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The Day after Tomorrow: How to Survive in Times of Radical Innovation
For today's organizations, our exponentially changing world has come with great consequences. In this book, Peter Hinssen tells the story of the pioneers who managed to adapt to those changes and who moved beyond today and even tomorrow in their approach of innovation. In doing so, they were able to change the course of entire industries.Peter's book focuses on the business models of these pioneers, on the organizational culture, the talent, the mindset and the technology we should tap into in order to maximize our chances for survival in the 'Day After Tomorrow'. It will shift your perspective on your future, on the future or your company and even that of your grandchildren.
380 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2017
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444 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 6, 2021
When I picked up this book I had expected (in Peter’s own words) a cult-like techo-optimist rambling about the amazing new technologies coming our way. Me being more of a techno-pessimist, I was hesitant. Luckily I opened the book and saw these nice little charts, these convinced me so I bought it.
My first impression was of course wrong. I’m going to say it outright: for me this book is one of the most interesting collections of ideas I’ve ever come across. I thought I had a pretty good view on how the world really works (which is bleak) but this book proved me wrong. My view was outdated it seems.
I think this book will age like fine wine, the more time goes by, the more it will prove right. Just the 2 years after this book has been released have strengthened that notion. I also liked his writing style, neutral and with a slight tint of humor where appropriate.
These were the paragraphs that won me over:
“Scary to think how these ‘new’ technologies have become ‘normal’, stale and uninspiring. Social, Mobile, Cloud, Big Data: Boooooring”
I’ve also always found them boring.
“... But, let’s face it, talks on social media tend to be about as exciting as the proverbial paint drying process. ...”
“... Social, Mobile, Big Data and Cloud went from ‘hot’ to ‘mainstream’ to ‘tedious’ in record time. They have become the ‘Nexus of Meh’. To think that, a few years ago, data scientists were called ‘the new rock stars’. Poor guys. Back to being nerds. Oh well.”
Glad mr. Hinssen put those topics out of the way from the get go. Me having played (multiplayer) videogames since I was 8 knew what a server was and for the longest time I thought of the Cloud as a glorified collection of servers. I once sat in the audience of a presentation from Microsoft about Cloud gaming. I remember us aspiring Game Developers (and also avid gamers) to be unimpressed. We knew latency was going to make Microsoft’s cloud gaming plans fall apart.
Sometimes these cloud solutions really get in the way of videogames. When bare metal private servers for vanilla World of Warcraft can handle hundreds of players just fine but Blizzards own World of Warcraft virtual cloud-based servers choke on just a hundred players, then we know there is a problem ...
But the mistake I made was to extrapolate my lack of enthusiasm to technologies like Deep Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and Internet of Things. Especially that last one sounded so silly to my ears I never even did the effort to research it properly. This book has convinced me that these technologies will probably have a much bigger impact than I thought.
I had been lulled in the false notion that the biggest technological advances had been made 20 years ago or earlier (internet, computers, ...) and that now we were incrementally improving them. Just like Robert J. Gordon thought, with many shiny things like social media and Pokemon Go. But mr. Hinssen reconvinced me that technology is still picking up speed and that it’s going faster and faster. Especially his linear vs exponential model with the deception phase really put things into perspective. It’s so deceptively simple too, but it’s an art to bring your ideas in the most simple manner. One which Peter has mastered it seems.
While I’m still of the opinion that hand-writing the code for AI is never going to amount to anything crazy, that entire notion has become irrelevant anyway. Programs are now programming themselves. While Deep Blue beating Kasparov in chess in 1994, and more recently, AlphaGo beating Lee Sedol in Go was impressive, as a game developer I know AI’s thrive in games with highly restricting rules and options.
But OpenAI 5 beating the World Champion DOTA2 Team was something else entirely. DOTA2 being a game with free movement and hundreds of abilities, as a gamer and programmer I know this was a landmark in AI. Especially because in a game like DOTA2, the AI can’t leverage superhuman aim or other unfair advantages over the humans. The implications are huge: will we soon practice against humans to beat the AI? Instead of the other way around? Whatever the case, it shows that what mr. Hinssen writes are no hollow words. AI is about to disrupt everything. The DOTA2 World Champions will agree.
For me, Peter strikes that perfect balance between techno-optimists (Singularity University) and techo-skeptics like Robert J. Gordon. Peter Hinssen argues that we shouldn’t be blind to the dark sides of these new technologies (his chapter ‘A tale of two futures’ is my favorite of the entire book) but we also shouldn’t be naive in thinking these new technologies aren’t going to massively disrupt entire markets. It has already happened in the last 3 decades and this book will outline those patterns in a very clear manner.
Another of my favorite paragraphs in this book:
"That's great, right? Yes, yes it is.
But think about how this will affect how we live. How better healthcare will allow people to live longer and healthier lives ... in a world where there will be less and less work."
Reading this in the middle of a pandemic (that has been raging for a year) has been quite the experience. While the internet is 20 years old it feels like it’s just starting to wake up right now to its full potential. Things are going crazy. Echo chambers on Facebook are radicalizing the average Joe and Jane with conspiracy theories. No legislation in sight to put a hold to it. Meanwhile retail investors, mostly from the subreddit WallStreetBets, are waging a war against the rich Hedge Funds. The latter, with their employees schooled with traditional game theory, were completely caught off guard by this internet spawned frenzy.
All the while we are being bogged down by our hopelessly outdated political systems. Who like Peter Hinssen said, are completely unprepared for the Day after Tomorrow.
My first impression was of course wrong. I’m going to say it outright: for me this book is one of the most interesting collections of ideas I’ve ever come across. I thought I had a pretty good view on how the world really works (which is bleak) but this book proved me wrong. My view was outdated it seems.
I think this book will age like fine wine, the more time goes by, the more it will prove right. Just the 2 years after this book has been released have strengthened that notion. I also liked his writing style, neutral and with a slight tint of humor where appropriate.
These were the paragraphs that won me over:
“Scary to think how these ‘new’ technologies have become ‘normal’, stale and uninspiring. Social, Mobile, Cloud, Big Data: Boooooring”
I’ve also always found them boring.
“... But, let’s face it, talks on social media tend to be about as exciting as the proverbial paint drying process. ...”
“... Social, Mobile, Big Data and Cloud went from ‘hot’ to ‘mainstream’ to ‘tedious’ in record time. They have become the ‘Nexus of Meh’. To think that, a few years ago, data scientists were called ‘the new rock stars’. Poor guys. Back to being nerds. Oh well.”
Glad mr. Hinssen put those topics out of the way from the get go. Me having played (multiplayer) videogames since I was 8 knew what a server was and for the longest time I thought of the Cloud as a glorified collection of servers. I once sat in the audience of a presentation from Microsoft about Cloud gaming. I remember us aspiring Game Developers (and also avid gamers) to be unimpressed. We knew latency was going to make Microsoft’s cloud gaming plans fall apart.
Sometimes these cloud solutions really get in the way of videogames. When bare metal private servers for vanilla World of Warcraft can handle hundreds of players just fine but Blizzards own World of Warcraft virtual cloud-based servers choke on just a hundred players, then we know there is a problem ...
But the mistake I made was to extrapolate my lack of enthusiasm to technologies like Deep Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and Internet of Things. Especially that last one sounded so silly to my ears I never even did the effort to research it properly. This book has convinced me that these technologies will probably have a much bigger impact than I thought.
I had been lulled in the false notion that the biggest technological advances had been made 20 years ago or earlier (internet, computers, ...) and that now we were incrementally improving them. Just like Robert J. Gordon thought, with many shiny things like social media and Pokemon Go. But mr. Hinssen reconvinced me that technology is still picking up speed and that it’s going faster and faster. Especially his linear vs exponential model with the deception phase really put things into perspective. It’s so deceptively simple too, but it’s an art to bring your ideas in the most simple manner. One which Peter has mastered it seems.
While I’m still of the opinion that hand-writing the code for AI is never going to amount to anything crazy, that entire notion has become irrelevant anyway. Programs are now programming themselves. While Deep Blue beating Kasparov in chess in 1994, and more recently, AlphaGo beating Lee Sedol in Go was impressive, as a game developer I know AI’s thrive in games with highly restricting rules and options.
But OpenAI 5 beating the World Champion DOTA2 Team was something else entirely. DOTA2 being a game with free movement and hundreds of abilities, as a gamer and programmer I know this was a landmark in AI. Especially because in a game like DOTA2, the AI can’t leverage superhuman aim or other unfair advantages over the humans. The implications are huge: will we soon practice against humans to beat the AI? Instead of the other way around? Whatever the case, it shows that what mr. Hinssen writes are no hollow words. AI is about to disrupt everything. The DOTA2 World Champions will agree.
For me, Peter strikes that perfect balance between techno-optimists (Singularity University) and techo-skeptics like Robert J. Gordon. Peter Hinssen argues that we shouldn’t be blind to the dark sides of these new technologies (his chapter ‘A tale of two futures’ is my favorite of the entire book) but we also shouldn’t be naive in thinking these new technologies aren’t going to massively disrupt entire markets. It has already happened in the last 3 decades and this book will outline those patterns in a very clear manner.
Another of my favorite paragraphs in this book:
"That's great, right? Yes, yes it is.
But think about how this will affect how we live. How better healthcare will allow people to live longer and healthier lives ... in a world where there will be less and less work."
Reading this in the middle of a pandemic (that has been raging for a year) has been quite the experience. While the internet is 20 years old it feels like it’s just starting to wake up right now to its full potential. Things are going crazy. Echo chambers on Facebook are radicalizing the average Joe and Jane with conspiracy theories. No legislation in sight to put a hold to it. Meanwhile retail investors, mostly from the subreddit WallStreetBets, are waging a war against the rich Hedge Funds. The latter, with their employees schooled with traditional game theory, were completely caught off guard by this internet spawned frenzy.
All the while we are being bogged down by our hopelessly outdated political systems. Who like Peter Hinssen said, are completely unprepared for the Day after Tomorrow.
July 15, 2018
Ik heb nooit goed begrepen waarom Peter Hinssen door velen zo hoog in het vaandel gedragen word. Ik volgde ooit les bij de man, zag hem al eerder met een presentatie aan het werk en vertrok steevast met een "Tell me something I don't know!"-gevoel.
Wellicht is The Day After Tomorrow een goed boek voor mensen die niet dagdagelijks bezig zijn met technologie, ICT, de toekomst, digitalisering en een continue drive om op disruptieve wijze hun eigen job, afdeling, bedrijf of zelfs privé-leven te upgraden (of eens volledig te gaan rebooten). Voor de progressievelingen onder u is dit boek vooral een ego-gedreven samenvatting van boeken, theorieën en praktijkvoorbeelden waar veel beters over te lezen valt.
:: edit :: Toch 3 ipv 2 sterren gegeven. Omdat het boek wel op goede wijze een aantal herinneringen aan bestaande theorieën deed opleven en toch op dat vlak inspireerde: "Wat moet ik dringend eens opnieuw gaan lezen?"
Wellicht is The Day After Tomorrow een goed boek voor mensen die niet dagdagelijks bezig zijn met technologie, ICT, de toekomst, digitalisering en een continue drive om op disruptieve wijze hun eigen job, afdeling, bedrijf of zelfs privé-leven te upgraden (of eens volledig te gaan rebooten). Voor de progressievelingen onder u is dit boek vooral een ego-gedreven samenvatting van boeken, theorieën en praktijkvoorbeelden waar veel beters over te lezen valt.
:: edit :: Toch 3 ipv 2 sterren gegeven. Omdat het boek wel op goede wijze een aantal herinneringen aan bestaande theorieën deed opleven en toch op dat vlak inspireerde: "Wat moet ik dringend eens opnieuw gaan lezen?"
July 19, 2017
Although I still think Peter Hinssen is a better performer and presenter than he is a writer, I really like this new book. It strikes a good balance between critical thinking and positive outlook. It's a great introduction into a lot of topics we all should be concerned about.
Most importantly though the tries to convey the urgent need to spend at least some time thinking about the consequences of current and future developments, whether you are a company struggling to survive, a startup looking for the golden opportunity, a government trying to understand the current turmoil, an educator trying to find a way to prepare the future generation for uncertain but enticing developments or even a parent thinking about a valuable future for its children.
The book also tries to give possible scenario’s for organizations on how to handle the new age of accelerating innovation. He makes it clear that there are no easy and one size fits all solutions for this kind of endeavors, but he nevertheless shows possible structures to deal with the challenges of staying in the loop. He does this using many examples.
As a bonus you also get a substantial reading list with a lot of books that I recently read, am currently reading or am planning to read.
In summary, the book is a very good introduction into the future of the network society for every organization that wants more than just survive. It’s a worthy follow up for his previous book “The network always wins”.
It still misses some depth and uses often a too casual language which is the reason why it’s not yet 5-star material, but it’s definitely worth the read.
Most importantly though the tries to convey the urgent need to spend at least some time thinking about the consequences of current and future developments, whether you are a company struggling to survive, a startup looking for the golden opportunity, a government trying to understand the current turmoil, an educator trying to find a way to prepare the future generation for uncertain but enticing developments or even a parent thinking about a valuable future for its children.
The book also tries to give possible scenario’s for organizations on how to handle the new age of accelerating innovation. He makes it clear that there are no easy and one size fits all solutions for this kind of endeavors, but he nevertheless shows possible structures to deal with the challenges of staying in the loop. He does this using many examples.
As a bonus you also get a substantial reading list with a lot of books that I recently read, am currently reading or am planning to read.
In summary, the book is a very good introduction into the future of the network society for every organization that wants more than just survive. It’s a worthy follow up for his previous book “The network always wins”.
It still misses some depth and uses often a too casual language which is the reason why it’s not yet 5-star material, but it’s definitely worth the read.
Read
November 26, 2025goed boek.
Leuke lezing.
We zoeken allemaal gestructureerde data maar wat doe je met ongestructureerde info
Onze wereld verandert exponentieel en dat heeft grote gevolgen voor organisaties van 'vandaag'. In dit boek laat Peter Hinssen ons kennismaken met pioniers die erin slaagden zich aan die veranderingen aan te passen en in hun innovatie voorbij vandaag en zelfs morgen te denken. Door zo ver vooruit te durven kijken, stuurden ze volledige industrieën een nieuwe richting uit.
The Day After Tomorrow beschrijft de businessmodellen van deze pioniers, de organisatieculturen, het talent, de mentaliteit en de technologieën die nodig zijn om ons succes in de 'Day After Tomorrow' zo groot mogelijk te maken. Dit is een boek dat je kijk op je eigen toekomst, die van je bedrijf en zelfs die van je kleinkinderen zal veranderen.
'Peter Hinssen heeft de manier waarop we bij Proximus naar innovatie kijken grondig veranderd. Hij leerde ons niet enkel naar vandaag te kijken, maar ook naar kansen voor de toekomst. Een aanrader voor iedereen die wil begrijpen wat de 'Day After Tomorrow' zal brengen.' - Dominique Leroy, CEO Proximus
'In tijden van machine learning moeten wij, mensen, juist meer leren dan ooit. Daarvoor zijn we op zoek naar visionairs, die inzicht hebben én helder en inspirerend zijn. Peter Hinssen is zo iemand.' - Alexander De Croo, Vicepremier en Minister van Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Digitale Agenda, Telecom & Post
'The Day After Tomorrow is een reisgids voor het regenwoud van de radicale innovatie innovatie: bijzonder nuttig bij het voorbereiden van de reis, maar ook een must om niet te verdwalen.' - Thomas Leysen, Voorzitter KBC, Umicore & Mediahuis
Trefwoorden: Businessmodel markt talent attitude bedrijfsstructuur cultuur organisatie Peter Hinssen
Leuke lezing.
We zoeken allemaal gestructureerde data maar wat doe je met ongestructureerde info
Onze wereld verandert exponentieel en dat heeft grote gevolgen voor organisaties van 'vandaag'. In dit boek laat Peter Hinssen ons kennismaken met pioniers die erin slaagden zich aan die veranderingen aan te passen en in hun innovatie voorbij vandaag en zelfs morgen te denken. Door zo ver vooruit te durven kijken, stuurden ze volledige industrieën een nieuwe richting uit.
The Day After Tomorrow beschrijft de businessmodellen van deze pioniers, de organisatieculturen, het talent, de mentaliteit en de technologieën die nodig zijn om ons succes in de 'Day After Tomorrow' zo groot mogelijk te maken. Dit is een boek dat je kijk op je eigen toekomst, die van je bedrijf en zelfs die van je kleinkinderen zal veranderen.
'Peter Hinssen heeft de manier waarop we bij Proximus naar innovatie kijken grondig veranderd. Hij leerde ons niet enkel naar vandaag te kijken, maar ook naar kansen voor de toekomst. Een aanrader voor iedereen die wil begrijpen wat de 'Day After Tomorrow' zal brengen.' - Dominique Leroy, CEO Proximus
'In tijden van machine learning moeten wij, mensen, juist meer leren dan ooit. Daarvoor zijn we op zoek naar visionairs, die inzicht hebben én helder en inspirerend zijn. Peter Hinssen is zo iemand.' - Alexander De Croo, Vicepremier en Minister van Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Digitale Agenda, Telecom & Post
'The Day After Tomorrow is een reisgids voor het regenwoud van de radicale innovatie innovatie: bijzonder nuttig bij het voorbereiden van de reis, maar ook een must om niet te verdwalen.' - Thomas Leysen, Voorzitter KBC, Umicore & Mediahuis
Trefwoorden: Businessmodel markt talent attitude bedrijfsstructuur cultuur organisatie Peter Hinssen
October 17, 2018
It's a good overview about company culture (mostly in startups), exponential growth, and finding the balance between exploring new terrain and keeping your current company running.
There's quite a few references to key books and articles on these topics, which gives you the option to dive deeper.
If you've already read a book or a few articles on a similar subject, and are pretty up-to-date with how technology evolved in recent years, there's not much new stuff to be found. However, it might still fill a few blanks in your insights, or make you connect a few dots.
There's quite a few references to key books and articles on these topics, which gives you the option to dive deeper.
If you've already read a book or a few articles on a similar subject, and are pretty up-to-date with how technology evolved in recent years, there's not much new stuff to be found. However, it might still fill a few blanks in your insights, or make you connect a few dots.
July 26, 2019
Peter Hinssen legt op heldere en overzichtelijke wijze uit welke digitale disrupties momenteel onze levenwijze en econiomie aan het ontwrichten zijn. Wat hij beschrijft, is niet spectaculair nieuw - je kan dit ook op vele andere plekken lezen - maar de verdienste van dit boek is dat hij dat op heel heldere wijze doet. Hij waarschuwt ook duidelijk dat bedrijven en organisaties zich op deze veranderingen zullen moeten voorbereiden en hij reikt ook strategieën aan om dit te doen. Zeker een aanrader.
June 22, 2019
Zeer vlot leesbaar geschreven. Geeft inzicht in onze snel veranderende wereld en hoe wij daar als bedrijven mee kunnen omgaan. Een one size fits all recept bestaat er echter niet. Elke organisatie zal zelf moeten bedenken hoe ze zichzelf kan heruitvinden om te overleven. Maar inspiratie vind je hier zeker wel.
March 7, 2020
Not sure to give it 3 or 4 stars but gave it a 4 because it made me think and re-think about books read before. I was a nice pusher to re-evaluate again what I learned myself on 'The Day After Tomorrow' and how I work / live ... So agreed, let's keep a 4.
The author as a very fluent writing style and the images / graphs are excellent to explain his point.
The author as a very fluent writing style and the images / graphs are excellent to explain his point.
October 29, 2017
As usual, a very good book. A bit more discussion of the "darker" (or "realistic") side of technology, and their impact on society and politics. Want to hear more than just one chapter on these topics, really interesting!
November 18, 2017
Absolute must-read... I'll be revisiting this book plenty and check out half of the references Hinssen uses... it gives a great overview of what seems like the next step (but this quantum leap is actually ongoing already) and a clear call to action and think!
June 22, 2018
Interesting book. Discusses various strategies organisations can apply to innovate and to cope with disruptive technology. Sometimes the book is a bit overly simplistic, sometimes it seems to be spot-on. In each case, Peter Hinssen is a brilliant author, with an attractive and clear writing style.
July 29, 2018
Dit boek vervangt een klassieke cursus organisatiestructuren. Het is aangenaam om te lezen, het verwijst naar alle belangrijke lectuur en slimme mensen die in business en economie in het verleden de structuren beschreven hebben.
November 13, 2018
You have to study the book to make the concept and stream of thought of Hinssen familiar to you. Once you got it you can walk into his world of techno-impact. He has a wide reach of examples and case studies, and a couple of nice methaphors ( banana plantage vs rainforest).
September 13, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. Easy to read, filled with great examples and plenty to think on and consider. "No silver bullets"... which is good, honest!
July 7, 2018
This is a must read! Don’t miss it.
November 20, 2019
Great insights about leadership in exponential growth, creating a platform for innovation and company culture!
September 11, 2020
The presentation The Day After Tomorrow is probably the most powerful ones I saw in my life. Absolutely fantastic. Inspiring. Motivating.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews