TREND #1

Questions Are More Important Than Answers

In today’s world of accelerated change, “answers” about the future are becoming more scarce. As a result, a premium is being placed on asking better questions about the future. This is a problem because leaders view themselves as action-oriented problem solvers, and they have a bias for answers instead of questions.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Uldrich has put together a simple framework to help businesses begin to ask better questions about the future. Here are some questions to address in your business to help jump-start the thinking-and-questioning process:

What don’t we know?

What aren’t we seeing?

Who aren’t we hearing?

“The purpose of these questions is to humbly accept the notion that there is an idea, concept, product, advance, et cetera, out there that could affect your business, customers, and patients in a material way in the near future,” Uldrich says.

TREND #2

Looking Outside Your World

With changes occurring at a more rapid pace than ever, it’s important to find new ways to stay on top of trends and determine whom you might learn from. One way to start is to bring your team together and ask every participant to identify a headline from the past month that surprised them (like “Uber Now More Valuable Than General Motors”).

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Then consider how the rapid changes identified in the headlines could affect you and your customers. Those headlines represent trends. How can you stay on top of emerging trends and issues?

TREND #3

Paying Closer Attention

Uldrich suggests looking outside your own business and industry at trends—and at experts who can explain them. “What trends do you want to be paying closer attention to?” he asks.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: “To pinpoint trends, do what big businesses do and tap other leaders,” says Uldrich. “Invite them in, if you can afford it. Or view videos or attend a seminar.”

In addition, are there signals that an existing trend (e.g., Blockchain and the sharing economy) is moving faster than expected? If so, discuss the implications of this trend.

TREND #4

Constant Transition

“Not everything is changing,” Uldrich says. “But a lot is. Some businesses keep up. Some don’t. How you look at trends is important. And the questions you ask yourself about them are just as important.”

Uldrich also suggests remembering that the greatest change is the rate of change itself. “Put another way, society is transitioning to a period of constant transition,” he adds. “The net effect of all the change we are seeing is that answers about the future are decreasing in value, thus placing greater emphasis on the need to ask better questions.”

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Dig deeper into your own practice or business. What assumptions about your company’s business, business model, competitors, customers, and so on might you want to challenge? And ask yourself the ultimate question: How might your company go out of business within the next five years? This question should be asked on an annual basis, not just now.