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Flash Foresight: See the Invisible to Do the Impossible Kindle Edition

by Daniel Burrus (Author), John David Mann (Contributor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

Flash Foresight offers seven radical principles you need to transform your business today. From internationally renowned technology forecaster Daniel Burrus—a leading consultant to Google, Proctor & Gamble, IBM, and many other Fortune 500 firms—with John David Mann, co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Go-Giver, comes this systematic, easy-to-implement method for identifying new business opportunities and solving difficult problems in the twenty-first century marketplace.

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  4. Publication date
    January 18, 2011
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    1.3 MB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Burrus (Technotrends) has made a career of predicting the future of technological change, and in his latest work, he maintains that you too can develop œflash foresight—a œburst of insight about the future that produces a new and radically different way of doing something that will open up invisible opportunities and solve seemingly impossible problems. Burrus argues that we can enhance our intuitive sixth sense through systematic processes used by educators, scientists, governments, and companies like Crocs, Starbucks, and Amazon. œIt™s not guesswork or psychic ability, writes Burrus. œIt™s purely a question of knowing how and where to look, and taking the time to do the looking. Case studies bring the idea of flash foresight to life, such as how Netflix redefined the home movie industry or how Singapore envisioned its future and transformed itself from a tiny city with no natural resources into a sleek center of global commerce. The ability to see trends and identify future opportunities is a skill anyone can benefit from—and Burrus™s latest work is a valuable introduction to the fundamentals. (Jan.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

“The ability to see trends and identify future opportunities is a skill anyone can benefit from - and Burrus’s latest work is a valuable introduction to the fundamentals.”

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003VIWMMC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins e-books (January 18, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 18, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.3 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

About the authors

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  1. John David Mann

    John David Mann

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    John David Mann is an award-winning author whose writings have earned the Nautilus Award, the Axiom Business Book Award (Gold Medal), Taiwan's Golden Book Award for Innovation, and the 2017 Living Now Book Awards “Evergreen Medal” for “contribution to positive global change.” He is coauthor of the worldwide classic THE GO-GIVER with Bob Burg (more than 1 million copies sold) and 4 New York Times bestsellers. His books are published in 38 languages and have sold more than 3 million copies. His first novel, STEEL FEAR (coauthored with Brandon Webb) was released in July 2021; iconic author Lee Child called it “sensationally good—an instant classic, maybe an instant legend,” and it was nominated for a Barry Award. Jeffery Deaver hailed the 2022 sequel, COLD FEAR, as “one of the best crime novels of the year.” You can read John’s thoughts on entering the world of crime fiction at https://bit.ly/36ASxAa

    John has been creating careers since he was a teenager. At age 17, he and a few friends started their own high school in Orange, New Jersey called Changes, Inc. In his teens he forged a successful career as a concert cellist and prize-winning composer. At 15 he was recipient of the 1969 BMI Awards to Student Composers, then their youngest award recipient ever; his musical score for Aeschylus’s “Prometheus Bound” (written at age 13) was performed at the amphitheater in Epidaurus, Greece, where the play was originally premiered.

    His diverse career has made him a thought leader in several different industries. In 1986 John founded and wrote for Solstice, a journal on health and environmental issues; his series on the climate crisis (yes, he was writing about this back in the eighties) was selected for national reprint in Utne Reader. During the nineties he built a multimillion-dollar sales/distribution organization of over 100,000 people. He was cofounder and senior editor of the legendary journal Upline and editor in chief of Networking Times.

    He is married to Ana Gabriel Mann, his coauthor for THE GO-GIVER MARRIAGE, and considers himself the luckiest mann in the world. You can visit him at www.johndavidmann.com.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Daniel Burrus

    Daniel Burrus

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    Daniel Burrus is considered one of the World’s Leading Futurists on Global Trends and Disruptive Innovation. The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker.

    He has delivered over 3,000 keynote speeches worldwide and is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies, helping them to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations and their future impact. His client list includes Lockheed Martin, Verizon, Microsoft, VISA, Deloitte, Google, Procter & Gamble, KPMG, Honda, FedEx and the U.S. Department of Defense.

    He is the author of seven books, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Flash Foresight, and his latest book, The Anticipatory Organization, is an Amazon No. 1 bestseller.

    Burrus is also a featured writer with millions of monthly readers on the topics of disruptive innovation, exponential change and the future for a variety of publications, including CNBC, Huffington Post and Wired Magazine.

    He has been the featured subject of several PBS television specials and has appeared on programs such as CNN, Fox Business and Bloomberg. Burrus has been quoted in a variety of publications, including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune and Forbes.

    Burrus is an innovative entrepreneur who has founded six businesses, four of which were U.S.national leaders in the first year. He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.

    He is the creator of the Hard Trend Methodology and the Anticipatory Organization® Business Model now being used by leading organizations worldwide.

    His accurate predictions date back to the early 1980s where he became the first and only futurist to accurately identify the 20 exponential technologies that would become the driving force of business and economic growth for decades to come. Since then, he has continued to establish a worldwide reputation for his exceptional record of predicting the future of technology-driven change and its direct impact on the business world.

    For more from Daniel Burrus you can follow @DanielBurrus on Twitter, join him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DanielBurrus and LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/today/posts/danielburrus, or visit his website http://www.burrus.com.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
165 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides great advice and is a valuable business resource. Moreover, they appreciate its readability and thought-provoking content, with one customer noting how it articulates complex ideas. Additionally, the book receives positive feedback for its flash foresight approach, and one customer describes it as an exciting journey.

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44 customers mention "Information quality"44 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides great advice and is super useful in business, with one customer noting it includes lots of case studies and suggestions.

"...You will be totally engaged with the book. You will learn some valuable tools which will allow you to clearly see the future...." Read more

"...BOOK STRUCTURE The author does a good job of summarizing the action steps from each chapter allowing the busy executive to quickly gather..." Read more

"...as I was taking a course on innovation; it was a wonderful complement to the course content as it describes how the thought processes of innovators/..." Read more

"...Other than my criticism outlined above, I believe there is much merit in the book and especially in the distinction between the types of trend i.e...." Read more

26 customers mention "Readability"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the book excellent and fun to read, with one customer noting it's a valuable addition to any innovator's bookshelf.

"...(John David Mann is co-author) and reading it is a breeze and lots of fun...." Read more

"This book is great and speaks directly to what my primary gift/talent is. &#..." Read more

"...This was a wild ride and a fabulous read." Read more

"This is an outstanding business book, it exceeded my expectation...." Read more

19 customers mention "Thought provoking"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and well-written, with one customer noting how the author articulates complex ideas.

"...The book is extremely well written (John David Mann is co-author) and reading it is a breeze and lots of fun...." Read more

"...Even though the summarized actions are well written, reading the entire chapter is still well worth it to get the context...." Read more

"At first I felt that the author had a really interesting perspective but the further I delved into the book the more I felt that his concept of &#..." Read more

"This fascinating book is very well written, by a very smart man, who has been thinking for over 30 years about how to project "hard" technology and..." Read more

4 customers mention "Flash foresight"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the flash foresight concept in the book, with one mentioning how it reveals the blinding flash of the future.

"...Flash Foresight is definitely a jewel. So good that I have sent it to clients and I will read it again...." Read more

"Incredible book! Dan gives you a flash foresight - A blinding flash of the future obvious!..." Read more

"Flash Foresight is a must read for entrepreneurs, business owners and those involved in setting strategic direction for businesses...." Read more

"...I have since read his amazing book Flash Foresight. It really changed my prospective about how to view opportunities...." Read more

3 customers mention "Adventure"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the adventure in the book, with one describing it as a wild ride.

"...This was a wild ride and a fabulous read." Read more

"...he was able to articulate complex ideas in a simple and exciting way. I got thinking about the future, and how to get the most out of situations...." Read more

"Intriguing Journey ......" Read more

I was amazed how much this book and Daniel's work has affected ...
5 out of 5 stars
I was amazed how much this book and Daniel's work has affected ...
I read dozens of business books every year. I do that to stay current and to prepare for interviews I have with authors on my Business Builders Show podcast. I first read this book in January 2015. I needed to review it again when I had Daniel Burrus scheduled on the show. I was amazed how much this book and Daniel's work has affected my own business and what I share with my clients. This work will transform your business. And, you need to subscribe to anything Daniel Burrus is connected to.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • John Chancellor
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and very insightful
    Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    As I was reading Flash Foresight, the quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth keep popping into my mind, "If you can look into the seeds of time and say which grains will grow and which will not, speak then to me." According to Daniel Burrus, the author of Flash Foresight, we all can look into the seeds of time. We just need to look at the right seeds (have the proper focus) and realize that some things we can see and some things we cannot.

    The things we can see he calls hard trends. "A hard trend is a projection based on measurable, tangible, and fully predictable facts, events or objects. A soft trend is based on statistics that have the appearance of being tangible, fully predictable facts. A hard trend is something that will happen: a future fact. A soft trend is something that might happen: a future maybe."

    The premise of the book is we can predict the future by making a distinction between hard trends and soft trends.

    "The growing market demand for fuel efficient vehicles was a hard trend. GM losing its market dominance to Toyota was not a hard trend, because GM could have stopped it from happening. But they didn't"

    We need to learn to distinguish between hard trends - things we know are going to happen no matter what, and soft trends where things can change.

    In 1993, in a speech before 10,000 attendees at the National Bookseller's Association, Mr. Burrus predicted "Within the next two to three years, you're going to see a successful virtual bookstore opening up online ..." A year later Amazon.com was started.

    According to Mr. Burrus, there are seven keys to mastering Flash Foresight. 1) Start with certainty. Understand the hard trends and apply them to your set of circumstances. 2) Anticipate what these hard trends mean. Observe what is happening and anticipate what must follow next. 3) Transform - here the example is going from the hard copy record CD to the MP3 format. Transform the product. 4) Skip your biggest problem. We often focus on one problem when in fact it is merely a symptom. Skipping the problem allows to really see the root problem which is what must be solved. 5) Go opposite. Go 180 degrees from where everyone else is going. 6) Redefine and reinvent and 7) Direct your future.

    The book is filled with fascinating insights about a variety of things. You will be totally engaged with the book. You will learn some valuable tools which will allow you to clearly see the future. Instead of wishing you had purchased the stock of Microsoft or Amazon.com before they were successful, you will be able to know which companies are poised for exceptional growth because they are following hard trends.

    But more importantly, you will be able to get ahead of the curve for your own business or life.

    "Most of the time we occupy ourselves with the questions of the moment and these by definition tend to be questions of reaction. When you apply even the most brilliant minds to the wrong questions, the best you can hope to come up with is really brilliant bad answers."

    The book is extremely well written (John David Mann is co-author) and reading it is a breeze and lots of fun. If you apply what you learn from this book, it will make a huge difference in your life.

    I highly recommend it.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Dr. James T. Brown
    5.0 out of 5 stars The people who read this book will end up with your marketshare
    Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    .
    I read a lot of leadership books and you sometimes have to wade through a lot of mediocre books to get to a jewel. Flash Foresight is definitely a jewel. So good that I have sent it to clients and I will read it again.

    This book makes you think in the same manner that the essays in Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw" makes you think. More importantly it provides a systematic approach to conquer the challenges addressed in the book.

    If I had to pick one phrase from the book that communicates its essence it would be what the author describes as the new golden rule of business "If it can be done, it will be done... If you don't do it, someone else will."

    The question that remains unanswered is "are you or your company that someone who will do it?" Will you have and act on the Flash Foresight as he defines it "a blinding flash of the future obvious."

    BOOK STRUCTURE

    The author does a good job of summarizing the action steps from each chapter allowing the busy executive to quickly gather the content. Even though the summarized actions are well written, reading the entire chapter is still well worth it to get the context. Excellent use of examples from industry and the authors experience with references are provided when appropriate.

    The author provides a systematic approach with seven "foresight triggers" and eight "pathways of technological advancement." He develops this approach in a manner that facilitates execution of his process because he judiciously incorporates a common understanding of the terms and premises on which they are built. These include: cyclic change, linear change, soft trends, hard trends, the three digital accelerators, and transformation.

    PRACTICAL APPLICATION

    In order to gain "Flash Foresight" the author advocates spending an hour each week addressing "What are you certain about? What are the hard trends of your future, versus the soft trends? What are the permanent, linear changes and what are the cyclical changes? How are the three digital accelerators and eight pathways of technology driven transformation going to affect your life and work?...What are the problems you are going to have tomorrow, next week, next month? A few years down the road? What are the problems your kids, your spouse, your employees, your associates, your customers are going to have? Even better, what are the future problems of those people who are not yet your customers but will be if you have solutions to their problems by the time they happen?"

    INTERESTING POINTS

    Here are a few excerpts that resonated with me.

    1. "Either/or" thinking assumes a zero-sum game, in which the pie is fixed size and emerging technologies-or emerging markets-must necessarily threaten the existence of the old. But that's not reality...The principle of "both/and" tells us that the new and the old will continue to coexist side by side.

    2. ...one clear dependable strategy for staying ahead of the curve is to create in yourself and in your company or organization a habit of continuously decommoditizing. Anything and everything can become a commodity; and any product or service can be decommoditized. [Yes, he does provide examples]

    3. ...there will be no recovery, no going back-only a surge forward into a very different world.

    4. Not long ago, a CEO of a large company told me he was reluctant to spend the money to upgrade his people's skills. "What if I do," he said, "and then they leave?"..."I see your point," I responded. "But what if you don't-and then they stay?"

    5. ...The organizations that are succeeding today are those that have learned how to fail fast-and who do not fail to learn.

    6. Here is the question you need to ask yourself: "In order to speed up, am I willing to slow down?"

    CONCLUSION

    This book ends very powerfully with the author providing a real example of how he used the process from a blank slate to create a successful product with a minimum of overhead. This book not only will re-frame your thinking but you can use it as a tool to re-frame the thinking of those around you. This book is beyond a good idea, beyond an academic's theory... it is a practitioner's framework that can be built upon to drive personal and business success.

    Dr. James T. Brown, PMP PE CSP
    Author - The Handbook of Program Management
    26 people found this helpful
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  • Barbara J.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Flash Foresight
    Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I read this book as I was taking a course on innovation; it was a wonderful complement to the course content as it describes how the thought processes of innovators/inventors/creative people work, and the myriad factors that bear upon decision making and planning. My husband also read it and liked the part so much about hard trends and soft trends that he has told everyone examples as we gather with friends and family.. Applicable to daily life as well as the business world.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Tushar
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in India on January 24, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This is a must read for every professional
    Report
  • whenigetachance
    5.0 out of 5 stars Future Proof Your Life - Read This Book!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Brilliant book. Daniel is very clear and delivers a real sense of understanding and knowledge. His proven results in the 'real world' only compound this fact. Highly recommend.
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  • Mle Alice PELEGRIN
    4.0 out of 5 stars A lire
    Reviewed in France on August 25, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Excellente lecture. L'analyse de Daniel Burrus est pertinente et peut être projeté dans tous les domaines, y compris plus personnels.
    Report
  • Leseratte 63
    5.0 out of 5 stars Äußerst hilfreich für erfolgreiche beruflich-geschäftliche und private Entscheidungen
    Reviewed in Germany on May 1, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Ich habe das Buch 'Flash Foresight': See the Invisible to Do the Impossible' erst in der deuschen Druckversion erworben und war von der Lektüre so begeistert, dass ich auch die englische Fassung für meine (englischsprachigen) Lehrveranstaltungen gekauft und bereits in der Lehre besprochen habe.
    Durch Daniel Burrus' Buch hat sich meine Einstellung zur zunehmenden Technisierung unseres Lebens komplett verändert - während ich vorher eher widerwillig und zögerlich die SMART-Revolution nachvollzogen habe (Typ: Late Follower), arbeite ich jetzt aktiv an der Verbesserung meiner Ausstattung und Kompetenz und freue mich bereits auf die weitere Entwicklung.
    Dies wurde möglich, weil Daniel Burrus es fertig bringt, der rasanten Entwicklung, die so manche von uns überfordert, Struktur und Richtung zu geben. Seine Argumentation fußt auf der Erläuterung von 7 Grundprinzipien (1. Start with certainty, 2. Anticipate, 3. Transform, 4.Take your biggest problem and skip it', 5. Go opposite, 6. Redefine and reinvent, 7. Direct your future).
    Dabei erläutert Burrus unter 'Start with Certainty' den Unterschied einerseits zwischen zyklischer und linearer Entwicklung (brillant dabei die Besprechung der Finanzkrise von 2008 und die daraus resultierende Erkenntnis, dass wir nicht nur sie, sondern auch so manch anderes hätten voraussehen können, wenn wir denn auf die richtigen Fakten achten würden) sowie andererseits den Unteschied zwischen 'harten' und 'weichen' Trends, wobei harte Trends Rahmenbedingungen setzen, die wir nicht verändern können (z.B. die demografische Entwicklung in den westlichen Industrienationen), wohingegen weiche Trends (z.B. Fachkräftemangel) Chancen für neue Herangehensweisen und Geschäftsmodelle bieten.
    Unter der Überschrift 'Anticipate' bespricht Burrus 8 Grundrichtungen der Technologieentwicklung (Dematerialization, Virtualization, Mobility, Product intelligence, Networking, Interactivity, Globalization, Convergence) sowie 3 digitale Motoren / Treiber (Processing power, Bandwidth, Storage Capacity), was Verbrauchern ermöglicht, gezielt an der Verbesserung ihrer Ausstattung zu arbeiten und Herstellern eine bessere Vorstellung gibt, wonach die Kunden in Zukunft suchen werden.
    In diesem Zusammenhang werden die Leser aufgefordert, prä-aktiv zu sein, was aktive Trendanalyse bedeutet sowie für Unternehmen 'future benchmarking' statt des einfachen Benchmarkings.
    In Kapitel 3 ('Transform') erfahren die Leser, wie vielfältig Produktintelligenz sein kann, warum sie unvermeidbar ist und worauf wir uns freuen können. Sehr ansprechend fand ich hier u.a. die Beschreibung der Entwicklung des Internets und seiner nächsten Generation, die Burrus 4.0 nennt. Gleichzeitig macht er darauf aufmerksam, dass neue Technolgien nicht notwendigerweise das Bewährte komplett verdrängen (etwa elektronische Medien das Buch), so dass es empfehlenswert sein kann, eine 'sowohl ... als auch'-Strategie statt des häufigen 'entweder ... oder ...' zu fahren.
    In Kapitel 4 ('Take your biggest problem and skip it') zeigt Burrus, dass das vermeintlich gößte Problem gar nicht der Aspekt sein muss, an dem zu arbeiten ist und empfiehlt für die Analyse das Zwiebelprinzip. Auch wird in diesem Kapitel den Lesern sehr deutlich, dass die technische Entwicklung stets fortschreitet, und dass eine gegenwärtige Hauptressource, deren Knappheit sich zu einem ernsten Problem auswachsen könnte, in der Zukunft gar keine Rolle mehr spielen muss (erläutert wird dies am Beispiel der Kohle und des Erdöls).
    Das Kapitel 'Go opposite' zeigt an Hand einer Vielzahl von Unternehmen, dass es sehr erfolgversprechend für Unternehmer sein kann, auf der Höhe eines Trends genau das Gegenteil anzubieten.
    Im Kapitel 'Redefine & Reinvent' erfahren Leser, wie Gegenstände, die man benötigt, aber nicht unbedingt mag, in Lifestyle-Produkte umgewandelt werden können (und sollten), damit sie Käufer finden.
    'Direct your future' schließlich ist der richtigen Gestaltung der eigenen Aktivität sowie der Zusammenarbeit mit anderen gewidmet.
    Falls besonders kritische Leser Daniel Burrus' Stil zu amerikanisch positiv finden, sollten sie vielleicht mit der Lektüre der Seiten 53-57 (der deutschen Ausgabe) beginnen, wo der Autur tabellarisch auflistet, welche Voraussagen er seit 1983 getroffen hat und wann sich diese bewahrheitet haben.
    Ich fühle mich sehr inspiriert und hoffe, Ihnen geht es auch so.
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  • Rosemary
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the book
    Reviewed in Canada on December 28, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    If you've seen Daniel Burrus speak and enjoyed this presentations, this book is a good choice. I ordered it after I saw him speak last year at a conference. If you're in the high-tech industry or a CEO of a company using technology this is a good read.
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