The world we live in today is more volatile than ever. Events like the collapse of a major company or a devastating terrorist attack seem to come from nowhere. Not only are they shocking and disturbing, it often appears that their prevention would have been impossible.
Not so, says Peter Schwartz, in this fascinating and provocative book. Many "surprises", he argues, soon acquire an aura of inevitability once the underlying patterns of behaviour are examined. And although we cannot do anything about the past, we can try to do something about the future.
What, then, are the next big surprises? How might they play out? This book covers high-level, universal trends - from business to international affairs, from biotechnology to migration - but presents them in the context of the particular and concrete choices people have to make.
A strategic guide to the near future that is as thought-provoking as it is timely, it distinguishes those forces beyond our control from the future we can influence and help design - for the world around us, for our organisations, and for ourselves.
