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Abstract

The late Kenneth Boulding advised those who would prepare for the future to prepare to be surprised. Five emerging trends promise to do that for corporate leaders and to blindside those least well prepared. Over the next decade or two, America and every other advanced industrial nation will reconsider how much time adults are willing to cede to paid work versus subsidized leisure. They will struggle to accommodate an absolute loss in available jobs as "smart" steel-collar equipment boosts productivity and displaces human workers as never before. They will come to terms with new workplace partners, a species of smarter-than-human "thoughtware" programs. They will confront an unprecedented widening of the gap between two overriding social classes, the Information Haves and the Information Have Nots. And they will find it necessary to recast a bright new national vision superior to the Orwellian vision that otherwise beckons. Although formidable, these five trends are not "laws" and can be revised, altered, and even reversed, provided national will and resources are so focused. To help promote a constructive approach, three specific reforms are linked to each trend, and a strong case is made thereby for farsighted leadership from corporate "'futurists."

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Management as Usual... Not!

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