Customer Reviews

Thinking in the Future Tense

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Jennifer James book uses anthropological words to discuss how we can prepare for the future. Being prepared for the future is the key to being successful in the future. James indicates that by using thinking skills to develop perspective, cultural knowledge, and pattern recognition. Along with a few other skills, they makeup what is essential to be a high powered, on-the-cutting- edge leader or a rising underling in an organization. James also indicates that there will have to be a change process and says that taking seven steps (seeing the window, exploration, integration, plunge, landing, evaluation, sharing) in that process will allow for a smooth transition. James also discusses 8 skills that are needed to think about the future. Having the right perspective, recognizing what is the future, switching myths and symbols of the past, speeding up response time (flexibility, transition change), understanding history for future use, doing more with more or less (balance life, creating energy), mastering new intelligence (thinking and future skills), and profiting from diversity (multicultural, multigender workplaces). I am impressed by the information that was given to back up her ideas on the future. The book is a little disorganized, but it's a great start for someone, like me, to start thinking about how and why they should be thinking about changing for the future. The book was easy to understand and readable. I like how she incorporated her stories as examples; it kept the book light and interesting. A good book to read to begin thinking and planning about the future.

Jennifer James' introduction to Thinking in the Future Tense begins with the tale of lifelong dream - climbing the Himalayans. In many respects the book appears to continue as an uplifting dream - one of human society living together in openness and reason. James' dream seems strikingly similar to the one Martin Luther King, Jr. described in his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, one where people "are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Such dreams are noble ones.

James identifies eight skills needed in order to "think in the future tense." These skills are perspective, pattern recognition, cultural knowledge, flexibility, vision, energy, intelligence, and global values. For her, when one embraces each of these skills an enriching, exciting, and rewarding future will follow. By recognizing change and going with the flow of it, one can harness it to personal advantage is her logic.

Four trends that are drivers of new products and services include increasing complexity and customization, miniaturization, multitasking, and mind/body adaptability. These trends pose new challenges as well as new opportunities for long established businesses and budding entrepreneurs alike.

Coping with the rapid change ushering in the future requires a skillful blend of high energy, lifelong learning, good communication and negotiation skills, financial skills, and a balanced lifestyle. As workers gain greater flexibility in employment, the value of security diminishes. A sense of humor and critical thinking skills will allow future professionals to thrive in a diverse environment with people of varied races, ethnicities, and gender. Inclusive approaches to diversity contribute to a broader pool of ideas, therefore to a competitive edge.

James, like King, dreams of a marketplace and workforce of strong alliances, less tyranny, new civility, and more nonviolence. Let's hope they're both right.

If you want to start to think of the future practically, clearly, and spiritually, James's book "Thinking in the future tense" is a right beginning. This book did not try to answer those questions, such as how to foresee the future, what the future will look like, etc, but can help you to answer a more basic question: are you ready to think in the future tense?

This is a handbook about helping you how to adapt yourself successfully to the future change. In this book, James presents eight skills which are essential for understanding what the future will look like, meeting the challenges of the future, especially for those in a leadership role.

These eight skills are deployed in eight chapters separately. In first three chapters, James identifies the necessities and importance of three skills, perspective, patterns and myths in detail. In fact, those three skills are very interactive. the perspective is shaped by experience, knowledge, memory, and also the myths. The myths are one kind of patterns which represent the culture's deepest beliefs and perception. The perspective also influences the pattern of recognizing the present and future.

In following four chapters, James presents more practical processes to enhance the abilities in future thinking: being flexible and visional, creating energy and security, identifing your intelligence, and measuring your diversity experience. To make those ways more persuasive, she interweaves with a lot of brief stories, which also make the book more readable.

In fact, those skills and processes are not only benefit for your future thinking, but also helping yourselves to envolve new personalities and new characters. On the other hand, just as printed on the book cover that "the key to the future is in your mind", most skills and processes mentioned in this book are based on the past experience, the personal abilities, and the future efforts. There is no shortcut toward the future.

To my personal experience, this book does enlighten my mind in several ways, such as the power of myths and symbols, lodge cultures, observing energy, wild cards. On the other hand, although all skills and processes described in this book seem so reasonable and practicable to me, I more prefer several insightful sparkles sprinkling in the beginning of the book. Such as, the thrill in front of grave, first step in putting five-thousand-piece puzzle together, imagine yourself in front of the stairway of spaceship, the mind like a popcorn popper etc. The attraction of the future just relies on the dilemma between uncertainty of the future and human endless curiosity to imagine and foresee the future.

If we compare Jennifer James' "Thinking in the Future Tense" with Daniel Burrus' "Technotrends," we may feel disappointed that James seems to be falling behind the hightech train. But if we understand that James is operating from an anthropologist's stand point, we must actually thank her for making the effort in helping us to appreciate the use of cultural anthropology in formulating practical philosophy.

I am especially impressed with her ability to drive home her points using anthropological terms such as perspective, culture, values, etc. without long paragraph of definition and at the same time not betraying the professional understanding of those terms.

Reading this book a decade later since it was first published in 1996, I did wonder whether the title still holds, however, I have to concede that Dr. James, an urban cultural anthropologist as well as a widely traveled business lecturer has had a keen vision that would challenge the modern minds of 2006. Good thing is that if we follow her practical advices she spells out across pages, we can not only open up our mind to accept and adapt to the change made in the past, and the changes taking place today, we can also prepare ourselves to become visionaries who could lead the next decade, especially in the world of business.

Author offers "know-how" and "know-what" to understand how the technological change leading to economical change which in turn affects our business and its position in the global world, as well as to adapt to a new society brought by demographic and cultural changes. There are many tips and advices and mind stretching exercises in the book but the author keeps emphasizing the key point is to keep our mind and eyes open. It is easier said than done actually and many of us may believe our mind and eyes are indeed open until we confront with her many thought provoking questions such as whether we feel nostalgia about earlier times. If we say yes to it that is not a good sign as she argues that nostalgia will trap and lock us in, and we become less adaptable in a rapidly changing time.

Author points out that while culture changes slowly unlike technology, economy, and demography due to its deep rooting in the past, it does change and she warns those who fail to accept the cultural change would run the risk of future embarrassment. Women attaining the equal status and gays gaining political power in our society are such examples she cites. For those who are engaged in the global economy, she advises to become aware of the myths and beliefs of each country and culture to which their goods are delivered. Today, a lack of cultural awareness is one of the big issues that managers of US global companies face while having their employees spread over multiple time zones. To stay ahead of the rest, she suggests that we relax our barriers towards new notions by shedding inhibitions created by age, gender, experience, and training.

Myths can interfere with our understanding of the world around us, she says. We assume others think like us when indeed they do not. Myths change as cultures change while myth awareness will increase our ability to look into the future along with the recognition of social trends and patterns that flow beneath the rapid current of change. To gain the power of myth and symbols (which is a summary of myths as she defined) she says to watch for new symbols and notice the shifts in advertising, children's books, new magazines, and best-sellers, and catch trends in sitcoms and know what's hot in other countries.

Corporate manager's ability to understand what's coming or what's in the pipe determines their success. The author provides a simple scenario making exercise for them in which she suggests getting experts' input, talking to a person who is part of the trend they are analyzing, and narrowing down the scenarios to one forecast. She says to learn form the customers and clients. Know answers to the questions such as how the trend affects the business and customers, how it creates new customers or who the potential customers are. The list goes on and the striking thing about her list is that today, many firms are looking to answer just that. To understand their customers and clients and to provide more customer centric services, firms have started implementing sophisticated analytic software such as customer relationship management and business intelligence.

Quite recently a local newspaper reported the result of a longitudinal study following up 698 children on the Island of Kauai for over 40 years. It says "resilience" is the key protective factor for at-risk children to make it into the future successfully. Those resilient people when faced with adverse life events would be able to look forward instead of looking back. I found she too is discussing the importance of being resilient; being able to bounce back and being able to accept mistakes and learn from them, which she says is an important skill to have to become a successful visionary.

One of the practical advices given is so applicable to my present life that I would like to share. It says, "when you're stuck, get out of your office, home, or wherever you are. You can do it through your mind by taking a nap, reading something, or watching a movie, but it helps to move your body as well. Sterile offices without windows shut down the imagination. You can improve your perspective by just standing up (P. 49)." The author indeed offers timeless tips and advices but she mostly wakes up our sleeping mind residing in our perceived norm of life. The book is an easy read and each of its 8 chapters focuses on one area of 8 thinking skill sets she claims must have to become visionaries, and thus chapters can be read in any order. "Seeing with New Eyes", "Harnessing the Power of Myths and Symbols" and "Mastering New Forms of Intelligence" are the 3 such skill sets I briefly touched upon in my review. I recommend this book to anyone who lives in this fast pacing world. It's a very inspiring and rewarding read.

James' book was required reading for my doctoral program. I found it enlightening and thought provoking. So much history and perspective packed into one little book. Makes the reader think about how and why events happen. The future is upon us and FAST. Those who fail to realize this will be left behind.

Jennifer James' "Thinking in the Future Tense: A Workout for the Mind" is easy to read and comprehend, yet delivers on providing challenging exercises to assess one's own mind. Our perceptions are clouded by our culture and our previous experiences, and James offers ways to clear our perception.

James asserts that all change is bordered by changes in four areas: technology; economy; demographic patterns; and cultural transformations. Too often business leaders, and all people in general, refuse to recognize these changes and continue on the path of "business as usual" which can often lead to a company's demise. To better envision the future and take advantage of its opportunities which are necessary for ensuring a healthy and prosperous organization, James describes eight skills necessary to understand and adapt to change: perspective; pattern recognition; cultural knowledge; flexibility; vision; energy; intelligence; and global values.

By noticing that the lines for women's public toilets continued to get longer and longer, one might have realized that many women no longer remained at home and entered the workforce and began attending sports events. It took too long for experts to realize the changing women's roles in society, which was evident in the trend of growing public bathroom lines. Everyone passed these lines, but who took notice? By reading this book, perhaps you can prevent missing the signs that portend future changes. Reading science fiction books and looking at recent paintings are ways of helping to visualize the future.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on diversity. I agree wholeheartedly that eating Mediterranean cuisine is not the same as having interactions with Egyptians or Turks and learning from them. You probably work with or live near a great diversity of people, but have you taken the time to get to know them? Tolerance is not the same as acceptance, and we can all profit from experience with diversity. As the marketplace becomes more global, cultural sensitivity is paramount. This book is a must-read for current managers as well as all those preparing for the workforce of the future.

Today's world and the world beyond will observe the growth and use of technology, the further creation of a global community and our increased interdependence on one another. Jennifer James, cultural anthropologist and author of a timely book, "Thinking in the Future Tense" claims that in order for a person to survive in this world of rapid change, a person must adapt to the change just as rapidly. Thus emerge eight skills - perspective, pattern recognition, cultural knowledge, flexibility, vision, energy, intelligence, and global values that all leaders must acquire to do their jobs more effectively and to ensure their place in the future markets.

At some points in the book, attaining these skills may seem to simple or just requires some common sense. As the old adage goes: Easier said than done. But if a person is serious about being a valuable addition to the future, there needs to be a degree of awareness and a desire to work at it. I believe that is why the book was written.

Overall, the book is an easy read. Anyone, not only those in leadership positions can read the book to be mindful of what the future will look like and what abilities will be required to live in it. James introduces the skills with thoughtful chapter titles. Explanations are simple and thorough with realistic, everyday and true-to-life examples. Communication and psychology theory is creatively expressed in plain vocabulary that anyone can understand no matter what field he or she is in. Therefore, success and competitive advantage in a global market, and the skills to ease into the up and coming world is available to anyone who reads this book.

This book should be titled "Thinking in the Female Tense", or maybe "Thinking in the Jennifer James Tense". Not only does Ms. James constantly bash men, but she obviously feels she is some kind of creative genious, which I seriously doubt.

She supports her theories by picking and choosing examples of companies that have had a succes or failure which she can somehow use to support her "theories". The connection between the success or failure and the reasons for it, which she presents as though factual, are often no more than coincidental. Not only that, but there are often as many examples that would support the total opposite.

The book is also filled with her examples of how creative she thinks she is. It's one of the most egocentric books I've ever read. It should make most readers ill. I can't believe people actually like this book.

Sure, I would agree with some of the obvious: technology is changing the world, change with it, have an open mind, blah, blah, blah... But I don't need to be told this, it's already obvious to me. If you need someone to tell you how to be creative, or open, or politically correct, this book is for you.

I was required to read this book for my MBA. If you don't have to read this book, do not waste your time. There is no real substance contained in this book.

I read this book for an anthrpology class that i am in. I also agree with one of the other commentaries that it is a little scatterbrained in the way it was written. I noticed that things didn't seem to flow together in some certain spots. But in all it does make you think about change and how to approach change as the next century comes upon us.