I remember the day I first heard the words “emergent strategy.” I knew in my gut that I needed this skill, but I was sure I would suck at it. You see, I’m a recovering certainty addict; I like having answers. I’m pragmatic; if something isn’t applicable, then I can’t be bothered by it. What’s more, I’m a task-oriented doer; waiting patiently isn’t my strong suit. So, being thoughtful about what-ifs and cross-sector trend watching felt daunting because it wanted me to wait patiently for answers that might never come. No way! Anticipating change is the work of futurists and predictive data analysts. Right?
It turns out I was right about benefitting from patience, but I was dead wrong about this being the world of ivory tower experts.
Anticipating change is about watching the horizons of the worlds we’re closest to. It’s a form of navigation. Every navigator has a map, and map-making is just a little exploration. Exploration happens effortlessly when we get curious and venture a step or two toward the edge of our functional bubble. The edges of what we’re good at, what we know well, and who we know well.
RSS feeds are helpful, but single-topic-based news feeds only tell us about what’s right at our doorstep. This is no longer sufficient. We also need to see what just arrived in town and keep an eye on what the neighboring territories are cooking up.
Try this on:
- What topic is top of mind when you think of your work function? Do you have it?
- Now, what fields of study inform that topic? Got them?
- Pick one of them, the one that seems to have the greatest opportunity for impact.
- Now, move out one more degree of separation; which fields of study inform that high-impact topic? Pick the one that jumps out at you.
- Who are the greatest minds in that field? Feel free to use a search engine to help you find them. Do they have books, a blog, or a podcast?
- What do these great minds have to say about the state of the art?
We don’t have to be experts to explore our horizons, and if my family has anything to say about it, the patience we learn is well worth the effort.