The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century

This week’s resource recommendation is The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century By George Friedman.

Do you wish you had a crystal ball?

If you knew with some certainty what was going to happen in the future would you be able to make better decisions now?

Even if you didn’t have certainty, if you had some vision of the future would it make decision making, both personally and professionally, more effective?

I don’t know about you, but my answer to all three of these questions is yes.

That’s why I like this book by George Friedman. Called by many the world’s foremost futurist, Friedman pulls together ideas, trends and often surprising information to create a seemingly preposterous idea – forecasting what will happen in the next 100 years.

While you probably want to know what he is predicting, the individual predictions are somewhat less important than the full picture.

One thing I like is Friedman’s attitude and approach – while he clearly has informed opinions he knows he will get many of the details wrong. So, while he gives details, I think he wants us to focus on the trends in which he feels pretty confident. After reading his logic, while surprising, they make sense to me.

The first chapter (called the Overture) shares a fascinating idea. If you look at the world through the prism of 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960 and 1980, in each case you would see people seeing the truth about the world at that time. However, if you look at each of those truths, in retrospect it is like looking at a single tree and thinking you are seeing the entire forest. But you’re still seeing just a single tree.

This book helps you see the forest. This book will give you a new perspective, and as leaders, we need that. This book will make you think, which we all need.

I don’t know how accurate this book will be, but since I plan on living in the future, I like seeing a glimpse of it. This book can give you a glimpse.

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