The Sweep of History and Thinking about Time usage

Trying to predict the future is like driving down a country road at night with no headlights on and looking out the back window — Peter Drucker.

Extrapolating yesterdayS is a fruitless attempt to predict the future.

Check it out!

The human brain is a history library that has to run in future tense — Edward de Bono

books and illustrations above have links

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How have you organized yourself to live in this world?

Based on what you see happening in the society of organizations
is your approach adequate to the and your challenges ahead?

How could you test it?

The future is between the ears

“It hasn’t happened, so it won’t happen”

“We are doing great so we have no need to be concerned with the future”

Imagine yourself back in 1950 or 1980 or 2000 listening to all the yada, yada, yada — including “facts,” data, logic. How much of it had any predictive or constructive value? How could this insight be integrated into your time usage?

Or imagine someone in the past trying to plan their future. Its almost hopeless because the future is unpredictable at work, at home, everywhere. The destinations in life are like an ice floe. Constantly shifting positions. New blocks appearing. Old blocks disappearing or becoming unstable (Kodak, HP, RIM, …) 50% divorce rate, global conflicts, terrorism.

“Corporations once built to last like pyramids are now more like tents.

Tomorrow they’re gone or in turmoil.

And this is true not only of companies in the headlines like ….

The platform is burning

Looking for a new home

Technology is changing very quickly, as are markets and structures.

You can’t design your life around a temporary organization.”

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Successful careers are not planned

They develop when people are prepared
for opportunities
because they know
their strengths,
their method of work, and
their values.

Knowing where one belongs
can transform an ordinary person
—hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre—
into an outstanding performer.

Managing Oneself and Living in More than One World

To get the benefits you have to calendarize these

From Interview: Post-Capitalist Executive
found in Managing in a Time of Great Change

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“Of course innovation is risky. But so is stepping into the supermarket for a loaf of bread. All economic activity is by definition ‘high risk.’ And defending yesterday — that is, not innovating — is far more risky than making tomorrow.” — Inside Drucker's Brain. Find “10 Making the Future Today” and then “change agent” in Management, Revised Edition.

Abandonment comes first. … But if it is known throughout the organization that the dead will be left to bury their dead, then the living will be willing — indeed, eager — to go to work on innovation. — Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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There are enormous opportunities, because change is opportunity — Managing for the Future

#tgd

“The greatest danger

in times of turbulence

is not turbulence;

it is to act

with yesterday’s logic”.

— Peter Drucker

The shift from manual workers
who do as they are being told —
either by the task or by the boss —

TO knowledge workers

who have to

manage themselves ↓

profoundly challenges social structure …

“Managing Oneself (PDF) is a REVOLUTION in human affairs.” …



“It also requires an almost 180-degree change in the knowledge workers’ thoughts and actions from what most of us—even of the younger generation—still take for granted as the way to think and the way to act.” …



… “Managing Oneself is based on the very opposite realities:


Workers are likely to outlive organizations
(and therefore, employers can’t be depended on for designing your life),

and the knowledge worker has mobility.” ← in a context

“More than anything else,

the individual
has to take more responsibility
for himself or herself,
rather than depend on the company.”
continue ↓

“Making a living is no longer enough
‘Work’ has to make a life .” continue

… finding and selecting the pieces of the puzzle

The Second Curve

These pages are attention directing tools

for navigating changing worldS — worldS relentlessly

moving toward unimagined futures.

What’s the next effective action on the road ahead

It’s up to you to figure out what to harvest and calendarize
— working something out in time (1915, 1940, 1970 … 2040 … the outer limit of your concern) — nobody is going to do it for you.

It may be a step forward to actively reject something (rather than just passively ignoring) and then working out a plan for coping with what you’ve rejected.

Your future is between your ears and our future is between our collective ears — it can’t be otherwise.

A site exploration: The memo THEY don't want you to see

What needs doing?

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#rlaexp.com = rla + exp = real life adventures + exploration or explored

exploration leads to explored

Examples ↑ can be found through web searches, Wikipedia,
Pinterest and the daily news

Knowledge Worker tools on Pinterest

Some ecological and time awareness ↓ → Ken Burns films

Larger view thinking canvas

The Über Mentor

The Drucker Lectures:
Essential Lessons on
Management, Society, and Economy

A Year with Peter Drucker:
52 Weeks of Coaching
for Leadership Effectiveness

Larger view thinking canvas

#mlp ↓ #z99

My launching pad

(fully responsible officer,
knowledge-worker, professional contributor
and executive)

Discontinued Operations

Worldview