Get There Early. Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present

Bob Johansen, was president and CEO of the Institute for the Future from 1996 to 2004. The Institute for the Future (IFTF), spun off from the Rand Corporation in 1968, is an independent nonprofit think tank in Silicon Valley that has been doing ten-year forecasting for more than 30 years. IFTF makes sense out of alternative futures to help organizations make better decisions in the present. IFTF works with a wide range of clients, including Procter & Gamble, Deloitte, Disney, Office Depot, Ford, General Motors, HP, Intel, BP, the Lego Company, BMW, IBM, France Telecom, the UK Government Department of Trade and Industry, Unilever, Target, Tesco, Eastman Chemical, Best Buy, Honda, Steelcase, Herman Miller, Sutter Health, Ascension Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Humana, DuPont, Monsanto, Swisscom, Diageo, McNeil Nutritionals, and Time Warner. Bob recently retired as IFTF's CEO -- though he remains on its Board and Leadership Team -- to spend more time consulting with IFTF sponsors, writing, and speaking. He works mainly with senior executives -- CEO's, presidents, directors on innovation, and others across a wide range of industries. One of the first social scientists to study the human and organizational impacts of what came to be called the Internet and related technologies, Bob's focus is primarily three to ten years out into the future. He has a deep interest in the future of religion and its impact on business, society, and individuals. A social scientist with an interdisciplinary background, Bob holds a BS degree from the University of Illinois, where he also played varsity basketball, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Bob also has a divinity school degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where he studied comparative religions.

Table of Contents
Forward by W. Stanton Smith,
Introduction: Foresight to Insight to Action
Part One
FORESIGHT: Sensing Provocative Futures
Chapter 1: Thinking Ten Years Ahead to Benefit Today
Chapter 2: Institute for the Future's Ten-Year Forecast
Chapter 3: The VUCA World: Both Danger & Opportunity
Chapter 4: What's Different About Problems
Part Two
INSIGHT: Sense Making, to Inspire Strategy
Chapter 5: It Takes a Story to Understand a Dilemma
Chapter 6: Immersion: The Best Way to Learn in the VUCA World
Chapter 7: Sensing and Sense Ability
Chapter 8: How Foresight Can Inspire Strategy
Part Three
ACTION: To Get There Early
Chapter 9: Insight from Action
Chapter 10: Flex and Flex Ability
Chapter 11: Being Flexibly Firm
Conclusion: Making Your Peace with the VUCA World