When I was little there were two cartoons I watched back-to-back: the Flintstones and the Jetsons. The Flintstones were a family who lived in the stone age with domesticated dinosaurs while the Jetsons were a family who lived in the future were there were flying cars and life happened above the clouds. This was my first glimpse into what the future might be like.
Whenever the future is talked about, the idea of flying cars always seems to be at the forefront of the expectations. When cars fly, we will have arrived in the future. The reality is that as we look into the future, flying cars seem to be low on the priority list and we may have to settle for self-driving cars that hover.
Regardless of our mode of transportation in the future, or any other detail about the future is concerned, what we need to concern ourselves with in regards to the future is whether or not we are ready. I am not asking if you have a doomsday shelter stocked and ready to go. What I am asking is are YOU ready.
What can be guaranteed about the future is that it is going to look significantly different than the world today. Between today and the our future world, there are going to be countless changes we are going to face and the quality of life we have in the future, as well as the level of success we enjoy in the future, is going to be determined by whether or not we are future smart.
Many of us strive for future readiness. We want to be aware of what is going on, or what is coming in the next year or so, in hopes of not being surprised by the coming future. We are drawn to the nightly news in hopes of drawing a glimpse of the future encrypted in the daily events around the globe. Though future readiness will help us not feel disrupted in our lives and help us deal with the future, it does not necessarily prepare us to thrive in success in the future. This is where being future smart comes in.
To be future smart is to be prepared, ready to adapt, and positioned to learn about the coming future before it gets here. In his book Future Smart James Canton points out that we are currently “living in an era best characterized by radical, complex, and accelerated change. It is the central driver of the future.” Our relationship with change will determine our relationship with the future. So, the question you need to ask is, how comfortable are you with change?
In order to be future smart we will all need to be comfortable with change, and so here are a few ways to become comfortable with change.
1. Assess the value of a change before accepting or dismissing it.
Some people just embrace change simply because it is different and we have a dangerous perspective that different is good. Others have their fingers surgically attached to the ‘rejection’ button ready to throw out any innovation or change that comes along. Both positions are naive, narrow-minded, and dangerous. Assess the value objectively before making any decision on how to respond.
2. Ask if the change is inevitable or not
Many times individuals will find themselves on the wrong side of an inevitable change and spend energy and time fighting something that is going to happen regardless of their efforts. Instead of fighting inevitable change, we should use that time and energy to strategize how to utilize or steer the change in a way that will create beneficial circumstances for ourselves, those we love and those we serve.
3. Choose to learn before you have to
We find ourselves irrelevant and out of touch because we wait until the last minute to learn. When the US switched to digital tv several years back, the government was giving rebates for digital antennas and there were signs everywhere informing everyone the change was coming. I ignored it all until one day my television only showed static. So, I had to go out and buy a digital antenna. Well, since I waited too long I lost out on sales, rebates, and about three days of shows. I didn’t position myself to learn before I had to and I paid a price for it. Now, place this example on a much bigger scale in our personal lives and workplaces.
4. Determine your principle anchors
I want to reiterate this point: just as all change is not bad, all change is not necessarily good, either. For this reason, you as an individual and us as a nation need to have principles that anchor us steady. For instance, as we move further into the future, the sanctity of life and the value of a human being will come into question in various forms. Currently we are debating on topics such as abortion, refugee care, and human trafficking to name a few. The future will hold deeper questions about what exactly makes us human. What percentage of a person needs to be natural and free from robotic enhancements to be qualified still as a human being? What human rights are in place to protect AI and its various forms? Our perspective on human beings and their intrinsic value is at the forefront of these questions.
Those who do these four things will be on their way to not only be future ready, but to also be future smart.
References for Purchase
Canton, J. (2015). Future smart: managing the game-changing trends that will transform your world. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
Field Notes 