Lead from the Future: How to Turn Visionary Thinking Into Breakthrough Growth

by Mark W. Johnson, Josh Suskewicz, Derek Shoales (Reader)

From the author of the groundbreaking book Reinvent Your Business Model, a new approach for thinking about the future and turning your most promising and creative ideas into reality.

We all know visionary leaders when we see them. In business, they are last-name-only disrupters like Jobs, Bezos, and Hastings, and, in politics, they are such transformative figures as Mandela and FDR. They're bold and prophetic and at the same time pragmatic. They don't just promote change--they drive it, and they inspire and mobilize others to do the same.

Although these leaders possess innate qualities that make them extraordinary, what truly sets them apart is their ability to turn their visions into action.

In this timely and compelling book, Mark W. Johnson, cofounder of Innosight, and Josh Suskewicz, an Innosight partner, lay out a new and innovative approach to developing and executing the visionary ideas that drive breakthrough growth. This approach includes:

Developing a mind-set that enables you to look beyond the present Translating your vision into a strategic plan that your team can align around and commit to Instilling visionary thinking into the processes and culture of your whole organization

As practical as it is inspiring, Lead from the Future is the guide you and your team need in order to think clearly, creatively, and expansively, and then act decisively about what comes next.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Personal Development, Technology

Audio CD

First published April 14, 2020

About the author

Mark Johnson is co-founder and Senior Partner of Innosight, an innovation and strategy consulting firm Innosight, which he co-founded with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. He has consulted to the Global 1000 and start-up companies in a wide range of industries—including health care, aerospace/defense, enterprise IT, energy, automotive, and consumer packaged goods—and has advised Singapore’s government on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Reviews

[Jmac · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the biggest challenges with Innovation Experts like Johnson and Suskewicz is they can struggle to connect with the reader. Their writing can be very academic. THIS IS NOT THE CASE with this book.

Written from experience and expertise, this book guides those who are leading change whether leaders or innovation workers.

Innosight is a Global leader in transformation efforts and the team are incredibly generous with this book where they guide us all how to make lasting change.

Highly recommended!

[Jordan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly found this book on display while checking out the new Missoula library. It sounded promising based on what I'm navigating at work.

First, it's clear that this book is written for leaders of huge corporate organizations. If you're running a small business or a startup, most of the later chapters are not going to apply to you.

That being said, it's well-written and provides an interesting framework for thinking through future growth. I was hoping for more actionable lessons for how to turn future-back thinking into a tangible strategy, but it's clear that the authors know what they're talking about based on the litany of examples of large corporations they've helped.

I suggest reading the first few chapters to get an idea of the visionary framework and then skim the rest of the book to see if the examples apply to the size of your business.

I found the ideas about treating your vision and strategy like a portfolio to be pretty eye-opening. Great ideas--just lacking examples that can apply to smaller businesses.

[Florian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical american business book: Great start, full of examples an interesting method. But the last 1/3 is just a repetition. Still very useful for workshops and strategies.

[George Kuruvilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book and one that every business leader and strategist should read. The book focuses on the importance for business leaders to think beyond the present and their core business and incremental changes for short term rewards, but instead to focus on a future back strategy where you think forward into the future and determine a vision for your organization in that time and then build a strategy and action plan thinking from the future back to the present.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thought and discussion around starting with the end in mind rather than iterative projecting now into the future.

Short, but could have been shorter.

Johnson got a bit "soap-boxy" towards the end, applying his principles to progressive thinking.

Not very research-based.

[Tõnu Vahtra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was OK read but personally did not find any new remarkable insights. One of the key points is to suggest envisioning the future desired state and then starting to move backward towards present from there while mapping the conditions that need to be met at different stages.

1. Develop your vision (5-10 years out in the future).
2. Convert vision into strategy
3. Program and implement the strategy

Roadblocks to future-mindedness: human cognitive biases; organizational rewards and incentives; ecosystem rewards, incentives and influences

Key diagnostic questions domains:
*Customer needs
*Performance metrics
*Industry position
*Business model
*Talent and capabilities

“Where visioning and future-back thinking become truly important for individuals is when the goal is not to predict or reverse-engineer one’s desired future but to understand what those desires really are. You must ask yourself hard, open-ended questions, and pay as much attention to your intuitions and your feelings as you do to your present-forward logic. What do I truly want? What do I truly value? What will be meaningful to me in ten or twenty years? Are the choices I am making compatible with those things?”

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having the ability to think of the future and trace your way back to the present in creating and implementing your strategy is immensely important these days. This book teaches the readers the wisdom behind the future-back approach.

The most common thinking in strategy creation is present-forward. While the process worked in the past, it may no longer stay true in the future.

Written in an easy to understand and concise manner, this book provides wide perspective in innovation, strategy, and leadership not just in business but also in government, education, and religious institution.

A lot of ideas here are related with Clay Christensen’s books. I find it a bit sad that he’s no longer with us to celebrate this book.

Nevertheless, company executives will find this book relevant and eye-opening.

[Angel Grimalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read chapters of this book as part of my training with the Americas Innovation Team at a Big4 firm. Now, I’ve read it cover to cover.

This a management book written for executives, consultants, and managers. As the authors (Consultants) state at the end; it provides a step-by-step process and a way of thinking and being to lead an organization toward a visionary future. It doesn’t go deep into the methodology of strategic foresight but instead focuses on backcasting—or “future-back,” as the authors call it—outlining how to build a roadmap by identifying gaps between the desired future state and the present.

I agree with their view that "future-back" thinking will become the new normal for leadership in the 21st century, while "present-forward" thinking will still be there but now on the co-pilot seat. As decision-making and high-level strategy become more critical, while operational and mundane tasks are increasingly handled by intelligent machines, leaders will need to adopt this mindset to shape the future of organizations and industries.

[Mustafa Ayhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As leadership team, our classical approach to prepare strategy is present forward thinking; analyze past data and try to predict future.
In this Harvard Business Review Press book, Mark W. Johnson and Josh Suskewicz introduces us "future back" thinking which allows any leader to become a practical visionary. This book guides us step by step how to develop future back strategies. I recommend all business leaders this great book!

[Jclaysonjohnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written primer to turn practical suggestions into powerful action.

There's no time like the present, with business and life not just disrupted but totally upended by a once-in-a-century pandemic, for leaders to learn the wizardry of envisioning the future, imagining what customers, businesses and the economy will need and articulating and defining the strategies that will move us toward those objectives.

Highly recommend!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good structure for creating a vision and strategy. It’s easier to have a present-forward mindset and apply the same rules and conditions from today to a view of the future. The future-back approach frees us from the constraints of the present and allows us to paint a picture of the future we want to create, and then figure out how to actually get there.

[Cameron Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid ideas in need of an editor

There are strong ideas in this book. What it needs is an editor. It’s a typical Harvard Business Review book that would have been better left as a focused article. Still, the writing is good and the cases are useful. Organizations would do well to learn what this book has to teach.

[Nilesh Patil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the approach and why. My favorite from the book, The future can not be predicted but the future can be invented. and Growth is not just about scale; value is not only about dollars.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting breakdown of strategy and future planning. Lots of quotes from business leaders (e.g., Wendell Weeks). A lot of TM terms like Future Back Thinking. “Connect experiences and synthesize them,” jumped out at me.

[Nathan Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m newer to the strategy area of thinking, but I really appreciated the idea of future-back thinking this book offered. Even if I’m not in a leadership role to apply this at the moment, I feel like a lot of the advice is applicable for anyone who has personal goals in life.

[Georg]

Got interested through a podcast on HBR

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concepts on creative leadership. How can you grow and become a leader that others want to follow? This book provides interesting views and stories that will make you think and act.

[adrian hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to rethink the way we manage an innovate in business and in our lives.

[David Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry folks. Gave up halfway through it. It was a slow slough at times.

It has an interesting premise and I may try it again. But for now -- it will sit on my bookshelf awaiting that time to come.

[Sydney Mathis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up half way through chapter 4.
The first half of the book is great but it falls off in the second half, it’s a hard read. I lost interest in what was being shared.

[Ana Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al igual que los moonshots, pensar del futuro hacia atrás es un buen inicio para plantear una estrategia.

[Your favorite troll · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comic book. Would recommend.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook. Concept is awesome. Content is 80% too long. Minimum word count.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbdF2... (done)

Less than 5 hour's audiobook. Detailed steps on what future backward is, and how to execute.