Customer Reviews

What's Next?: Exploring the New Terrain for Business

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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This very readable book was given a favourable mention in last year's 'Wired' magazine. It presents informal, interview style responses to topical questions affecting the future landscape of business. The 'What' in 'What's Next' includes Economic trends, Public policy, Ethics, Biotechnology, Terrorism and many more. Futurism is often a distracted and boffinish business, in which little or no practical advice is offered as to how to use its predictions. This text however has a strong strategic skew. It targets a business reader with a view towards orienting long term business strategy to take advantage of emerging and yet to emerge trends. If you want informed medium and long term predictions this is a good resource, particularly if you have an interest in technology investment.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a collection of short 1-2 page quotes from one of the GBN members espousing their views on a given topic. The quotes are arranged by topic, so you get a whole range of viewpoints on the big issues that the world may face in the next 10 years.

The GBN members make their points in a very entertaining fashion, full of good quotes and stories. I found it to be densely thought provoking. You want to stop and ponder after every few pages. You may not agree with all of what they say, but the GBN has an interesting world view.

If you're unfamiliar with GBN, be sure to check out the GBN book club recommendations on their website. It is a collection of some of the most interesting books I've read.

A large variety of forces are shaping our future, and the book aims to explore the many forces. There are many views about many subjects, and the book provides interesting samples.

This book is interesting, and I do recommend the book. First, the text highlights some potential trends that we might observe in the future. These trends are focused on business, but there may be social impacts as well. Second, the text provides insights from a range of individuals who should know something about the world. There are two negatives. First, the book is already five years old (and that's since its publication--who knows how long the publisher worked the book). Second, the book includes many opinions due to the range of experts providing content. The reader must connect the dots.

The first paragraph of the introduction says it all! The future begins....