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Bring your strategic dreaming process back
A balance between pragmatism and idealism
It is fascinating to take a moment and recognize the extensive amount of innovation that has occurred for the past twenty years. Not only have visionary entrepreneurs created multi-billion-dollar companies in such a short period, but technological innovations have dramatically changed the way that we work and play.
However, as Jeff Bezos said, yesterday’s ”wow” things quickly become today’s ordinary as the cycle of improvement happens at a faster rate than ever before. More importantly, new affordable tools — from filming and prototyping tools to crowdfunding — give tremendous creative power to individuals around the world. These tools make customers’ expectations grow faster than the technology’s ability to deliver.
At the end of almost every year, I, along with many entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, freelancers, and corporations, take a moment to look back to leap forward. However, in today’s world, it is all too easy to adopt a short-term perspective. Futurist Ari Wallach, in his famous 2016 TEDx Talk, argued that short-termism might be the fundamental problem that we must tackle before addressing today’s large-scale global issues. And even when entrepreneurs or creators try to adopt a long-term perspective to solve big hairy audacious goals, the “long-term” is often restricted to two or three years ahead. Even though we may think that we are innovating for the future, the simple fact is that our time horizon is too short. Inevitably, the plans and potential solutions tend to remain focused mainly on incremental improvement or a quick fix.
“Creating a better future means thinking beyond the immediate — finding ‘longpath’ to success.” Ari Wallach, Futurist & Social Innovation Strategist
Then, how do we do better or make our current long-term perspective survive for the next decade? Whether we are trying to bring fresh ideas to life or are simply observers, I believe that we can follow these innovators by adopting a…
