Reset your Thinking and see the future
Collins, October 2006 In the tradition of
Naisbitt’s reputation of forecasting the future, Mind Set! provides
a visionary look at the global economic, political and cultural landscape
that will dominate the next decades of the 21st century:
From Country Borders to Economic Borders; The EU’s two hearts and
27 Mindsets on a path of “Mutually Assured Decline”? Dealing
with China where the Periphery is the Center; The reservoir of innovation
our evolutionary era provides; New rules in Communication in the shift
from word to visual.
But Mind Set! goes beyond that. John Naisbitt opens the door to what enables
him to see the future: deliberately developed mindsets. The first part
of the book is defining and exemplifying 11 Mindsets as tools to evaluate
and select information and put together the pieces that will form new
pictures of the future. It also shows the impact those mindsets can have
in business, politics, government and personal life.
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Why
do your Mindsets make a difference?
Mindsets are the software that supervise our thinking. But while we are
updating and upgrading the software in our computers, we neglect to update
the software for the most complex computer there is, the computer in our
heads. We have the choice: We can stick with the standard program –
mindsets that are inculcated or driven by social coercion as we go through
life – or we can deliberately develop mindsets. Mindsets that will
enable us to navigate our thinking through the jungle of information to
get a clear understanding of the present, the key to anticipate what the
future holds.
Create new Mindsets
Part I of Mind Set! tells stories about the world’s greatest thinkers,
shows examples of idols and rebels of today’s business world, and
underscores the great impact mindsets have in business and live.
Each person will rank the mindsets in a different way -- different tasks
demand different tools. For leaders: "Don't get so far ahead of the
parade that people don't know you are in it," advises us to stay
within the field of vision of those we want to lead. For entrepreneurs:
“You don’t get results by solving problems, but by exploiting
opportunities,” points out why most of the outstanding people are
opportunity-seekers, and not problem-solvers. For those who want to anticipate
the future: “Focus on the score of the game” is the platform
to build on. “While many things change, most things remain constant”
is a basic to start looking for the drivers of change that will shape
the future.
Mindsets to identify Megatrends
Part II of Mind Set!, based on the 11 Mindsets of Part One, provides forecasts
of what will shape the first half of the 21st century. It examines the
forces that are driving the shift from “Nation Borders to Economic
Borders.” The consequence is the need of a new index: Global Domains
as the measure of performance and as a guide to judge and evaluate the
standing of our own field of endeavor. Living in Europe since 2000, John
Naisbitt describes the European Union as a statue with 2 hearts and 27
mindsets, each heart beating towards a different goal: to be a welfare
paradise or the most dynamic knowledge driven economy of the world.
Mindset Part II offers a picture of China's neglected decentralization
-- in China the Periphery is the center, and those centers are in furious
competition for shares in the global markets. The chapter on a “Visual
World” illustrates the demands of new ways of communication. And
lastly, “The Evolutionary Era” reveals itself as a reservoir
of innovation.
The world is never transforming as a whole, nor is everything changing.
We need to distinguish between the paths that are reaching into the future
and those which will just be a blip on the screen of the world. Part II
is the frame, in which you can reconstruct the process of seeking, choosing
and evaluating the pieces, which, connected in the right way, form your
picture
of the future.
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