Thinking the Future: New Perspectives from the Shoulders of Giants

Do you know how to think about the future? All our decisions are about the future, whether it's tomorrow, next year, or the next decade, yet our choices are often undermined by desires, expectations, and common mental mistakes - making assumptions, worrying about things we can't control, missing signals because we're distracted by the noise. But if you can learn how to think, you can learn how to look ahead. Isaac Newton said: "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

In Thinking the Future, Clem Sunter and Mitch Ilbury teach us the futurist's art of decision-making by re-imagining seminal concepts from some of history's greatest thinkers. They encourage foxy, flexible mindsets and reject the popular but misleading self-help tenet that you can decide your fate through the relentless pursuit of a single goal. An uncertain world demands a more dynamic approach. The point is not to forecast one outcome but to plot multiple scenarios of what could happen. Using scenario-planning techniques, we can all harness the power to work towards the future we want, avoid the ones we don't, and prepare ourselves for the possible risks and opportunities no matter what transpires.

Author: Clem Sunter, Mitch Ilbury
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 01/06/2022
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 9.13h x 5.98w x 0.63d
ISBN: 9781776096299

About the Author
Sunter, Clem: - Clem Sunter is the author and co-author of several bestselling books on futures thinking. He read politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University and subsequently pursued a mining career with Anglo American. He was appointed head of its scenario-planning function in the early 1980s. Clem has given presentations on this methodology around the world, including at the Harvard Business School and the Central Party School in Beijing.Ilbury, Mitch: - Mitch Ilbury is a director of scenario-planning firm Mindofafox, and the founder of the education technology company Growing Foxes, which helps schools and other institutions teach futures thinking. He holds an honors degree in philosophy from the University of Cape Town and a master's degree in intelligence and international security from King's College London. Mitch contributed a chapter to Fake News: A Roadmap, a book published by NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, and has facilitated strategy sessions in Africa, the UK, and Australia.

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