?? #THINK #FUTURE

?? "#ONLY the #FUTURE is #MANAGEABLE”

??? When I first heard this statement, way back in 1969, it totally changed my life and focus (see later). And I have repeated it ever since, with every client, in every speech.

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??? Here's the story ...

??? I migrated to Canada from England in 1968 to join the Chief Accountants Department of TD Bank. In 1969, the bank embarked on implementing Management by Objectives (MBO) across its system.

??? The idea of MBO was first outlined by Peter Drucker in his book “The Practice of Management” (1954). MBO was then developed by George Odiorne, his student, and became popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

??? To help us become aware about MBO, everyone from the Chairman of the Board to first-line supervisors (such as myself) had to attend a 4-day seminar on MBO. The seminar leaders were a university professor and a management consultant.

??? On the first day, the consultant pronounced that “Only the Future is Manageable” which he explained as follows.

~ You can’t manage the Past, because it is over. You can only change a previous decision by making a new decision, sometime from now.

~ You can’t manage the Present, because it doesn’t exist. It is a fleeting nano-second of time as we move from the Past into the Future.

??? Therefore, management is about “managing what hasn’t happened yet.” ... Let that sink in! ... You need to anticipate the future and ensure every decision you make will be as effective as possible for the future. And this is where MBO comes in.

??? Back then, MBO was also called Corporate Planning, but today it is Strategic Planning. In order to plan and set objectives, you need to anticipate future change and figure out how various trends are going to manifest themselves in various scenarios.

??? Anyway, this concept blew my mind and I instantly became a futuristic thinker. And this has been the key to my success. It turned out that the consultant was also head of the Toronto Chapter of the World Future Society, based in Washington, DC. I immediately joined the Chapter and he later asked me to take it over, to which I eagerly agreed.

??? Later, in 1988, World Future Society (WFS) asked me to help organize its General Assembly, which it wished to hold in Toronto in 1980. I again eagerly agreed to the challenge and we assembled teams in Washington and Toronto to pull it off.

??? We called it “The First Global Conference on the Future”. It was a great success, with 6,000 attendees, and 1,000 speakers from 600 countries. The largest future conference ever held, still to this day! Those attendees included a small group from China that was arranged by a friend of mine.

??? After the Conference, China invited me to a lecture tour in China. Finally, in 1984, I visited 5 Chinese cities and talked about “Only the Future is Manageable,” and also Alvin Toffler’s book “Third Wave” which all top people in China had read. As a result of that tour, China appointed me a Special Advisor on its Economic Modernization Program.

??? So that MBO seminar changed my life in several ways. I have more "happenstance" stories to tell, but that will have to be another time.

??? Just remember to always “Think Future” and that “Only the Future is Manageable”. And I guarantee you will be more successful in life and business.

??? In sum, managing the future is like driving a car with GPS to reach your objective.