Anticipate, RobJan de Jong
Anticipate, RobJan de Jong
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Anticipate
The Art of Leading by Looking Ahead

Author: Rob-Jan de Jong

Narrator: Steven Menasche

Unabridged: 9 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 01/01/2015


Synopsis

What enables great corporate leaders to detect signals that their industry, or perhaps the entire world, is about to change? How are they able to place their companies in a position to capitalize on that change? And how can you become one of those extraordinary people?

It boils down to one word--vision. Leaders who lacked it have often guided their companies to obsolescence and failure. The rare leaders who cultivated a strong vision have disrupted industries, created new ones, and remade the world.

For example, you may never have heard of Ingvar Kamprad, but his vision of design furniture that should not just be accessible to the "happy few" led to the global success of Ikea. John F. Kennedy's 1961 vision that America could put a man on the moon "by the end of the decade" led to just that--as well as new products ranging from LED lights to artificial limbs.

The recent economic boom in Dubai has occurred thanks to a sheikh who realized the region's oil supply would eventually run out. So he developed a vision for today's Dubai, a modern city that focuses on service industries as different as high finance and high-end tourism.

Fortunately, visionary leadership is never an accident of birth. This book will teach you the practices that can make you a successful visionary, such as:

* How to grow your ability to detect change early

* How to connect the dots among emerging trends to develop a coherent and robust vision

* Ways to create scenarios that help you design interruptive strategies, products, and services that are game changers

* Practical ideas and exercises you can incorporate into your daily routine to nurture your visionary side

* How to speak like a visionary leader, present your ideas more colorfully, and ignite your followers emotionally so they'll put their best efforts into a commonly shared cause

You'll also discover how to integrate early signs of change into a long-range perspective. You'll learn how to develop a logically consistent "story" that serves your vision. You'll find out how to maximize the chances that your vision will work. And you'll learn ways to avoid the dangerous pitfall of tunnel vision.

Change will always be coming. It's key, then, to see it as far off as possible and so maximize the amount of time you have to prepare for it before it arrives. Anticipate will give you that long-range vision.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Abby

As alluded in the title, the book focuses entirely on sculpting a vision. It emphasizes the importance of not only gathering information, but analyzing the data to make it useful for prediction the future. As seen in many other business books, the author creates his own (unnecessary) buzzwords, like......more

Goodreads review by Nathan

This book offered some insight on why very few leaders offer compelling visions and what one can do to develop anf increase the effectiveness of their visions. I like that they describe specific actions and exercises that can be used to do just that.......more

Anticipate: The Art of Leading by Looking Ahead by Rob-Jan De Jong was chosen by Soundview Executive Book Summaries as one of the Top 30 Business Books of 2015. THE SOUNDVIEW REVIEW: Business schools, leadership gurus and strategy guides agree — leaders must have a vision. But the sad truth is that m......more

Goodreads review by Roger

This is a useful book, especially if you find it difficult to anticipate trends that impact your work and your life. Unlike much advice on the topic, the exercises in the book are clear, specific, and lead to insights that are personally relevant. The writing is serviceable, if not overwhelmingly in......more