How to Become a Future-Maker
Make the future or it makes you. Stop reacting; start creating.
Urgency dominates where plans lack.
Yesterday’s future arrived today. Successful leaders plan. Planners make the future.
Planners live like tomorrow is today.
If you knew financial decline was in your future would you save money today?
“Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it.” Bill McBean
Planners see patterns.
Every spring the same thing happens in Pennsylvania. The whole State gets grumpy because we’re fed up with winter. Life is harder; tension easier. Organizational leaders should anticipate more conflict and stress.
If “grumpy” happens every spring it’s a pattern. Don’t react, plan.
Planners gather facts.
“Build factual foundations for decision making. For example:
- What happened in the Market today?
- What are the historical trends?
- How large is the market?
- Who are the major players?
- Who are the winners and loser?”
Adapted from, “The Facts of Business Life,” by Bill McBean.
Planners look back and around, then anticipate the future.
Planners paint the future.
Leaders live with the future in mind by acting like tomorrow is today.
All successful leaders create the future now.
Plans are paths to the future.
Leaders without plans are dynamic wanderers.
Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
8 Elements of successful future-making:
- Destination or vision.
- Mission statement. Describe purpose and conduct (values).
- Goals. Explain expectations.
- Analysis. Describe the present. (Both internal and external).
- Strategies. Activities aligned with 1 through 4.
- Objectives. Plans that are exact, measurable, have short timelines, and provide accountability.
- Summary and communication. Share plans.
- Implementation.
- Review and revise. Keep goals in sight.
Adapted from: “The Facts of Business Life.”
What attitudes, skills, and behaviors enable future-making?
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Another hum dinger Dan!
Lucky for me I can only keep things ridiculously simple. I have to break things down so even a monkey can do them.
I have searched and found who does what the company I work for does, BEST. See what they do different than us and get about getting the fella who supervises me SEE!!! Bit of a pain I am sure but I is who I is!
Then I go out about my day doing as many of those things I can do over and over and over till I am ready to drop.
Pretty simple, Winning!!!!!!
Just a great post, spot on. Filled in other things to ponder besides my ridiculously simple version.
Always look for NEXT…..relentlessly.
Cya, be kind today and see what you get back!!!
SP Out!!!
Thank you Scott.
You can’t beat the strategy of learning from success!
Cheers
“Leaders without plans are dynamic wanderers”….how true and how sad this statement is. …and how often the leader confuses his/her lack of plan with personal lack of being. Skills executed are what support success…often the most basics ones the most sadly overlooked that would have supported the person’s brilliance.
I am thankful for you this day…and for your words presence in my life. The dialogues are growing my mind and encouraging my heart.
Thank you.
Sweetie
Dear Dan,
A very good post Dan. Future making is about mindset. There are people who are satisfied what they have. There are people who always need more and are never satisfied. So, “being unsatisfied” skill enable future making. In other word, being hungry creates future making mindset. I think there are two important factors that enable future making leaders- change and time. Future making leaders know the power of change. They know that the speed of change is faster than common mindsets. But when our speed of change is faster than usual, we start becoming leaders who can see future. Time is extremely critical factor that can not be generated. Leaders create time . They stretch their working from engaging in frivolous things.
Those who understand and realize the speed of change become good future makers. Those who feel and understand the power of time, work harder to become more successful.
Interesting how insidiously some short-term success can dull urgency, blur vision, and nurture complacency.
Wonder how much of that is part of the human psyche seeking a perceived (again short-term) ‘comfort level’ and clinging to it in spite of that iceberg up ahead.
On a slightly tangential track, finished up a training down in TEEX (A&M) a couple weeks back on emergency planning/preparedness. No one ever wants a disaster to happen, but they do happen. So, as uncomfortable as it may be, you plan, you practice, you drill for them, for the time when they do occur, you will have some processes in place to mitigate them. Joe Castro, LAFD Chief at the training had some wise words, ‘how you practice is the level you will sink to when it actually happens.’ He said you need to build relationships and processes before, so that you can trust during crisis. He also cited the experiences of Rick Rescorla at Morgan Stanley during 9/11. Rick maintained a sense of urgency and planning for years before and for those he served, it paid off on that fateful day.
I’m struck by how much; being a future maker is based on looking back. I don’t disagree with the premise, however I think there is room to also include being able to make intuitive decisions, in the moment to be an effective leader also.
Thanks for the post!
Lynn
Perhaps a case where double vision is a good thing! Keep learning from the past, keep scanning the upcoming horizon.
Dan, did you coin the phrase “Leaders without plans are dynamic wanderers”. What an excellent quote!
I could quote Buddah here:
“We are what we think about ourselves.
Everything that we become, comes out from our thoughts.
With our thoughts we create the World.”
Dynamics is not enough. Even business is driven with physics.
a = F / m certainly with correct direction this has power of changing reality.
What I have learned is the need to paint a picture or create a vision really helps in succeeding in carrying out these plans.
What attitudes, skills, and behaviors enable future making?
We live in a time when politicians can only see as far as the next election, businesses are focus on the next quarter, the media spends an inordinate amount of resources on trivia, and pressing long-term problems and opportunities are ignored. The purpose of studying the future is to look at what might happen based on where we are and where current trends if desirable, might take us. If current trends are undesirable, looking forward can also inform how to avoid them. Given the speed of change, data and knowledge are not enough to ensure success, we need the wisdom from past mistakes and successes, and we need foresight. While data and knowledge is quickly replaced with new data and knowledge, foresight enables navigation of new data & knowledge, allows better decision-making, and action in the now in order to be in position for what may come next.
These specific suggestions come from the World Futurists Society:
• Conduct ongoing and systematic surveys of news & research to help spot significant trends and technology breakthroughs.
• Plot trends: analysis can show the cause, speed, and potential impact of a trend.
• Describe trends, strategies, or events as a story. Creating scenarios can paint a picture that can help you visualize possible future developments and how you can prepare effectively. Creating possible scenarios help to blend what you know about the future with creative possibilities about the uncertain. Scenarios help you move from dreaming to planning and then to accomplishment.
• Conduct “Delphi Polls” which are carefully structured surveys of experts. Polling a wide range of experts in a given field can yield accurate forecasts and suggestions for action.
• Use computer models to simulate the behavior of a complex system under a variety of conditions. For example, a model of the U.S. economy might show the effects of a significant increase or decrease in taxes.
• Create simulations of real-world situations. For example, in war games, generals test out tactics they may later use on the battlefield, or corporate executives can explore the possible results of competitive strategies.
Hello, Dan! Thank you for bringing vision back into my lazy life. Sometimes we just need to be reminded why we here. Nothing more nothing less. God bless!