best information that can help me with my business? As its common to think about the future in any business, we need to learn how to apply quality control to the vast amount of information that we receive, so that we can extract the good data out of it.

Because most research and data takes a long time to uncover, its very rare for someone to just give any information they might have away for free. Therefore, in order to figure out what information to trust, one needs to figure out the intention the giver has.

Moreover, the time frame of how far into the future one should be looking depends on the pace of the industry. However, managers should be splitting their Action Future Horizons from their Strategic Future Horizons. Your future action plans may only be six months in advance, but your overall long-term strategic plan may be looking 10-15 years in the future.

Furthermore, the agenda of the current times often influences how people look at the future, which makes believing future forecasting hard. Also, how people perceive the future is going to be influenced by their current decisions, even though that envisioned future may not materialize.

And, with scenario planning, its better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong. When looking out into the future, beyond the short term, it gets harder to pinpoint the exact way things are going to go. Brainstorming different scenarios makes you more reasonably mentally prepared for what could happen. For long term planning, its smarter to think of various vague scenarios than it is to make a detailed plan of one.

In summation, the best ways to plan for the future are to

1. Find the right level of expertise that you trust
2. Not be wedded to the absolute present
3. Keep your options open
4. Understand that systems are interconnected in ways that they havent been before (because of globalization and technology.) Little things here can have big impacts elsewhere.

Adam Gordon MS, MBA (INSEAD) is an acknowledged and credentialed expert in the field of industry foresight and future studies. He has been an analyst, consultant, facilitator, and teacher in this field during the past dozen years, during which he has developed various foresight projects to help private and public-sector organizations anticipate and respond to emerging opportunities. Gordon has appeared on NPRs Morning Edition and CNN World Report, in addition to a number of radio shows worldwide. He has written many op-ed pieces and has been featured or serialized in various newspapers, including, most recently, The Times (London). As the director of The Future Studio, he facilitates industry foresight seminars, and teaches strategic planning in various prominent executive and MBA programs around the world. He was previously a Senior Associate at Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a future strategy consulting firm in Washington, DC., and before that, a journalist at Business Report.