Predicting the Future

Predicting the future is impossible...or maybe not entirely? After recently joining this webinar on “Business Strategy & Seeing Around Corners” with Rita McGrath and the Tory Burch Foundation, I was challenged by these simple, yet innovative ideas on how to be proactive about anticipating future needs in an organization:

- Diversify your environment: immerse yourself in, and watch the changes of where other industries are going. Then, you may see a trend on where your industry is headed (i.e. the tech industry doesn't just affect the tech industry, it influences all industries).

- Remind yourself regularly that the purpose of a business is to create a customer (i.e. no customer = no business).

- Instead of thinking of selling a product, think of your customer hiring your product to accomplish something (i.e. what is the pain they are experiencing that your product can solve).

- Focus on predicting your own actions as much as possible (i.e. own your schedule, don’t let it own you. If you’re looking to innovate yourself, start small by asking yourself: If I could change one hour of my week, what hour would it be and what would I do with that hour instead?).