Forward Thinking Cultures - a Commentary

Business, economics and society are changing at an extraordinary speed. To succeed, all of us - including our leaders and managers - need to learn faster, think smarter and break free of confining assumptions and old attitudes (James, 1996). Globalization seeks anticipatory leaders. Anticipatory leaders consistently demonstrate three skills (Savage and Sales, 2008): As futurists, they inform themselves about a wide range of current events and trends. As strategists, they hone their understanding of the opportunities and threats that these shifts present. As integrators of ideas, beliefs and emotions they continually engage with the people of their organizations, identifying opportunities and aligning resources toward common objectives. If we talk on the context of globalization, then in a global market environment an organization can no longer be looked at as a static concept (Chaharbaghi and Nugent, 1996). Organizations have to develop an environment where the people can think globally and dynamically. Salient features of organizations of future include opportunity-based activities, continuous learning and constant restructuring (Chaharbaghi and Nugent, 1996).