At a time of year when many of us are contemplating the future – uncertain if not confused – futurist Robert B. Tucker has supplied a handy descriptor and some tools we need to covet.
“We are living in an era of profound and accelerating change: The Age of Acceleration. And the choices we make today and the choices being made for us – about our careers, businesses, investments and about the future – will determine our trajectory in the years ahead,” he writes in Build a Better Future: 7 Mindsets for Navigating the Age of Acceleration.
He argues we are at an inflection point, transferring from one era to the next, and in the coming 10 years the world will experience more political, technological, social and environmental change than in the previous 100 years. In the past, usually it was one force that led to massive societal change but now it’s a combination.
Topping the list: The line between humans and machines is blurring and artificial intelligence is creating new industries and destroying others. Climate change continues to escalate with climate-related disasters increasing dramatically. Political upheaval within the United States threatens democracy and rule of law there and elsewhere.
Our readiness to grapple with the future – the threats as well as the opportunities – will depend on seven mindsets he argues we must master. They are the Preparedness Mindset, the Futurist Mindset, the Adaptability Mindset, the Human Agency Mindset, the Long View Mindset, the Anticipatory Mindset and the Visionary Mindset:
- Preparedness Mindset: We must prepare ourselves to plan, pivot and navigate the rapids of change. Many of us may assume we handled that well during the pandemic. But he is less impressed with how we fared and says we are certainly not ready for an unceasing and unrelenting rate of change and the uncertainty and chaos that will unleash. Institutions that once served as stabilizers have grown unstable. As an exercise, he recommends organizing a scenario planning session with your team, identifying three major disruptions relevant to your industry and developing a proactive plan for dealing with each.
- Futurist Mindset: This doesn’t require you to predict the future but to observe what is shaping it and how those forces may come together. “Futurists are methodical, systematic thinkers who are passionately interested in the direction, implications, threats and opportunities that observation reveals,” he explains. Three key questions to ask: What is the probable future, what is the possible future and what is the preferred future? Helpful exercise: Have your team conduct a trend-spotting workshop, dividing into groups to analyze various major trends.
- Adaptability Mindset: Charles Darwin warned that species survive if they are adaptable. “In our time,” Mr. Tucker says, “adaptability is not an event, it’s a mentality.” You need a range of abilities and attitudes, including the willingness to keep learning and evolving throughout life. Also vital: Flexibility, resilience and a willingness to set goals and articulate a clear vision for the future. To get started, conduct a needed-change audit of your organization, identifying processes or practices that have become outdated and then updating them for today.
- Human Agency: Uncertainty, chaos and tidal waves of change can paralyze us. Instead, you must find within yourself the ability to take charge, acting with intent and purpose, believing your positive actions can still influence your fate. As an exercise, have your team discuss the innovation climate in your organization – how welcoming is it to new ideas and initiatives – and then develop a list of specific practices or policies to enhance employee agency and decision-making at all levels.
- Long View Mindset: Grappling with the future requires understanding the past – the road we’ve travelled to get here. As Winston Churchill said: “The farther backward you look, the farther forward you can see.” Mr. Tucker says you want to draw from the lessons, patterns, consequences and mistakes that have unfolded over time, rather than focusing solely on short-term or immediate conditions. He recommends trying this approach personally, setting out a time line for the next 10 years with the major life events you foresee or desire, and then writing out the strategies or mindsets you must inculcate now to ensure you navigate to the preferred outcomes.
- Anticipatory Mindset: He points to Walmart founder Sam Walton’s practice of looking out airplane windows to spot where towns were poised to grow and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos telling his team to think 10 years’ out when competitors were focused on the next quarter. You can’t predict the future but you can forecast the possibilities and the probability of each occurring. His professional exercise here: Hold a monthly “Signals and Insights” meeting with your team, looking at news clippings, competitive announcements and other information that can help you anticipate what’s ahead.
- Visionary Mindset: Develop the ability to look beyond what is and imagine what could be. “The visionary mindset empowers us to approach the future not as a fixed path, but rather as a playing field of possibilities and potentialities,” he writes. A personal exercise: Envision your ideal future 10 years from now in vivid detail. Professional Exercise: Organize a Vision Summit within your organization in which team members collaborate to articulate a more compelling vision of the future.
His premise about an Age of Acceleration feels accurate. Instead of moaning about chaos and uncertainty and change being forced upon us, it’s wiser to prepare.
Quick hits
- Blogger Seth Godin recommends some time travel into the future: We can’t change the past. But the future may be up to us. It therefore might be best to daydream about what might be, not what already happened.
- Andy Crestodina, co-founder of Orbit Media, a digital agency, says search optimization tactics have to change in a world of artificial intelligence, because prompts are longer and looking for more specific congruence with needs. To convince the AI that you’re the best of the many options, you need to provide evidence on your website and reasons that go beyond the traditional experience, expertise, authority and trust. He points to case studies, testimonials, reviews, endorsements, certifications, awards, impact data, years in business and team credentials as trust-building formats that influence the likelihood that AI recommends your brand.
- In 2026, abandon these job interview questions that executive coach Dan Rockwell says get you nowhere: What’s your biggest weakness? Where do you see yourself in five years? Why should we hire you? Why do you want to work here? If you were an animal, what would you be?
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.