Tom Lemanski's

Your Bridge to Discovery

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Envisioning Your Brave New World

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

Develop Your Futuristic Thinking Skills

The Other Side: What are the Possibilities?

Many of us suddenly have more time on our hands.  Time is the scarcest of all resources.  Count your blessings, assuming you’re healthy.  We all realize that the future will be different.  How?  We can’t be certain. But there are degrees of uncertainty.  Leaders are not completely in the dark. So they need to avoid believing and behaving like they’re clueless. We’re getting plenty of clues about what lies ahead.  Here are some of my examples.  You likely have ideas too.     

  • Handshakes may never make a comeback. 
  • Home delivery will become more the rule rather than the exception
  • Our heightened awareness of germs and potential infection will remain.
  • Office workplaces are destined to shrink 
  • We will increase video and web technology for our face to face meetings and have fewer meetings in the same room
  • The technology for electronic connection will improve dramatically
  • Many will place a greater value on social connection.  

Unprecedented Times for Business?

Or Disruption as Usual?

My subscribers know I’ve been a fan and follower of Simon Sinek since he published Start With Why.  He’s an idealist, author and keynote speaker. Or he was a keynote speaker.  That’s suddenly changed.  

In this five minute video he discusses the current state of disruption with his team via video conference.  He reminds us that disruptive change is not new.  The pandemic is forcing changes at an unprecedented pace.  But business disruption is not unprecedented. He offers examples of businesses that were slow to recognize and adapt to pending changes. 

A Time for Futuristic Thinking

After watching the video, I thought this is a good time to dust off the frequently used Wayne Gretzky quote. It’s as relevant as ever.  

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

Wait, There's More

For those who tire of sports cliches, Khalil Gibran, a 20th century Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist, and philosopher gave us similar inspiration for futuristic thinking.

Progress lies NOT in enhancing what IS, but in advancing toward what WILL BE. 

Collaborative Futuristic Thinking

As you work to predict what’s next, Where will your answers come from?  

As the risk of being too simplistic, answers come from questions.  As you improve the quality of your questions, you will improve your results.  

None of us is smarter than all of us.  

We all have clues about what will change in the next six to twelve plus months. With various frames of reference, the clues will vary.  As a leader, how will you engage your teams to collect and vet different scenarios?  Here are questions you should ask 

As inevitable changes occur, how will the needs and wants of your customers (clients, members, guests) evolve?   

  What will our organization do to serve new customer expectations and demands?

Please Share Your Thoughts on What's Possible

To repeat: None of us is smarter than all of us. So, I strongly encourage you to scroll down and use the comment box below to share your ideas in answer to my questions. 

What clues are you seeing about what will be different about our lives on “the other side”?

What opportunities might evolve as changes occur?

This is brain storming, crowd sourcing and possibility thinking. There are no bad ideas.  What do you think?