Conclusion

Earlier I suggested that all of us have a leadership role in creating the future. Each of us has a responsibility to navigate but it requires new attitudes and skills. We are experiencing a future that seems like a set of whitewater rapids. It is not a place to get out of the boat! Each of us must play a part, sometimes leading, sometimes supporting, but always enthusiastic. We must understand both independence and interdependence .

Of course there are doubts . Of course there is confusion. Naturally we have our moments of denial and even anger but, on balance, we need to commit ourselves to the future journey.

The future journey can be exhilarating, it can be fun and it can make life simpler. At its best it will provide new levels of possibility and meaning for more people in a way that is enduring and sustainable. It is a philosophy of abundance , not scarcity.

• So if the future is a different place we need to:

• Understand its rhythms .The turbulence buffeting the global village is creating new rhythms. It is just that we can t hear them yet.Throw yourself into the turbulence of the future if you want to understand the new rhythms.

• Get an attitude. Some will try to isolate, others will stagnate and the rest will navigate. Only the Navigators will hear the rhythms and see the possibilities as positive and only they will understand the future.

• Rewire your head . Navigators will need to think differently. They will use foresight as a primary device for moving into the future. In doing so they will see both today and tomorrow from new perspectives and find the possibilities to create better futures .

• Build a simpler way outside the machine world . Navigation is constrained by our machine-world thinking. Such thinking is increasingly discordant with the new rhythms. It limits our imaginations and how we innovate. It is more useful for us to adopt living-systems thinking that allows us to move from a
  ˜just efficiency world to one based on optimisation .

• Travel at warp speed. Exponential change is part of this future and whatever we do will need to be done at speed. Being too slow will mean going nowhere. Navigators must move at speed towards a future, as if moving towards land that is dimly seen on the horizon.

• Understand the new leadership paradigm . In this future all of us will need to be personally responsible for leading. It will require skills that are very different from those that have served us well in the twentieth century. One of the most essential is the skill of living in paradox; that is, the ability to build the future and focus on today at the same time

• Fill the future space. Each of us will be part of the future.The issue is: are we future-makers or future-takers? Navigators are those who see the opportunity to be future- makers .They are the ones who understand what to leave behind and what to take with them.

• Go visual. The pace of change undermines our ability to see things in one or two dimensions. Visual has become the new basis of communication. It helps us understand our multidimensional realities more easily. It is the new language of the future and a tool for navigation.

• Stop riding dead horses The use of imagination and innovation to create better futures requires focus and time. In our chaotic world we can only find this if we abandon low-value activities that contribute little to today and nothing to the future. Such activities can be described as riding the proverbial dead horse.

• Refuse to be beguiled into the journey on the long road to nowhere . Our solution-focused society makes it easy for us to stay busy. But just being busy without a sense of purpose means going nowhere. Navigators need to develop a strong sense of personal aspiration and look to network with, or be part of, organisations that share a sense of destiny.

We need to make sure that those we care about are close by. We need to understand the nature of the journey ahead and find aspirations to guide us through the dark times. We need to make sure that we network with all kinds of people who are valuable and valued. Finally we need to have mental models which ensure that when the unexpected and unanticipated happen, and they surely will, the outcome is beneficial.

Along this journey, imagination and innovation are indispensable traits for making the task lighter.

Tips for rewiring your head

1. Decide whether or not you wish to be a Navigator.

   Revisit the questionnaire (Table 2.1 Seven questions for would-be Navigators) that appears in this chapter.

2. Start using foresight as part of your thinking.

   Remember, effective foresight starts with very good questions. The future is not a linear projection of today. It s about anticipation, not prediction.

3. Look for signals.

   Start scanning the web and the news for weak signals that will either confirm or change your foresightful views. You will be surprised at what is around.

4. Increase your ability to navigate.

   This is not very easy as we have all lived a long time inside the machine. Look for programs that will increase your ability to navigate.

5. Focus on optimisation, not efficiency.

   Try asking the simply question: ˜If what we are proposing is successful, what is the best result we could imagine? Don t accept lame answers.

6. Find a crowd that values imagination and innovation.

   Avoid conversations where the only competition is for opinion-driven solutions.

7. Build a personal action plan to eliminate dead-horse-riding activity.

   Don t allow others to use your time for no purpose.

8. Create a set of personal goals that will define you as a future-maker. It s your future . . . what will you make of it? What do you need to leave behind and what do you want to take with you?