Exploring Digital & Global Education
Competing for the Future Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad Quotes from the book

" We believe that every company really does have the opportunity to shape its own destiny....We belive it is possible to move beyond incrementalism to create a broad and enticing new opportunity horizon; a lack of resources needn't limit a company's ambitions nor its accomplishments...and we believe it is possible to regenerate purpose, meaning, and direction in the absence of a crisis.

We are hopeful but we are not naive. Substantial challenges face any organization intent on getting to the future first. The first challenge, how to navigate from here to there, arises as both public and private institutions struggle to plot a course through an increasingly inconsistant environment, where experience is rapidly devalued and familiar landmarks no longer serve as guideposts. Never before has the...terrain been changing so quickly or have ..boundaries been som malleable. Never before have the competitors, partners, suppliers and buyers been so indistinguishable. This book is for anyone who is more intersted in creating the future than in watching it happen.

Three questions for managers:
1) What percentage of your time is spent on external, rather than internal, issues - understanding, for example, the implications of a particular new technology versus debating corporate overhead allocations?
2) Of this time spent looking outward, how much of it is spent considering how the world could be different in five or ten years, as opposed to worrying about winning the next big contract or how to respond to a competitor's pricing move?
3)Third, of the time spent looking outward and forward, how much of it is spent in consultation with colleagues, where the objective is to build a deeply shared, well-tested view of the future, as opposed to a personal and idiosyncratic view?