Wired magazine’s (@wired) executive editor Thomas Goetz (@tgoetz) explains 7 rules to use when pinpointing trends that will help you prepare for tomorrow:
1. Look for cross-pollinators: the best ideas — the ones with the most impact and longevity — are transferable.
2. Surf the exponentials: catch the wave of smaller, cheaper, and faster; channel that steady improvement into business plans and research agendas.
3. Favor the liberators: look for ways to turn scarcity into plenty and turn static into flow, bringing motion where there was obstruction.
4. Give points for audacity: go beyond picayune problems and mere incremental solutions; get in over your head.
5. Bank on openness: forsake proprietary claims and avoid hierarchy; be agile, flexible, and poised to leap from opportunity to opportunity.
6. Demand deep design: good design is much more than a veneer; it’s essential and it intrinsically prioritizes; it’s irresistible.
7. Spend time with time wasters: culture is created where people are fiddling with tools, coining new lingo, swapping new techniques.
Also see the articles, “8 Visionaries on How They Spot the Future” and “The Man Who Makes the Future.”
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