When it comes to the future, people seem to know only two emotional states: either disappointment or being overwhelmed. In between, where the point of great inspiration would lie, almost nothing fits.
Whenever people discuss what the future might bring, they wait for the big aha moment, however unlikely it may be. Secretly, one hopes that someone will deliver precisely the great future opportunity that offers only advantages and hardly any risks, and that will immediately be supported by a large majority – on a small scale as well as a large one. But if such a solution to all problems were so easy to come by, it would be worthless.
Realistic Visions Are Not Perceived as Such
Wolfgang S. is a visionary. The second managing director of a very successful supplier company likes to see himself in the role of a forward thinker. Recently, he wanted to be realistic in an internal strategy workshop. He spoke about the Internet of Things. He chose this fairly concrete and easily understandable topic to avoid coming across as a dreamer. Everything and everyone would be connected to everything and everyone else, he explained – a totally networked world creating entirely new possibilities and qualities, a revolution in living and working. In the faces of his colleagues, he could clearly see the disappointment: How boring, that already exists, everyone knows that. The notoriously candid colleague V. said it out loud: All well and good, but that was no longer really the future – couldn't he contribute something truly more fascinating? His objection that we were still in the Stone Age of the Internet of Things fell completely flat. The general disappointment about his vision lingered in the room.
Unrealistic Visions Are Not Believed
Fine, thought Wolfgang S. Not even half an hour later, he shared what he had only read the day before. The American military is having uniforms developed that are supposed to make soldiers invisible. And with soldier robots like "BigDog," there will soon be robot armies millions strong, capable of going to war practically autonomously and without risking a single soldier's life. And then there are personal robots – the PeRos. Wolfgang S. gestured expansively. The PeRos, he lectured, would be trained and maintained via the internet. Just as we today feed our phones with apps over the internet, our PeRos will exchange knowledge among themselves. Depending on our budget, we can subscribe to knowledge-sharing between our PeRos and a thousand, a million, or a billion other PeRos. And the money for that we earn with apps that we program ourselves with ease. We simply put on data gloves that capture every micrometer of movement, use them to peel onions, save the data as an app, and publish our work on the PeRo platform. And just like that, every PeRo worldwide can peel onions – provided it's the latest PeRo version with two arms and fine-motor level six.
The birds in the front garden were still the loudest sound. Total silence in the room. A colleague grinned and tied his shoes. Once again, V. summoned her diplomatic courage. It was indeed truly fascinating, she said, what one could imagine for the future. She had also seen a science fiction film the previous year in which people could travel to parallel worlds. But they were, after all, in a business enterprise here – did he not have something more relevant up his sleeve?
Solution: View the Near from a Distance and the Distant up Close
Wolfgang S. was completely frustrated. Either they were disappointed or overwhelmed – his colleagues. He had just experienced both firsthand. The challenge lies in dealing correctly with the extremes of disappointment and being overwhelmed. Just because one already knows a trend or a technology does not mean that all the potential within it has been recognized. When something sounds wildly fantastical, a slightly shifted perspective can suddenly make it very practical. It is a success formula in Futures Management to view the near from a distance and the distant up close. Those who allow disappointment or overwhelm to set in too early are robbing themselves of their future.
I wish you a brilliant future!
Have a bright future!