Futureview: A Roadmap for Growth and Prosperity
by Daniel Burrus
On May 25, 1961, in his “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent Needs,” a young president painted an insanely bold picture of our future in the language of a dare: We’ll put a man on the moon and get him back safely—within the decade.
The truly crazy thing, of course, is that we did.
What JFK employed there was what I call Futureview®, and right now it may be our most pressing national challenge.
Futureview is your ability to project yourself into the future and then look back at your present position from that future point of view. Futureview is not the same thing as a goal, plan, ambition, or aspiration. It is not something you hope for or try for. When Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke to a great people about their greater future, he didn’t say, “I have a plan.”
Futureview is the picture you hold, for better or for worse, of what you expect and believe about your future.
How you view the future shapes how you act in the present; how you act in the present shapes your future. Your futureview determines the future you.
My concern is that for many Americans today, their futureview is bleak.
In India and China, the prevailing futureview is positive. Young and old alike are actually excited about their future. The atmosphere crackles with an optimistic, can-do energy.
Visit the airport in Beijing and ride the train that transports passengers from terminal to terminal. On its walls you’ll see posters highlighting Chinese entrepreneurs, their dreams and accomplishments. Get off the train and into the city: everywhere you look, you’ll see evidence of seemingly impossible ideas becoming reality. Dreams are everywhere.
The result? These people are moving forward, proactively building their future. They see a bright tomorrow. So they’re creating it.
And here in the U.S.? The American futureview is mostly negative, filled with apprehension and fear. This is the first generation of parents since World War II who do not believe their children will have a better, richer life than they did.
Making the Impossible Possible
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to converse with Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. He said that in the years following Kennedy’s articulation of that goal, NASA engineers would periodically hit a major roadblock and declare the goal impossible.
Each and every time, the response from those in charge was the same: “We’re going to the moon.”
So the engineers would go back to their benches with a renewed determination to do the impossible. Every time they hit a snag, that unshakable futureview held them to their task.
“They kept solving those unsolvable problems,” Armstrong added, “until one day, there I was—walking the lunar surface.”
And here we are, a little over fifty years later. Who is standing up to paint us an insanely bold picture of our future? Who is calling out that impossible dare, naming it so we can all go about the great work of achieving it?
So far, the answer is, “nobody.” Everyone seems too busy casting blame and keeping their eyes glued to the problems.
Here’s the good news: the potential for real innovation, growth, and new prosperity in the United States is vastly greater than the prevailing futureview suggests. We are in a time of massive, technology-driven, transformational change, pregnant with opportunity. Realize it or not, we have an unprecedented ability to create new products, new services, new markets, and new careers — provided we exercise the futureview it takes to see them.
If we don’t, they will remain invisible. And you can’t build what you can’t see.
The problems we face today are not economic or technical in nature. They are largely in our minds. We need to take a fresh, close look at what it is we’re looking at.
The sooner we start looking at the extraordinary opportunities before us and seeing a picture so insanely bold that we feel compelled to reach for it, the sooner we can get about the business of seizing those opportunities and transforming our society—for generations to come.
DANIEL BURRUS is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous untapped opportunities. He is the author of Flash Foresight, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book.
Futureview® is a registered trademark of Burrus Research Associates, Inc. and Daniel Burrus.
This is truly inspirational. You are quite right. We cannot waste time wallowing in problems and filling our minds with negative thoughts. We need to really believe that we can achieve the impossible if we expect to move forward and excel. I love this line, “How you view the future shapes how you act in the present; how you act in the present shapes your future.” Our vision of the future determines our actions now. Great article.
Sounds like you appreciated Daniel’s post as much as I did. I love your line: Our vision of the future determines our actions now. Thanks for your thoughts, Tagrid.
Absolutely agree. Without a vision for the future and a timeframe in which to achieve it, you will just tread water and end up being left behind and demotivated. Once you have that vision and a number of small achievable goals to get you there, before you know it, you will be there! I would like to share 2 of my favourite quotes in support of The Value of Vision: “Your Limitations are Imaginary” and “Every Disadvantage can be turned into and equal, or better Advantage”. We need to seek the bold visions and seize the opportunities!
Love your quotes, Peter, and your positive view of the potential for the future. You will make a difference not only for yourself but for those you touch.
Hi Jesse Lyn
Daniel Burrus hit the nail on the head when he said that Americans are too busy blaming others for their problems and mistakes and not stepping up to take responsibility for their own future. Sorry to harp on the parents, but I’m inundated with stories of how parents protect their kids from facing the consequences of their actions . . . they are such a privileged group of people! Hah!
Our society has raised a generation who feels entitled, and until that little fantasy has run it’s course, it’s going to be a great opportunity for other nations around the world to step into the void.
All it takes is a little discipline and lots of hard work. Sorry to be such a grouch . . .
LaRae
Interesting to trace this phenomenon back to parenting. We certainly see how this attitude plays out in the workplace and in politics – where everyone is blaming others for not providing the right leadership. I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Lily Tomlin: “I said, ‘Somebody should do something about that.’ Then I realized I am somebody.” Thanks for sharing your insights here, LaRae!
Too true. Hart Blanton is credited with the line, ‘The problem with understanding something is that it gives you the illusion that you can fix it’. The NASA engineers had to study the problem of getting to the moon, but they had a common vision. Studying the US’s current problems without a vision means we will tend to fixate on the wrong issues despite the opportunities that abound.
Easy to say, but what to do? During NASA’s heyday the US had a common enemy, Russia. Today Americans have more in common about what they want in the future than they realize. It’s just not as easy to identify as when they feared Russia. Leadership, please!
You hit the nail on the head – “Studying the US’s current problems without a vision means we will tend to fixate on the wrong issues despite the opportunities that abound.” As always, appreciate your sharing your insights here, Alan.
I also think that in 1961 we were deep into our love affair with engineering when the machine was the perfect metaphor for life, especially work life. Coming up with a vision for an engineering feat like going to the moon was something concrete that we could all rally around (although maybe that’s just hindsight). Today we are seeing the limits of the engineering model and it is ushering a much messier (albeit more holistic)era that connects heart and mind. Finding a universal vision of the heart is going to be much harder, and one might question whether it can be done. As a matter of fact, when it comes to affairs of the heart, we’re much more likely to rally around a vision of hate and exclusion.
An interesting perspective, Kate! Context is crucial. I agree we are more likely to rally around a vision of hate and exclusion, we’re hard-wired neurologically for survival to close our ranks and protect our tribe. But we have a frontal cortex, which gives us the ability to consciously over-ride our conditioning.. as long as we remain conscious and vigilant.
How about we rally around a vision of engaged prefrontal cortexes everywhere all the time – What a vision.
Hi Jesse Lyn
I liked Daniel’s notion of an ‘insanely bold picture of the future’, although his post read and felt more like a technological and political treatise than a real discussion on vision. I’m also not in a position to nor would I wish to make judgements on the state of the US national psyche or the bleakness of its current ‘futureview’.
However, I can remark on Daniel’s comparison with China, having visited there last year, which I thought again demonstrated the limitations of a technologically-focused perspective on vision. If you walk ‘off the beaten track’ in any of the cities ~ Beijing, Shanghai, Luoyang and Xi’an to name a few ~ as I did, as distinct to riding the Beijing air terminal transport, you will see people living in a very different way to that portrayed by Daniel.
Appearances are and can, of course, be deceptive! So for me, vision needs to move way beyond that realm and drive an agenda that all can engage with and, ultimately, benefit from. That’s why I liked the notion of an insanely bold picture of the future. Unfortunately Daniel’s future seemed, for me, somewhat focused on a future for entrepreneurs and therein lies the limitation.
Fortunately, having read all the responses to his post, I read Kate Emery’s vision, based on your prompt, and thought, “Yes … now that would be something!” I look forward to reading her forthcoming post … and thank you for sharing.
Thanks John –
What do want? EPC! When do we want it? Now!!! All together… We could try it:>)
I agree with you that we need to move past the alter of technology. I also think we’re going to have to own up to the shortcomings of free market capitalism which celebrates individualism and greed to something that honors and applauds our willingness and desire to help make the world a better place. Social enterprise does that and for me is a very bright spot on the horizon.
Here’s a link to my post. It doesn’t offer up a specific vision so much as explain why I think vision is important to me. https://seapointcenter.com/kate-emery-on-vision/
HI John. You raise some excellent points. I believe Daniel’s basic message is sound – We are at the crux of huge opportunity brought about as a result of technology advances and others. We do have choices we have not totally seen, not only as individuals, but as a people, as communities and as nations. It is more powerful to move forward because we see a desirable choice rather than out of fear.
But translation from theory to practice is always the challenge. And it helps to see examples of how people are doing it. This is the reason I am hosting a posts on a broad array from theory to examples, from personal to organizational to national. Kate Emery is doing amazing things in Connecticut, US. Her blog post only describes the surface of a very impressive accomplishment and there is a link to ReSET if you want to know more about their vision and how they are moving forward on it.
I also suggest you read the blog post by Shilpa Jain. Through her organization Yes!, they bring together young leaders and change makers around the world to create a vision for the world they will inherit. https://seapointcenter.com/shilpa-jain-on-vision/
Interesting things are going on in Seattle, Vancouver, Bhutan and other places as well around the happiness initiative. John DeGraaf (author of Affluenza and What’s the Economy for Anyway) is working with the King of Bhutan sees economic growth as a means and not an end goal, and wants to use the health and well-being of its citizens as the measure of its success as a country. suggest we replace GNP with GNH (happiness). The UN is taking it seriously http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/opinion/the-un-happiness-project.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I really appreciate your comments, John. Challenging questions push us to dig deeper. Thank you for enriching the conversation.
Hi Kate
You made me really smile, as your chant took me back to my Student Union days ~ I was something of an activist ~ marches on Parliament, the works! I even had long hair, although now I’d just like some hair!
We are clearly kindred spirits and I look forward to reading your post proper ~ just playing catch up now with my SoMe stuff, as I’ve had a sudden bout of very frenetic activity on the home and business fronts! I am especially keen to read it because, as I write, I am just breaking off for a moment from writing, rather belatedly, the minutes and agenda for tonight’s management committee meeting of a community benefit company that I chair. The company is led by young people for young people and 66% of the committee are young people aged 16-22, who are passionate about providing services for young people in their local community! So I am with you big style on the social enterprise agenda, especially where young people have the power to really decide what matters! Like you too, I’m not so worried about whether a vision is offered per se in these posts,although that would be fun. I am very happy as long as the need for compelling vision is acknowledged.
Thanks for your feedback, which was very much appreciated. Have a brilliant week ahead!
Wow Jesse – thank you for the personal feedback, which was much appreciated, and for the broader feedback on other alternatives and initiatives, which were fascinating and I will explore further when time allows.
I also agree entirely that it is more desirable to move forward out of choice than fear. In fact, I also think that ‘business as usual’ is the mortal enemy of positive change. So, for me, technological advances have to be embraced and utilised fully and I therefore applaud the eclecticism of your choices and they are really helping me to dig deeper too! I am also truly grateful for enabling me to connect with Kate, as that would have been a serious opportunity missed! Thank you for your continuing leadership and vision – I find it very inspirational!
Hi Jesse
I would agree with Daniel in that the western world’s biggest problem is a total lack of any positive vision of the future. Our political leadership and with rare exception it applies to almost every nation, lack any future vision at all, but politics has become focussed on what the media wants, and TVs attention span is all of about 15 seconds, and than only if it is a commercial.
I also agree with John on China, the truth about that nation is a small percent have gotten very rich, the vast majority of their citizens are living at the bottom either in poverty or just above it, after all isn’t that the reason so many companies manufacture there (they can pay daily wages equal to a fraction of an hour’s wage in the west).
Indeed, vision is a concept noticeably absent in the political arena. TV favors charisma. Excellent points all around. Thanks for enriching the conversation, Robert.