Anticipate: The Art of Leading by Looking Ahead

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.