John Naisbitt is a an American author and speaker on the topic of future studies. He is most known for the global success of his book, Megatrends, in 1982. The book projected many important long term future economic trends of American society. His book was a New York Times #1 Best Seller.
Naisbitt has spent much of his life travelling the globe. He has spoken to all the major corporations of the world during his travels. Naisbitt has been studying and visiting Asia since 1967 to predict the rise of Asia’s economy. His latest book, Innovation In China, is China’s #1 translated book.
John Naisbitt has served as Assistant Secretary of Education to President Kennedy, and Special Assistant to President Johnson. He studied at Utah, Harvard and Cornell and holds 17 honorary doctorates in the humanities, technology and sciences.
The following are some witty thoughts from John Naisbitt:
In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.
Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data.
Lawyers are like beavers: They get in the mainstream and dam it up.
Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.
One of the best kept secrets in America is that people are aching to make a commitment, if they only had the freedom and environment in which to do so.
Strategic planning is worthless – unless there is first a strategic vision.
The most reliable way to forecast the future is to try to understand the present.
The new leader is a facilitator, not an order giver.
Trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are going.
We are shifting from a managerial society to an entrepreneurial society.
The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.
We have for the first time an economy based on a key resource [Information] that is not only renewable, but self-generating. Running out of it is not a problem, but drowning in it is.
In an information society, education is no mere amenity; it is the prime tool for growing people and profits.
The big-business mergers and the big-labour mergers have the appearance of dinosaurs mating.
It is in the nature of human beings to bend information in the direction of desired conclusions.
Having to be right shackles your mind.
If you have to be right, you put yourself in a hedged lane, but once you experience the power of not having to be right, you will feel like you are walking across open fields, the perspective wide and your feet free to take any turn.
The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many.
We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human race.
The introduction of any new technology alters life, relationships, and societies, on a macro and micro level.
Posted in collaboration with BillRingle.com.