Flash Foresight: See the Invisible to Do the Impossible

Flash Foresight. How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible. by Daniel Read Flash Foresight and let Daniel Burrus show you how. The possibilities are.
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Look at what the "hard trends" are. These are things that we know with certainty or very strongly believe are going to happen. Baby Boomers or technological or scientific progress. Examples 1 Rap will remain a very popular genre in 20 years 2 Gas will continue to be the same price in 30 years 3 Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook will continue to be just as dominant in 10 years These MIGHT happen, but they also might not.

This is simply the idea that sometimes we obsess over solving a particular challenge but we lose sight of the bigger picture. Let's say you are about to get fired from your job. You're worried and are trying to do everything to get on your boss' good side. But maybe you should step back and think, "what is my real problem? My real problem is that I need enough income to pay rent and buy necessities and save a little bit for retirement. Maybe I can solve this problem in a different way. For example if all the firms in your sector are focused on being the lowest cost provider, maybe your company can be the premium quality provider?

Or if all the guys at the party are competing with each other to impress girls by being flashy and obnoxious maybe you'll play up that you are a cool and chill thoughtful guy who is NOT a "bro"? Basically trying to look where others are not looking. So it does have some interesting ideas and food for thought, but it definitely feels padded out.

Jun 21, Mike Corso rated it really liked it. Excellent approach to business building. The six or seven main pillars are given too many examples but if you just keep reviewing the essences anticipate Mar 31, Rich Schuette rated it it was amazing. Not often you pick up one of these books and get your idea and motivation. This one did it for me. Jul 15, WPO Columbus rated it it was amazing. The predictions are often varied and can be interpreted or misinterpreted in numerous ways. Burrus turns the notion on its head by helping executives stop wasting time by attempting to discern what may happen and fixating instead on hard trends, those aspects of a business cycle for which a business can prepare.

Burrus is a strong writer who puts a tremendous amount of intensity into supporting his ideas. Jun 14, Bill Palmer rated it really liked it. Predict the future with confidence! He developed this Predict the future with confidence! He developed this list of principles, or triggers, through years of strategic consulting for Fortune companies, particularly in the realm of technological innovation.

With an engaging style and an arsenal of anecdotes from his own personal experiences, Burrus guides the reader through each of these principles. A cursory look may leave the casual reader unimpressed. Burrus repeatedly shows the all-too-human tendency to make the same mistakes in business and in life, reacting rather than preparing for the inevitable. The simplicity of his presentation is also its genius. The single biggest drawback of this book is an occasional whiff of arrogance. Like many business writers, Burrus establishes credibility through personal stories. For the most part, these stories are an asset.

Unfortunately, there are times when the anecdotes become tiresome simply because he elaborates so profusely on his knack for predicting the future. Burrus is convincing in his argument that no one can afford to be unskilled in anticipating the trends of tomorrow. Mar 31, Jim rated it it was amazing. Burrus at an IT service management conference this year Pink He was exceptionally interesting so I picked up his book. His ideas on hard and soft trending, getting rid of rear-view mirrors, stop worrying about information and constantly driving home the pace of change requires us to constantly change were really thoughtful.

I appreciated his insight regarding less cooperation and more collaboration. He makes a compelling argument for changes to our education system, why competit I heard Mr. He makes a compelling argument for changes to our education system, why competition has to change from a scarcity model to an abundance model and finally his examples of future thinking really made the book a great story. This is a book you want to beg college kids to read to give them a leg up on being successful. Just a wonderful book that I could not put down. Nov 26, Bill Hunter rated it liked it. Not sure what all the hype is about.

Some good points but I found it clunky and a lot of the concepts in the taxonomy presented are reverse engineered into very shallow 'real life' examples. Burrus is obviously very accomplished and I don't think the book conveys what he's all about very week which is a pity. Would have loved to have seen more actual methodologi Not sure what all the hype is about.

Would have loved to have seen more actual methodological analysis. Read the intro and the conclusions to each chapter if you want to get a good gist of what the books on about. Oct 10, Mbogo J rated it it was amazing. These books with sentence length titles promising heaven are a notorious lot. It's like they know that if they don't sell in the title, no one is going to buy them. Not forgetting they rehash the obvious and give them catchy names and call that hot air "insight". I normally give them a wide berth.

With this one,goodreads kept suggesting it to me based on my previous reads until I finally gave up and read it. It is an amazing book. It does suffer from the follies of its cousins in rehashing the ob These books with sentence length titles promising heaven are a notorious lot. It does suffer from the follies of its cousins in rehashing the obvious but its central thesis of hard and soft trends allows it to get the full five stars.

A good read indeed. Nov 21, Dunrie rated it liked it Shelves: The book overlaps with his talk a fair bit, and is a good refresher if you've heard him speak and introduction if you have not. His action steps at the end of most chapters are useful, otherwise it is easy to let the narrative flow over you and not inspire anything! Apr 25, Sam rated it really liked it. A colleague who I respect recommended this book saying it had significantly influenced his way of thinking.

I picked it up and wasn't disappointed. There is tremendous insight into understanding the future and being able to proverbially move to where the pick will be by looking at hard and soft trends. In today's ever accelerating environment, one needs to constantly change to keep up let alone get ahead. Flash Foresight shows how to thrive in this environment. I listened to this as an audio book and kept wishing I had a highlighter handy. There was enough interesting points that were pertinent to my accounting business that I found it beneficial particularly when he talked about dematerialization This as definitely impacted my firm in the past 4 years.

He also encouraged me to ask better questions regarding the future of the firm and how I would like to see technology change the way I do business. Oct 15, Neil rated it really liked it Shelves: Burrus highlights some key frameworks for where technology is taking us in the future. A lot of his examples are inspiring, and a lot of them are slightly obvious.

Nevertheless, Burrus has some very valuable points in this book and it is worth reading for anyone either in business or interested in technology. Oct 27, Teri Temme rated it it was amazing. Discover the exact techniques I used to build confidence, make new friends, and overcome a lifetime of social awkwardness!


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    Read Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible - Small Business Trends

    Read reviews that mention future business burrus daniel trends thinking dan opportunities ideas principles technology insights examples ways today john transform industry mann seven. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. As I was reading Flash Foresight, the quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth keep popping into my mind, "If you can look into the seeds of time and say which grains will grow and which will not, speak then to me. We just need to look at the right seeds have the proper focus and realize that some things we can see and some things we cannot.

    How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible

    The things we can see he calls hard trends. A soft trend is based on statistics that have the appearance of being tangible, fully predictable facts. A hard trend is something that will happen: A soft trend is something that might happen: GM losing its market dominance to Toyota was not a hard trend, because GM could have stopped it from happening. But they didn't" We need to learn to distinguish between hard trends - things we know are going to happen no matter what, and soft trends where things can change.

    In , in a speech before 10, attendees at the National Bookseller's Association, Mr. Burrus predicted "Within the next two to three years, you're going to see a successful virtual bookstore opening up online Burrus, there are seven keys to mastering Flash Foresight. Understand the hard trends and apply them to your set of circumstances. Observe what is happening and anticipate what must follow next. We often focus on one problem when in fact it is merely a symptom. Skipping the problem allows to really see the root problem which is what must be solved. Go degrees from where everyone else is going.

    The book is filled with fascinating insights about a variety of things. You will be totally engaged with the book. You will learn some valuable tools which will allow you to clearly see the future. Instead of wishing you had purchased the stock of Microsoft or Amazon. But more importantly, you will be able to get ahead of the curve for your own business or life. When you apply even the most brilliant minds to the wrong questions, the best you can hope to come up with is really brilliant bad answers.

    If you apply what you learn from this book, it will make a huge difference in your life. I highly recommend it. I read a lot of leadership books and you sometimes have to wade through a lot of mediocre books to get to a jewel. Flash Foresight is definitely a jewel. So good that I have sent it to clients and I will read it again.

    This book makes you think in the same manner that the essays in Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw" makes you think. More importantly it provides a systematic approach to conquer the challenges addressed in the book. If I had to pick one phrase from the book that communicates its essence it would be what the author describes as the new golden rule of business "If it can be done, it will be done If you don't do it, someone else will.

    Even though the summarized actions are well written, reading the entire chapter is still well worth it to get the context. Excellent use of examples from industry and the authors experience with references are provided when appropriate. The author provides a systematic approach with seven "foresight triggers" and eight "pathways of technological advancement. What are the hard trends of your future, versus the soft trends? What are the permanent, linear changes and what are the cyclical changes? How are the three digital accelerators and eight pathways of technology driven transformation going to affect your life and work?

    What are the problems you are going to have tomorrow, next week, next month? A few years down the road? What are the problems your kids, your spouse, your employees, your associates, your customers are going to have? Even better, what are the future problems of those people who are not yet your customers but will be if you have solutions to their problems by the time they happen?

    Flash Foresight: See The Invisible To Do The Impossible by Daniel Burrus

    But that's not reality Anything and everything can become a commodity; and any product or service can be decommoditized. Not long ago, a CEO of a large company told me he was reluctant to spend the money to upgrade his people's skills. The organizations that are succeeding today are those that have learned how to fail fast-and who do not fail to learn.

    Here is the question you need to ask yourself: This book not only will re-frame your thinking but you can use it as a tool to re-frame the thinking of those around you. This book is beyond a good idea, beyond an academic's theory I read dozens of business books every year. I do that to stay current and to prepare for interviews I have with authors on my Business Builders Show podcast. I first read this book in January I needed to review it again when I had Daniel Burrus scheduled on the show.

    I was amazed how much this book and Daniel's work has affected my own business and what I share with my clients. This work will transform your business. And, you need to subscribe to anything Daniel Burrus is connected to.