Humans are notoriously bad at anticipating events that don’t conform to a very narrow idea of what the future will be, which is why we’re often caught off guard by the unexpected. It’s why, for example, New York City was so ill prepared for Hurricane Sandy despite clear warnings that storms were getting stronger, or why the financial system was so ill-prepared for the sub-prime mortgage crisis even though signs of it coming had existed for years. Something about the way we think about, envision, and even describe the future makes it hard for us to conceive of it as anything but a continuation of what is happening today, even though it often deviates from our expectations.
On Thursday, March 21st at 11:30 a.m. eastern time, I’ll be moderating a discussion with Andrew Zolli, the executive director of PopTech and the author of Resilience. We’ll discuss what about our psyches make future thinking hard, and how we can recognize major changes—before they happen. And we’ll take questions from the audience.
Simply follow this link to register with Cisco’s WebEx software now, and then sign in on Thursday to take part and bring any questions you might have.