In the wake of 2020, many of us are still facing an uncertain future. What are new workplaces going to look like? When will the economy fully recover from the recession? What are the best ways to accept these changes while staying on top of everything else?
This week’s book recommendation is about navigating those doubts by staying smart and planning ahead. Chief executive and entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan released Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future last fall, distilling decades of business advice into a companion to her previous book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril. (The latter is a commentary on the great recession of 2008, making it more relevant than ever).
Here is the summary on Amazon:
“From former CEO and popular TED speaker Margaret Heffernan comes a timely and enlightening book that equips you with the tools you need to face the future with confidence and courage.
“How can we think about the future? What do we need to do—and who do we need to be?
“In her bold and invigorating new book, distinguished businesswoman and author Margaret Heffernan explores the people and organizations who aren’t daunted by uncertainty.
“We are addicted to prediction, desperate for certainty about the future. But the complexity of modern life won’t provide that; experts in forecasting are reluctant to look more than 400 days out. History doesn’t repeat itself and even genetics won’t tell you everything you want to know. Tomorrow remains uncharted territory, but Heffernan demonstrates how we can forge ahead with agility.
“Drawing on a wide array of people and places, Uncharted traces long-term projects that shrewdly evolved over generations to meet the unpredictable challenges of every new age. Heffernan also looks at radical exercises and experiments that redefined standard practices by embracing different perspectives and testing fresh approaches. Preparing to confront a variable future provides the antidote to passivity and prediction.
“Ranging freely through history and from business to science, government to friendships, this refreshing book challenges us to mine our own creativity and humanity for the capacity to create the futures we want and can believe in.”
