Quotes from Peter Schwartz

scenario creation is a function of good imagination.

an inadequate diversity of views. Our

Diversity really does matter. Inviting people into the conversation who make you uncomfortable is a very good idea. Sometimes

an inadequate diversity of views.

Diversity really does matter. Inviting people into the conversation who make you uncomfortable is a very good idea.

The tension between isolationism and the global economy creates what George Kennan called "fateful alliances": multinational power blocs. We call them "New Empires" because they take on the qualities of empires. Federated and all-powerful, bureaucratic but decentralized, these superpower-style blocs of countries and corporations grow to dominate the world. They are often benevolent, but they are always despots.

In a simple system, if I pull a lever, I get the expected result. If I turn my wheel, the car turns. In a more complex system, I turn the wheel and there may be a very large amount of lag time.

If these devices appear in large enough numbers, it could mean the end of the electric grid that underlies industrial civilization. Homes would still be connected, but the nature of interconnection would change and economics of location would be different.

For individuals and small businesses, scenarios are a way to help develop their own gut feeling and assure that they have been comprehensive, both realistic and imaginative, in covering all the important bases.

And there is, of course, a filter within yourself. When a book, or magazine article, or idea makes you uncomfortable, notice your exact reaction. If you're bored, move on. If you feel threatened, stay with it and see what troubles you.

Could your data be wrong? Could

A few years ago writer Art Kleiner interviewed the late W. Edwards Deming, founder of the "quality movement" first in Japan and then in the United States. What was the greatest pleasure he took in his work? "Learning!" the ninety-two-year-old Deming thundered, and steered the conversation to what his interviewer could tell him.

Could your data be wrong?

Sources of Surprise: Make the time to read outside your immediate specialty—if necessary, taking time from more "active" tasks. Stick bookmarks in promising places, then graze the marked passages later. Allow yourself to become enthralled once in a while.

It is always worth asking yourself: "how could I be wrong?

Knowledge is the only kind of wealth that multiplies when you give it away

if you wanted to see the future you could not go to conventional sources of information.

Informal, Explicit, Relevant Ã¢â'¬Â¦ and Fun A strategic conversation is a carefully thought-out but loosely facilitated series of in-depth conversations for the key decision-makers throughout an organization. Strategic conversations don't exist in addition to existing planning efforts; they are effective ways of framing the planning efforts that already take place, to further illuminate the decisions that are already being made.

Knowledge is the only kind of wealth that multiplies when you give it away.