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Three Steps Ahead: Thinking Strategically to Avoid Unintended Consequences
Part of the Connect the Dots Series
When we don’t think three steps ahead, we’re forfeiting the opportunity to manage the future.
How can you anticipate something unintended or unprecedented? How can you expect the thing that no one ever expected to happen? How can you navigate the law of unintended consequences? The answer is simple: You have to think three steps ahead. In Three Steps Ahead, you’ll explore:
•Why unintended consequences happen
•Ways of estimating the likelihood of what can go awry
•Tools and techniques for anticipating and managing unintended consequences
Author David Silverstein is a highly regarded speaker, author and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of BMGI, a global strategy consultant that is changing the way business leaders think.
When we don’t think three steps ahead, we’re forfeiting the opportunity to manage the future.
How can you anticipate something unintended or unprecedented? How can you expect the thing that no one ever expected to happen? How can you navigate the law of unintended consequences? The answer is simple: You have to think three steps ahead. In Three Steps Ahead, you’ll explore:
•Why unintended consequences happen
•Ways of estimating the likelihood of what can go awry
•Tools and techniques for anticipating and managing unintended consequences
Author David Silverstein is a highly regarded speaker, author and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of BMGI, a global strategy consultant that is changing the way business leaders think.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 7, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 23, 2015
Strategic thinking and the art of planning ahead is the focus of this book. The author sets out to help the reader understand and master the objectives at hand, attempting to seize the law of unintended consequences and take advantage of all that it may offer.
That’s the theory; the execution is a little different. This is a book that may be hard to overly warm to, yet it is not something to equally dislike. It sits between two stools and might benefit from the literary focus knob being tightened a little. Or maybe the book’s publicity material created the wrong impression or set up an unreasonable expectation. The further you dug into the book the better it became – or is it that your expectations are overtaken by what you has received and the actuality was the better of the two!
Written in a fairly open, informal style the book is capable of providing a lot of information and knowledge in a relative general sense. It touches on a lot more than just positive, proactive plan-ahead thinking and strategy, running all around the business world with its insights, examples and take-out points. The reader will be engaged through humour, interesting insight and sheer diversity: a lot of good basic principles, concepts and themes may be learned through osmosis. It is a great lightweight read, yet the actual content should not be dismissed as being lightweight or just a “humour book”. Far from it.
The book’s price is unbelievably low – the cost of a couple of magazines from a newsstand – to make it one of those potentially advisable “on spec” purchases. It is a short but sweet book in other words. A complex “fast food” takeaway of knowledge and opinion that surprisingly can fill quite a gap.
Three Steps Ahead, written by David Silverstein and published by Breakthrough Performance Press. ISBN 9781938353048. YYYY
http://autamme.com/three-steps-ahead-...
That’s the theory; the execution is a little different. This is a book that may be hard to overly warm to, yet it is not something to equally dislike. It sits between two stools and might benefit from the literary focus knob being tightened a little. Or maybe the book’s publicity material created the wrong impression or set up an unreasonable expectation. The further you dug into the book the better it became – or is it that your expectations are overtaken by what you has received and the actuality was the better of the two!
Written in a fairly open, informal style the book is capable of providing a lot of information and knowledge in a relative general sense. It touches on a lot more than just positive, proactive plan-ahead thinking and strategy, running all around the business world with its insights, examples and take-out points. The reader will be engaged through humour, interesting insight and sheer diversity: a lot of good basic principles, concepts and themes may be learned through osmosis. It is a great lightweight read, yet the actual content should not be dismissed as being lightweight or just a “humour book”. Far from it.
The book’s price is unbelievably low – the cost of a couple of magazines from a newsstand – to make it one of those potentially advisable “on spec” purchases. It is a short but sweet book in other words. A complex “fast food” takeaway of knowledge and opinion that surprisingly can fill quite a gap.
Three Steps Ahead, written by David Silverstein and published by Breakthrough Performance Press. ISBN 9781938353048. YYYY
http://autamme.com/three-steps-ahead-...
June 7, 2015
If you want to be prepared for the unexpected, read this book!
If you want to succeed in business, you need to have a strategy. Today, most new businesses fail, no matter how good the service or product that is provided. This book gives the reader invaluable information on how to overcome obstacles that can ruin a business. There are three separate parts to this book. The first part explains why unintended consequences happen and how to look out for them. The second part focuses on statistics and probabilities of what can go wrong and how to use the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique to minimize the chance of unintended consequences, and lastly, part three gives the reader more tools on managing unintended consequences.
The author, Mr. David Silverstein, gives wonderful examples of decisions that have been made in the past to solve problems, which in the end has had disastrous consequences that ended up being far worse than the solution it had been in the first place. This book makes the reader well aware of the significant importance of thinking ahead when making decisions. One solution may fix an immediate problem, but if it causes greater dilemmas in the future, then maybe a different solution needs to be made. If you don't think ahead, chances are you are going to wish that you had.
This was an easy-to-understand book that was a quick read, yet filled with invaluable information. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever been involved in making important decisions. While it was written primarily for those in business, I feel that anyone can benefit greatly from the information in this book. After all, we all make decisions in our lives all the time. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you want to succeed in business, you need to have a strategy. Today, most new businesses fail, no matter how good the service or product that is provided. This book gives the reader invaluable information on how to overcome obstacles that can ruin a business. There are three separate parts to this book. The first part explains why unintended consequences happen and how to look out for them. The second part focuses on statistics and probabilities of what can go wrong and how to use the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique to minimize the chance of unintended consequences, and lastly, part three gives the reader more tools on managing unintended consequences.
The author, Mr. David Silverstein, gives wonderful examples of decisions that have been made in the past to solve problems, which in the end has had disastrous consequences that ended up being far worse than the solution it had been in the first place. This book makes the reader well aware of the significant importance of thinking ahead when making decisions. One solution may fix an immediate problem, but if it causes greater dilemmas in the future, then maybe a different solution needs to be made. If you don't think ahead, chances are you are going to wish that you had.
This was an easy-to-understand book that was a quick read, yet filled with invaluable information. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who has ever been involved in making important decisions. While it was written primarily for those in business, I feel that anyone can benefit greatly from the information in this book. After all, we all make decisions in our lives all the time. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 20, 2015
Three Steps Ahead is a great addition to the Connect the Dots series. This book focuses on how thinking ahead, specifically focusing on unintended consequences to actions and ideas, can help you to overcome negative affects to a business, or possibly ovoid them altogether. Silverstein explains how often ideas, products, or businesses fail because we have not thought through all of the details. I liked that the author shows so many real life mistakes made by governments and businesses, it shows that this sort of thing happens all of the time, and how if you are planning for unintended consequences, you can set yourself ahead of so many others.
One of the ideas that Silverstein discusses is FMEA or Failure Mode/Effects Analysis. I liked the idea of having different teams looking at the same idea/product and coming up with their own set of possible unintended consequences. I thought that this could really give a business or manager a true look at what they need to prepare for, instead of relying only on one person’s perspective. This book had a lot of insight into having a strategy to avoid unintended negative consequences.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
One of the ideas that Silverstein discusses is FMEA or Failure Mode/Effects Analysis. I liked the idea of having different teams looking at the same idea/product and coming up with their own set of possible unintended consequences. I thought that this could really give a business or manager a true look at what they need to prepare for, instead of relying only on one person’s perspective. This book had a lot of insight into having a strategy to avoid unintended negative consequences.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
September 12, 2015
Right from the beginning, I knew I would be inspired by this book. The author describes how he learned to play checkers; war; chess; and tic-tac-toe. Yes, chess is a brain-teaser, but easier to win once you learn the strategies. Whereas, playing and winning at war is the toughest as the author notes. Why is that? Because everyone has a 50/50 chance at winning war.
One of my favorite sections in the book is in Chapter 4, “Contrary Reactions.: Specifically the part titled “Risk Homeostasis: Safe Cars Create Riskier Drivers.” I grew up learning that wearing a seat-belt and having traffic cameras/signs posted everywhere lead to less car accidents and deaths. While this is true to a certain degree, it isn’t as “true” as the media” would have us believe. I have seen for myself how riskier driving occurs when safety measured are enforced.
Another important point emphasized is to think of all the positive and negative outcomes. In planning for all possible and impossible outcomes can we really be prepared in business and life. This is just like the game of chess, where we can learn to be several steps ahead of whatever may come our way.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
One of my favorite sections in the book is in Chapter 4, “Contrary Reactions.: Specifically the part titled “Risk Homeostasis: Safe Cars Create Riskier Drivers.” I grew up learning that wearing a seat-belt and having traffic cameras/signs posted everywhere lead to less car accidents and deaths. While this is true to a certain degree, it isn’t as “true” as the media” would have us believe. I have seen for myself how riskier driving occurs when safety measured are enforced.
Another important point emphasized is to think of all the positive and negative outcomes. In planning for all possible and impossible outcomes can we really be prepared in business and life. This is just like the game of chess, where we can learn to be several steps ahead of whatever may come our way.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2015
This book is most definitely one of the more creative self-help books that I have read in quite a while. It is most definitely a quick read with multiple examples. I personally found myself realizing that I already do some of these ideas that the author mentions....and others, I need to put in to practice. This is most definitely a wonderful book for strategy in business or for the average every day person looking to improve their thought processes. Sometimes the most simple things and strategies must be pointed out to us in order to realize that we humans tend to complicate things much further than needed. In the beginning, the author uses various games as a prime example of learning capability and level of ease. One may disagree with the author and may find themselves in a state of confusion; however, he explains and gives sound reason behind his answers. I was truly amazed and am happy to have had the opportunity to read this book. I will be certain to implement some of these strategies in my everyday occurrences. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
June 15, 2015
Author Silverstein has done it again! This is the third book I have read by this "look ahead" teacher. In the previous books he touted keeping yourself mentally healthy to reach your goals and connecting dots to reasonably figure out how to meet goals, one step ahead of others, at the least. Now he writes, perfectly logically how to think and get three steps ahead on how you might succeed. The book is written from a working persons point of view, but there is certainly lots of information that can and should be used to help in raising a couple of kids, getting along with neighbors, etc. I wonder if I had thought "three steps ahead" in raising a couple of teen age boys might have been different. It would! It is a matter of thinking things through. I certainly would recommend this easy to understand, quick read to anyone.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
June 8, 2015
Oh yeah, I am way behind in the concept of thinking ahead. It showed my need to look at things differently. Maybe with a little bit of thinking and planning ahead, I might even do better in a friendly (did I say friendly??) game of Mexican Dominoes with my wife and friends. Using examples, he makes it easy to understand how to start planning ahead and how to practice the routine. The more you practice, the better skills you will achieve. There are many benefits of thinking ahead and some downers if you don't. It's time to wake up the think tank and realize that it is not near full enough. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in developing their creative thinking.
June 19, 2015
David Silverstein does it again! Another book that's easy to read and understand. As with the other two books I have read by Silverstein does an excellent job of making a concept so incredibly easy to promote and use. If you can remind yourself to work on thinking steps ahead instead of just that moment, you can be a success! That's what "Three Steps Ahead" tries to help you to do. I read this book in one sitting and have been trying to incorporate it into my life as much as possible. There are moments in the book where I thought, why didn't I think of that, or that sounds easy enough.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 25, 2015
Risk homeostasis, FMEA, Scenario Planning, What-If analysis, the Stoic Philosophy, being imaginative, feeding your curiosity and being on top of the game by thinking three steps ahead. This is a quick overview that introduces the concept of thinking ahead of unintended consequences to allow you to be prepared and successful in business and in life. The book delves more into the the concept of the practice than the actual practices which I guess might be discussed more deeply in his other books. Good stuff nonetheless!
Note: This E-Book is free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Note: This E-Book is free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 8, 2016
For you who just started in position that requires you to think strategic
The book provide you with real example that already happened so you can correlate easily and grab the message that author want to convey.
The book provide you with real example that already happened so you can correlate easily and grab the message that author want to convey.
June 25, 2015
Great information. I usually take the long view on things, but there was still some stuff in there I didn't know.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews