Future Edge

by Joel A. Barker

An innovative business handbook provides a strategy for predicting and acting on future trends before the competition.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688109365
• ISBN13: 9780688109363
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

If you want explore your own future...read this book!

This is the author's first pioneering book, which he wrote after leaving the teaching world to embark on a career as a strategy consultant/process futurist in the early 80's. This was also one of the very first few books that propelled me into the world of strategic exploration. Drawing essentially from the scholarly work of Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the classic, The Theory of Scientific Revolutions, in the 70's, this author has very artfully expounded the concept of paradigm shift & pliancy in the world of business, in contrast to the world of science. From a strategic exploration viewpoint, this is an excellent guide book. Understanding and mastering your paradigms is one important thing for making progress in life and in business, but I personaly feel that the real essence of this book is succinctly captured by the author in the five strategic exploration tools outlined in the book. They are the real gems of the book. [Bear in mind that the author is a process futurist, unlike most other futurists who write books & who are primarily content futurists. The five specific tools mentioned in the book are the exact process tools to aid & enhance your strategic exploration. Do not get carried away by the content part of the book pertaining to some perceived trends illustrated by the author.] In addition, the author defines the concept of paradigm very well & also elaborates at length on its key characteristics & effects, with illuminating examples, as well as enlightening comparison/contrast of paradigm pliancy vs> paradigm paralysis. <br /> <br />He highlights the importance of paradigm shift, pliancy & anticipation. I particularly enjoyed exploring the two specific thought-provoking questions posed by the author: <br /> <br />(1) What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change my business? <br /> <br />(2) Who, outside my field, might be interested in my unsolved problems? <br /> <br />By thinking about & answering these two challenging questions on your own, & against your own background, you will begin to understand the essence of the author's proposition. This will be the beginning of your own paradigm shift, as it has happened in my own life design for the second half. <br /> <br />I would recommend readers to buy and read this book jointly with Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision. Wayne Burkan has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, and he introduces some more new ideas to the paradigm phenomenon. <br /> <br />Better still, view also and learn more from the videos (in which both authors are the lead facilitators), The Paradigm Prism and The Implications Wheel, which bring the whole paradigm concept to life and which showcase some more real-world business examples. <br /> <br />If you want to explore your future, read this book! As the author puts it, before you can create your future, you must first explore it. You must create and shape your future, otherwise

Paradigms predictions of the 90s

12. Solar/Hydrogen/fission: These three elements combine in patterns in the trend toward energy conservationism. All three elements cost more than conventional energy production methods. I think the author missed the energy paradigm and should have listed coal, wind power and geothermal as emerge sources of energy. 13. Time Taxes: The process requires Senior citizens to go to schools in their area and do various jobs, in exchange they are paid by have their property tax reduces allowing them to keep their homes. High property taxes against the Seniors demonstrates a stronger trend towards socialized redistribution of wealth and threatens their constitutional rights of life, liberty, and property. 14. The buffalo commons: Frank and Deborah Popper predicts "large chunks of the rural west will be abandoned and eventually drift into public or quasi-public holdings." The land will be accumulated and returned to its natural state; the Buffalo commons is a pattern shift in the agricultural community as hundreds of thousands of Buffalo thundering across the plains. 15. Education K through competence: Many of the graduating high school students can to read, write, or compute. The value of their high school diploma, in real world competition is zero. The K-competence movement attempts to reverse the trend by measuring student performance levels and retaining students until they achieve the competence level desired. I think the trend seems less jobs for graduating high school seniors and more outsourcing too third world countries with higher K scores. 16. Magical, mystical polymers: Plastics that carry electricity better than electricity (IBM polymer-nanotechnology-lithograph technology for circuit design); arranged molecules in parallel orientation (Paul Smith - plastics ten times the strength of steel); build bridges, buildings, and cars out of plastic. I think the most exciting idea the author suggests is using polymers as a material coating for chips to make electrical connections between the transistors. 17. Nature's wisdom: animals may know what plants to eat to cure certain diseases. Animal intelligence is more than language skills. 18. Negawatts: Amory Lovins began in paradigm shift back into the 1970s. Lovins started with the assumption that in the United States electrical energy consumption could be reduced by 70 percent with no less quality of life. Lovins points out fact about energy savings through energy efficiency by improvements in lighting systems and efficient motors. 19. New building materials: The problem: Too many people are living homeless or in structures that don't get adequate shelter. Robert Gross, former NASA engineer has designed a machine that can make adobe block from a mixture of mud and machine to squeeze out the water using a high-pressure hydraulic ram. Each block is twelve by ten by four inches and weights about thirty pounds. The cost is about 1/20th of any other building material on the mar

Paradigms: Who, What, Where, When and Why

Have you ever had an unconscious thought that could possibly change the world? Well, this is one book you won't want to miss. Barker's knowledge about paradigms will definitely assist with transforming your, "big ideas" from thoughts to reality. "Future Edge" can take any organization through a successful reformation. For instance, being an administrator in a rather large urban school district with magnet schools being the "heart" of racial integration, paradigm shifts are an on-going necessity. Barker's book has truly answered the five "W's" of paradigms.WHO: The "Paradigm Shifters" have the big idea, however, the "Paradigm Pioneers" are the individuals who have the courage, faith and "intuitive judgment" to ensure a successful paradigm shift. Segregated schools are simply not right, and as pioneers, integrating our school is a vision that is "not an act of the head, but an act of the heart." WHAT: What "set of rules or boundaries," or simply stated by Barker, paradigms, are in need of a facelift in your organization? Federal mandates stated that busing can no longer be the means of integration, however, our schools must reflect our world today; diverse. This mandated created a sense of urgency (Kotter) in the change process.WHERE: "To not quest for excellence might be considered sacrilege." Raising the expectation of what success is in your organization will inevitably create a need for a paradigm shift. Current enrollment is 92% African-American, 2% Hispanic, and 6% Caucasian. Yes, this is 130% better then years previous, yet it should not be considered as integrated. The where is most likely within your organization as well! WHEN: "Paradigm Paralysis" is what an organization will face if there is no "paradigm pioneer" to lead the conscious thought to real life. "A leader is a person you would follow to a place you wouldn't go yourself."WHY: In conclusion, if you read this review and are highly curious as to the paradigm shift that must take place to integrate the school that I work in, then Barker has definitely fulfilled his mission of taking an individual through the process of "Discovering the New Paradigms of Success."

If you want to explore your future, read this book!

Actually, this book is a sort of brief update of the author's earlier book, entitled Discovering the Business of Paradigms, & published in the mid-80s. Drawing essentially from the pioneering work of Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the classic, The Theory of Scientific Revolutions, in the 70's, this author has very artfully expounded the concept of paradigm shift & pliancy in the world of business, in contrast to the world of science. From a strategic exploration viewpoint, this is an excellent guide book. Understanding and mastering your paradigms is one important thing for making progress in life and in business, but I personaly feel that the real essence of this book is succinctly captured by the author in the five strategic exploration tools outlined in the book. They are the real gems of the book. [Bear in mind that the author is a process futurist, unlike most other futurists who write books & who are primarily content futurists. The five specific tools mentioned in the book are the exact process tools to aid & enhance your strategic exploration. Do not get carried away by the content part of the book pertaining to some perceived trends illustrated by the author.] In addition, the author defines the concept of paradigm very well & also elaborates at length on its key characteristics & effects, with illuminating examples, as well as enlightening comparison/contrast of paradigm pliancy vs. paradigm paralysis. He highlights the importance of paradigm shift, pliancy & anticipation. I particularly enjoyed exploring the two specific thought-provoking questions posed by the author: (1) What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change my business? (2) Who, outside my field, might be interested in my unsolved problems? By thinking about & answering these two challenging questions on your own, & against your own background, you will begin to understand & appreciate the essence of the author's proposition. This will be the beginning of your own paradigm shift, as it has happened in my own life design for the second half. I would recommend readers to buy and read this book jointly with Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision. Wayne Burkan has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, and he introduces some more new ideas to the paradigm phenomenon. Better still, view also and learn more from the videos (in which both authors are the lead facilitators), The Paradigm Prism and The Implications Wheel, which bring the whole paradigm concept to life and which showcase some more real-world business examples. If you want to explore your future, read this book! As the author puts it, before you can create your future, you must first explore it. You must create and shape your future, otherwise some one else will!

Applicable to all people!

I recommend this book as well as the Paradigm Pioneer video to all people that want to improve their livesin all respects. Eventhough it's a book on business, it enabled me to think, act and dream in all areas of my personal and professional life. It illustrates that narrow mindedness can and some will lead to failure in business. The book is rich in information, easy to read and comprehend, and left me somewhat felling good about the changes that have occured in my life, and why those changes had to happen. Total Quality is an age old concept in a sense (building a better mousetrap) and Mr. Barker illustrates these in easy to understand words most effectively. When i reflect back on the US automakers of the '70's, If they had only anticipated the shift to come.......